Six members of a Twin Cities gang strike force went to Hawaii last month for a six-day conference that cost nearly $17,000, an expense their new commander called "ridiculous."
Chris Omodt, a Hennepin County sheriff's captain, said he learned about the $16,800 tab shortly after becoming the Metro Gang Strike Force commander Jan. 20.
"My initial reaction was that, because of the economic times, nobody should be going," Omodt said. "Six people going to Hawaii is ridiculous."
The strike force had already paid for the registrations and air fare by the time the advisory board that oversees the gang unit first examined the matter at its March 18 meeting.
Bud Shaver, chairman of the strike force's advisory board and the West St. Paul police chief, said in an interview that the board approved the trip "despite how it may look" because it would provide training and many of the expenditures had already been made and were non-refundable.
Some investigators registered as early as May 2008, he said, and the same conference next year will be in St. Paul, so it was important to "learn how to put on a successful event." He said that in light of the current "fiscal crisis that we're in right now," the board might have decided not to approve the trip or "find a different way." But he said that since the decision to go was made in May 2008 and "rather than throw away the money, we decided to go and make the best of it."
During its March 18 meeting, Shaver acknowledged that the trip could raise red flags. "It is kind of awkward," he is heard telling board members on a recording from the meeting. "I feel like I'm trying to explain my bonuses to my AIG people."
Four days later, the investigators, some traveling with their families, flew to the International Conference on Asian Organized Crime and Terrorism. The meeting was held March 22-27 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel in Honolulu.