Your contribution will help the Northeast Citizen Patrol equip its all-volunteer personnel, and to continue providing essential information about crime and problem properties in Northeast Minneapolis.
We have had a couple issues and questions recently about whether a call should go to 311 or 911.
When to call 311 = when you are looking to ask a question, get information on city services, or talk to a city employee directly, but don't know their phone number or which person specifically you should talk to.
We welcome over 1200 new owners and managers of rental property to our Action Alert list since August of this year! This is a 25% increase since August and nearly double since the beginning of 2010. Due to the great numbers of new owners on the list, we are sending this note as a kind of "One-Stop Shop" list of routine items you may have questions about.
The Minneapolis Police Department is offering a Citizens Academy this fall. This is a 10 week program which gives participants a view of the Minneapolis Police Department, the various units, and how the department units work together. Each class session is a three hour program on Wednesday evenings.
If the council approves the plans later this month, the department will lose 26 civilian positions, 21 crime prevention specialists, the mounted patrol and the police activity league. The chaplain corps, which works at tense crime scenes and notifies families when a loved one has died, is also on the chopping block. Even the employee assistance program will be a bare bones operation.
The cuts Dolan described Monday at a council committee hearing are on top of a $3 million deficit
An undercover Minneapolis police officer engaged in outrageous conduct when he fondled a masseuse who was the target of a prostitution investigation, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in a decision that could open the door for criminal defendants in other sting investigations.
When the lab officially receives its accreditation today from the American Society of Crime Lab Directors, it can claim to meet more than 400 strict standards that will be monitored in-house by a full-time quality assurance coordinator.
…
"When people from the crime lab are witnesses during trials, we point out the accreditation and how hard it is to get," said Hennepin County Deputy Attorney Pat Diamond. "It adds to their credibility, and it should."
…
The lab's 30 scientists, technicians and analysts are a mix of officers and civilians, many of whom have four-year forensic science degrees.
The 6,000-square-foot lab, which has a $1.6 million dollar budget, is pretty nondescript for a place where things happen that can mean the difference between acquittal and conviction, imprisonment or freedom.
It has lots of ordinary looking desks with computers, some video equipment, a photo lab and chemical testing areas.
October 5, 2009; Minneapolis: Criminal charges have been filed in the September 28, 2009 shooting death of Gerard Dwayne Brookins that occurred in the 2500 block of Marshall St. NE. Kelvin Jerome Roberts (DOB 3/28/1988) has been charged with, MURDER IN THE SECOND DEGREE (felony).
According to the complaint, Roberts arranged for a drug transaction with Brookins to occur in a car wash near the intersection Of Marshall St. NE and Lowry Ave. In various accounts given by Roberts, he went to the car wash with a cousin and another party with the intent to rob Brookins. During the course of the robbery, Brookins was shot in the chest and he stumbled into a nearby business as Roberts and his associates sped off in a white Cadillac.
Homicide detectives Fors, Porras and Kjos were able to obtain videotape footage from the car wash that confirmed
September 17, 2009 (MINNEAPOLIS) Message from Chief Dolan:
There is some misinformation circulating regarding the Department's disciplinary process and the credibility of our Internal Affairs. I would like to address those allegations.
On Monday, September 14th, Lt. Robert Kroll was transferred out of the 2nd Precinct. Lt. Kroll was Sector Lieutenant for the Northeast half of the Precinct, in charge of forty Officers and seven Sergeants. Kroll’s new assignment is downtown, heading a domestic abuse unit with a staff of seven Sergeants.
This transfer has raised concerns among Northeasters. NECP President John Schulte said, “Other than Inspector Skomra, Lt. Kroll has been the strongest
citizen ally and support person we have had in the 2nd. When we had a
problem that was not getting results, Kroll would get on it.”
The Minneapolis Police Department’s internal affairs unit is investigating a police softball team after an alleged night of drinking and brawls. The softball game itself was in Northeast Park last Tuesday, where Minneapolis police took on Minneapolis firefighters.
By the time the off-duty Minneapolis officers arrived at the Double Deuce strip club, still in their softball uniforms, the owner told FOX 9, the cops were so intoxicated that the bouncer wouldn't let them in the strip club.
Trisha Farkarlun, who accused two MPD Officers of raping her, has been found guilty of Falsely Reporting Police Misconduct:
On July 28, 2007, Farkarlun accused officers Paul Gillies and MiQuel Barnes of raping her for 8 to 10 minutes in an alley near Vincent Avenue N. and Golden Valley Road. Police had been called to a home on Vincent, where a woman said she wanted Farkarlun removed from the residence, according to the criminal complaint.
A favorite memory of my time walking the 55418 with the Northeast Citizen Patrol is a conversation with a couple of cops. The officers were telling us true stories of dumb criminals. After several laughable tales, one of the cops joked, “We don’t catch ‘em because we’re smart.”
Robert Jordan, a 49-year-old college graduate, took an exam to join the New London police, in Connecticut, in 1996 and scored 33 points, the equivalent of an IQ of 125.
But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training.
