Tell us again: Who's in charge of Minneapolis police?

The city of Minneapolis finally has its Office of Community Safety. What is an Office of Community Safety, you ask? I think it would be fair to say that it's the tail of the dog that sits in the corner and doesn't move.

Or ... the crystallized crud in the bottom of the jelly jar that you can't really get out with your spoon and deep down really don't want that badly anyway.

Or ... maybe it's one of the molecules when viewed under a microscope that appears to be floating around in a blurry miasma.

Bottom line, no one really knows what it is or where it fits in the hierarchy that's now become Minneapolis crime control and prevention. (Please don't start another agency and name it that.)

Let's put it all together now: in addition to the city's new community safety agency, we have a mayor who oversees the police, a City Council that regrets the mayor's new role and deeply desires a more substantial role in governing the police department and the new commissioner of public safety, all in addition to the chief of police who once ran the department by him or herself.

Well, the detractors will say, "We saw how that worked out. We need more oversight!"

Well, you asked for it, and you've got it, and you're going to pay for it.

The new chief will have to program his phone so that every message he sends goes to all "public safety" interests. It will be like working for the FBI where nobody really knows who's in charge. (At the FBI you might not know who's running things but you at least know it's someone in Washington.)

The murder of George Floyd changed the governance of police — worldwide. How can the city that spawned his murderer expect to recover without birthing a massive litter of bureaucratic underlings? Again, this was one man, Derek Chauvin, whose horrendous actions caused the death of Floyd. You can debate back and forth whether the unfortunate rookies assisting him should have acted with more authority, but every officer in uniform knows that a rookie does not tell a veteran what to do. Hopefully that will change.

Not that anyone cares what an old retired detective thinks, but here it is: This bureaucratic game of chess is only going to make it more difficult for any progress to occur. It is going to redefine the role of the police chief, making him more like the knight piece in chess. He can make a move from time to time and affect the game, but his moves need to be coordinated with those of all the other pieces, including the pawns, the new staff members of the Office of Community Safety; the rooks, the City Council members; the queen, commissioner Cedric Alexander; and finally the king, Mayor Jacob Frey.

The mayor/king will be able to move but one halting step at a time, second-guessed and reassessed at every turn by the still chafing City Council, et al. He will have to explain his plans to all players.

If you were hoping that something, anything would be done about the troubling rise in violent crime, don't hold your breath. Our leadership is presently — well, permanently, really — in a meeting.

When this nonsense is over, perhaps the city can hire a good police chief who will in turn promote good street supervisors who will run the department with integrity, offering justice and fair treatment for all, and the expediency which is needed in police work. All these other players are redundant wastes of taxpayers' dollars.

Richard Greelis, of Bloomington, is a retired police officer.