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01-07-10 #1: Alert: Police: aiding and abetting, just incompetent, or ran out of cover ups? Different standards for white citizens than Black citizens?

It is all over the TV today, January 7: Minneapolis Police Officer Tim Carson, a 3 year veteran and Iraq vet, was arrested for robbing a dozen stores and banks, raising the obvious questions, (1) how many other police officers are taking advantage of their positions? (2) will there be yet another aiding and abetting cover up by the Mayor and his Police Chief? (3) As the Mayor and his Chief claims to know all and do all, they are either aiding and abetting or just plain incompetent, or their laxity regarding letting white officers do what they want has gotten so bad that even this could not be covered up as so much else in the past has been covered been.

These are not questions I take lightly. Nor am I surprised as I raised these issues with the MPD while serving on the PCRC (Police Community Relations Council);  we especially asked about background checks and rumors of white police officers out of control, being involved in drug dealings and thefts. The MPD would not answer; would not cooperate. Our concern was that questionable white candidates were passed while qualified Blacks were not, raising another question regarding whether the tests were rigged toward whites or just scored that way. Certainly we ask, "How did Officer Carson pass his profile tests?"  And, we suggest, the city must lean to the best candidates, regardless of their color, and recognize the value to the city of having qualified Black officers rather than unqualified white ones.  

And how is it that when things happen to whites, nothing is said to the white "community" about "coming forth", but when it happens to people of color, they are asked to cooperate and come forward with information. This is currently going on regarding the 3 Somalis gunned down (some say executed). How can the community come forward when it doesn’t feel safe? The MPD terror investigation last year in the Somali community regarding killings that are essentially not street crimes as defined but political killings, have left Somalis feeling unsafe and unprotected.

The mayor, broadcasters, and others follow the cue of the FBI and make the community the problem, not the public safety system. Many young Somalis are survivors of the Civil War in Somalia, and are here seeking a peaceful chance at life, something made more difficult with police like Tim Carson, whose precinct locker revealed guns and money.  Carson reflects a department still out of control, which is what led to the establishment of the PCRC in the first place. The MPD continues to cover up the Metro Gang Squad, recently disbanded for their own law breaking.  Public safety is more important than any Governor's race.

We want to know how many others are like Tim Carson there are but who are more clever in avoiding getting caught, and why, if the MPD leaders claim to know all that's going on, why they let it ride and don’t act on it?  Some have said it is because they are in on it. Others have said it is because they would rather have poor white recruits that excellent Black ones and thus have to admit more candidates of color to a department they'd prefer was all white.  

Stay tuned.

Posted January 7, 2010, 11:30 pm, CST  
Edited January 8, 2010, 9 pm, CST


Ron hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm. Formerly head of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Commission and the Urban League, he continues his “watchdog” role for Minneapolis. Order his book, hear his voice, read his solution papers, and read his between columns “web log” at www.TheMinneapolisStory.com.

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