Police officers who provide private security at Minnesota Lynx games were back on the job Friday night after settling their differences with the women's professional basketball team, the head of the Minneapolis police union said.
"It's all been resolved for the better for both sides," said Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis. "I can confirm they have worked it out. It's all good between them."
The rift began when four off-duty officers working the July 9 game at Target Center walked off after taking offense at warm-up jerseys players wore that showed support for Black Lives Matter and victims of recent high-profile shootings in Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights and Dallas.
Some members of the defending WNBA champions also spoke out about racial profiling in a pregame news conference in which they wore the shirts that read "Change Starts With Us, Justice and Accountability" and the names of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling, two black men recently shot by police. A logo of the Dallas Police Department, which had five officers killed during a protest, also appeared on the shirt.
Officers were on duty for Friday's 7 p.m. game against the New York Liberty.
Kroll did not elaborate on how the two sides found common ground and said he'd leave that to the officers and the team to discuss.
A spokeswoman for the Lynx declined to comment, referring inquiries about security staffing to Target Center management.
Sandy Sweetser, senior director of marketing and event services for Target Center, said the game Friday was staffed like any other Minnesota Lynx game with staff and contract security and Minneapolis police.
