(Alpha News): Bob Kroll, a retired police lieutenant and former police union leader and president, spent 32 years with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). Kroll spoke with Liz Collin on her podcast about how police leaders still seem to be rushing to judgment before getting the facts.
Last week, law enforcement agents from several federal agencies—not just ICE—were conducting a cartel-linked investigation in Minneapolis. Documents say 900 pounds of illegal methamphetamine was discovered during the investigation. The investigation also involved human trafficking and money laundering linked to a transnational cartel.
Despite the need to overcome the serious dangers involved, Police Chief Brian O’Hara called the leaders of these federal agencies “tone deaf.”
But then he posed for a photo in front of their helicopter.
Even though this was a federal investigation involving multiple agencies, Assistant Police Chief Katie Blackwell issued a memo to MPD officers about not cooperating with immigration enforcement.
Blackwell then sent another memo to clarify her initial memo.
And then once again, the MPD attempted to clarify.
In talking about how MPD leadership responded, Kroll explained, “It sends the wrong message entirely. People see me as a union president over the years. I think they forget that I was actually a police supervisor for a large majority of my career. I was a sergeant for over a dozen years, a lieutenant for over a dozen years on patrol, and in SWAT. So I actually know from the inside what police leadership was all about.”
Kroll also explained how the misjudgments and memo missteps go beyond Minneapolis and affect other police departments. “The message they sent completely blew it, not just in Minneapolis, but it sends a message. People are watching Minneapolis for what’s happened here over the years.”
He also discussed how taking action—without getting the facts first—seems to have been a problem once again for the MPD.
“When you break down what occurred in Minneapolis, you had ICE agents doing their job and we later learned that they were taking felony suspects off the street in a major trafficking, drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, drug scheme, and they did a great job in doing it and they’re out there trying to do their job and a false narrative went out … ” Kroll said.
As Collin pointed out, Kroll is no stranger to controversy and false narratives. But she also pointed out how critics have overlooked how, unlike MPD leaders past and present, Kroll advocates for getting the facts before making decisions or drawing hasty conclusions.
Kroll reflected on the fact that, “If you think back to the Floyd incident and the riots, the only thing I put out was is now’s not the time to pass judgment. Officers are cooperating with the investigative process. We need to see more video, let this whole thing unfold. And cooler, calmer heads could have helped deter all of the damage.”
“If you would have had leadership come out at that time and ask for calm and say, we’re investigating thoroughly rather than just make it a racial incident and everything that unfolded afterwards, we all would have benefited from that,” Kroll said.
