Robust community engagement works — when we have it

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One of my favorite jobs as an assistant Hennepin County Attorney was working on the community engagement team. In 2016, after 20 years inside the bubble of my office, I was given the opportunity (and privilege) to partner with law enforcement, neighborhood advocacy groups and various nonprofit organizations — all who shared the goal of helping communities to be safe. In those days, the Minneapolis Police Department had a robust nuisance property program, and I worked with the city to bring appropriate cases into court, where state statutes existed to protect those who’d been harmed by their neighbors.

I sat in meetings at the highest level of every Minneapolis precinct. I attended neighborhood meetings and listened to the day-to-day concerns of people living all over the city.

During this time, I lived in the Fifth Precinct, just down the street from Davis Moturi and John Sawchak (most recent development: “NAACP says city shirked duty in shooting,” Nov. 2). I worked on cases just like theirs, using the tools we had at our disposal to serve and protect neighbors like Moturi. On National Night Out in the summer 2016, I attended no less than eight block parties, where I celebrated community and safety with other Minneapolis residents. Although I only served in this assignment for slightly more than a year, I took immense pride in my work — which balanced community safety with other important issues such as addiction, homelessness and mental health.

Three years later, MPD officer Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd, the subsequent riots and much-needed federal oversight upended the Minneapolis Police Department. The nuisance property unit was disbanded. Other significant cuts and changes to the work being done essentially gutted the program as it existed when I was a part of it.

Because MPD has hemorrhaged patrol officers, concerns like Moturi’s are deprioritized. There are simply inadequate resources to address all the Sawchaks in the city. While I don’t have all the facts on this case, the public reporting reveals that Sawchak had been engaging in dangerous and threatening behavior for almost a year and had several outstanding warrants.

I fear the pendulum has now swung entirely too far the other way, where worries about being sued, criminally charged or otherwise portrayed negatively, has impacted MPD’s mandate to “protect with courage and serve with compassion.” Individuals with mental health issues, who are a danger to themselves and others, require a careful approach. Ignoring a victim’s concerns and failing to write complete and accurate reports does great disservice to the community and the prosecutors who seek to hold people accountable.

In that regard, I’m painfully aware that members of the current leadership in the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office are openly unsupportive of the Minneapolis Police Department. However, the City Attorney’s Office can and should have personnel who can pick up some of this slack. In 2016, a city prosecutor was assigned to each precinct, and we were all in frequent contact about cases just like Sawchak’s. This communication allowed us to pool resources and collectively figure out the best way to address troublesome situations.

I remain hopeful that through these incredibly tough times, a better way forward can be imagined and implemented.

Debbie Russell, of Clear Lake, Minn., is a retired assistant Hennepin County Attorney.