The disgrace of politicians’ war on police

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The coldblooded killing of police officer Jamal Mitchell last week was the latest in a string of horrific attacks on law enforcement in Minnesota. It is painful to see the footage of this father and young officer who was immensely proud of his work. Mitchell’s death comes on the heels of the killings of Burnsville first responders Matthew Ruge, Paul Elmstrand and Adam Finseth in February and Pope County Sheriff’s Deputy Joshua Owen in April 2023.

Their deaths, and the reality that assaults upon Minnesota police officers have tripled since 2016, remind us of the immensely dangerous work police officers do to keep us safe. Police officers are indeed heroes.

Yet one can’t help at this moment but reflect upon the treatment of these heroes by Minnesota leaders since the murder of George Floyd. Such a review can only lead to the conclusion that our state’s leaders’ conduct toward police these past four years has been unworthy of our state.

The rhetoric directed toward police has been horrendous from all levels of state government. Take, for example, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who screamed into a microphone on June 6, 2020, that “[w]e need to completely dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department” and later that “[y]ou can’t really reform a department that is rotten to the root.”

The Minneapolis City Council joined in, with several members ignominiously expressing an intent to defund the Minneapolis Police Department. They partly succeeded, and despite their failure in the broader defunding effort, they continued to push for the Minneapolis charter amendment with the express goal of ultimately defunding the police. Without an admirable stand from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and a few others, Omar and other anti-police extremists might have gotten their wish to dismantle Minnesota’s largest police department.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison supported the Minneapolis charter amendment. He seemed to have temporized since taking that indefensible position, but recently he doubled down, reflecting that “[p]olice have been used to maintain social hierarchy. That function is not legitimate, and yet it persists.” Coming from the chief legal officer of our state, it is difficult to imagine a more reckless and contemptible statement, with its insinuations of the maintenance of the slavery system and potential to incite violence against police.

Beyond rhetoric, the Minnesota Legislature, now exclusively run by the far left of the DFL Party, has demonstrated consistent animosity toward law enforcement. Those legislators have pushed for the removal of qualified immunity for police officers; changed the use-of-force standards for school resource officers, forcing police out of schools, and have sought every opportunity to circumscribe the lawful and necessary authority of police officers to do their jobs.

Prosecutors have joined in the pile-on. A prime example of this was the prosecution of Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter for second-degree murder, a charge that should have never been brought. Alongside this is Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s malicious prosecution of hero state trooper Ryan Londregan, a charge that was indefensible from the beginning and which she was forced to drop on Sunday. It is unforgivable that Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Ellison refused to take a case Moriarty herself now acknowledges cannot be brought forward.

The continuous attacks have resulted in demoralized and understaffed police around the state. Many officers have retired, and fewer are joining the ranks. Those who remain are often stretched thin and overwhelmed, trying to maintain order in an increasingly dangerous environment.

Many would attribute recent murders and assaults on law enforcement officers to a climate of hostility created these past four years. It is generally difficult to attribute any individual assault to that climate of hostility. But such a climate certainly exists, and police officers will tell you that the rhetoric and actions of politicians have certainly made policing dramatically more difficult and dangerous.

Is every critique of police — or of policymaking to improve policing — anti-cop? Of course not. Like any profession, policing can be and must be improved. But the rhetoric and policies described above are the furthest things imaginable from thoughtful discussion or policymaking. Should police ever be prosecuted for misconduct? Of course, and I have been open in my views of the Derek Chauvin case. But it was always clear that Ryan Londregan was a hero. That his life has until just days ago been turned upside down is an outrage.

The past and continuing hostility toward the thousands of good men and women who are police officers in our state is a stain upon our state’s history. If we are to have the police we need in Minnesota, and if we are to fulfill our obligations to the men and women who protect us — including the heroes who have sacrificed their lives for us — we must change course. The war on cops must end.

Jim Schultz was the 2022 Republican nominee for Minnesota attorney general and is the president of the Minnesota Private Business Council.