The death of Justine Damond (or Ruszczyk) was a tragedy, the reason for which, at present, remains unanswered. Ultimately, the officer's actions and any resulting consequences will be judged under standards established by the Minnesota Legislature and the U.S. Supreme Court. However, while we await answers in this specific incident, several elected officials and media commentators have used the event as a pretext to claim that there is a "systemic problem" in the Minneapolis Police Department, as the Star Tribune has put it in several stories (for example, "New chief should be permanent, backers say," July 28).
A "systemic problem" is defined as "a problem affecting an entire population as a group." If facts exist upon which some conclude that there is a problem affecting all 850 members of the MPD, we ask that it be publicly offered so we all can join in evaluating whether it demonstrates the need for changes in practices or personnel and, if so, what these changes should be.
Since no evidence has been forthcoming showing that there is a "systemic problem," we offer the following facts as evidence that there is not — and we suggest that those who throw around this highly inflammatory term so loosely are either ignorant of reality or, worse, deliberately misrepresenting reality in order to advance their own political agenda.
Between May 2013 and July 2017, four people have been shot and killed by Minneapolis police officers: Terrance Franklin (May, 2013); Jamar Clark (November 2015); Raul Marquez-Heraldes (April 2016) and Damond (July 2017).
The MPD has 850 sworn personnel, of which roughly 470 are assigned to patrol duty. Each year, Minneapolis patrol officers respond to some 125,000 calls for service. They also engage in about five citizen contacts for every call they answer. During the period from May 2013 through July 2017, MPD officers had more than 2.6 million citizen contacts.
Do four deaths out of 2.6 million contacts over more than four years really demonstrate a "systemic problem"? Consider that in Minneapolis during the same 50-month period there were:
• 165 homicides
• 1,868 rapes