THROUGH MY EYES
By Ron Edwards
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported April 5 that two ranking Minneapolis police officers, Lt. Andrew Smith and Sgt. Pat King, filed a lawsuit “accusing superior officers of retaliating against them for uncovering corruption within the department.” I wondered why the majority media didn’t ask the following question: Why was Chief Tim Dolan not named as a defendant in the case?
After further review of the lawsuit, I saw how clever this entire scenario is turning out to be. Racial tensions within the Minneapolis Police Department is not new news — I write about it regularly (two 2006 columns, seven 2008 columns, and 12 columns in 2009). The Star Tribune finally wrote on it April 28, 2009, almost two and a half years later (see my column of May 6). I concur with lines 53-61 of their editorial: Had the five African American police officers stayed the course, it would have allowed everyone to learn the truth about racial tensions in the MPD. But, for whatever reason(s), the officers chose to take the money.
There has been nothing but silence since. The chief and his two top investigators of Black police officers have now opened old wounds. In a January 26, 2010 letter to both Lt. Smith and Sgt. King, the chief praises and commends them for their “efforts in the corruption investigation that led to the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer, Michael Roberts.” The chief went on to say, “This letter will formally document that, at my request, you had a significant role in the internal corruption investigation.”
As co-chair of the former Police Community Relations Council (PCRC), I am not surprised. After reading the entire letter, one realizes that this was about how to distract from the federal grand jury investigating corruption of White Minneapolis police officers in order to shift it to Black law enforcement officers. The January 26 letter is very interesting. The chief wrote, “I want to thank you for your courage and willingness to serve the department in such an important effort.” Then, at the very end of the letter, the chief indicates the names of former and current employees with knowledge about this investigation.
One of those was Deputy Chief Scott Gerlicher, who is a defendant in the Smith-King suit. This was classic Dolan, setting up Smith and King to be able to sue and thus draw attention away from the police department corruption, especially the White officers of the Gang Task Force. It then makes sense why Lt. Smith and Sgt. King claim they are targets of retaliation and threats. In fact, in the court document, according to Lt. Smith, Chief Dolan told them that “you don’t have an idea of how many people are gunning for you.” That is a rather interesting and transparent signal to them from their chief.
The full scope of these legal allegations is seen when both plaintiffs indicate the dangers they were faced with, claiming that investigating Black police officers revealed the betrayal of the public trust by the Black officers. They further allege that the Black officers provided confidential and privileged information to known drug dealers and gang members for the purpose of allowing retaliation against citizens of this city.
They claim these are factual allegations and that they put their careers on the line to expose corrupt African American officers in the department. It was interesting how they identified in their brief former officer Michael Roberts and former inspector and now Lt. Lee Edwards for their pubic corruption. My columns since 2006 have reported what they want to cover up: corruption of White police officers.
We don’t have enough space in this week’s column to go deeper into the Smith-King allegations against current Black police officers, but I will share with you the prediction I made in a civil rights complaint that I filed on August 13, 2007 (MDCR File #A6457-EM-1F-RP). After 14 months of dragging their feet, the city attorney’s office gave the lame assessment that I had no standing to bring this information forward. But of course I did, and do. Lt. Smith and Sgt. King’s obvious effort at reverse discrimination used some of the same arguments, but now they say said it was the Black officers who were the villains.
The majority media has shied away from my columns since 2006 that have exposed the cover-up of the real villains: White police officers. In next week’s column I will go deeper into the conspiracy that brought down Black Minneapolis police officers. Stay tuned. Ron Edwards hosts “Black Focus” on Channel 17, MTN-TV, Sundays, 5-6 pm and co-hosts Blog Talk Radio’s “ON POINT!” Saturdays at 5 pm, providing coverage about Black Minnesota. Order his books at www.BeaconOnTheHill.com. Hear his readings and read his archive of columns, solution papers and “web log” at www.The MinneapolisStory.com.
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