My interpretation of Lt. Bob Kroll's job as president of the Minneapolis police union is to protect and serve the ones who are sworn to protect and serve us. Just as it is misplaced for the public to paint all police with the same brush as brutes with badges, wouldn't it be mistaken for him to tarnish the badges of good cops by affording bad cops the same protections?
Wouldn't the idea of weeding out incompetent officers actually strengthen his union and therefore strengthen the police force?
Throughout our lives we all know who the bad apples are: In school we knew who the troublemakers, bullies and disrupters were by their propensity for bad behavior; in the military we knew who in our platoon was the malcontent bringing trouble down on us from our superiors; in the workplace we could all spot the slacker, liar, cheat. It would be disingenuous to believe that everyone from the rank-and-file patrol officer through top command doesn't have someone on their radar as a bad cop.
Want to build a better police force? Want to serve your worthy union members better? Don't let the ineffective, ill-trained and incapable infect our police. Serve your constituents better by proactively replacing bad cops. Reinforce proper training, and institute stringent requirements. Maybe, just maybe, the public would be happy to pay for more police if we knew they all served us with a higher standard.
Terry Friedlander, Minneapolis
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This man had a burned out taillight. This man failed to dim his headlights. This man fell asleep in his car. This man may have stolen a couple of cigars. This man allegedly tried to pass a fake $20 bill. This man was trying to sell cigarettes on the sidewalk. And a few minutes later all of these people were either choked or shot dead.
Have we lost our minds? When doing police training, does anyone ever talk about the difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law? Is the fine art of de-escalation being taught anywhere these days? Committing a felony demands one kind of response. Committing a minor infraction of the law, if that, demands a very different kind of response.