In yesterday’s St. Paul Pioneer

In yesterday’s St. Paul Pioneer Press column “Time for Regime Change in Minneapolis,” we mentioned the pending federal mediation involving the Minneapolis police. The agreement of the mayor and the chief of police to submit the police to federal mediation has been a source of severe demoralization for the officers, suggesting that the police are a party to a dispute for which they have to answer.
Now a controversy has erupted over the makeup of the parties to the mediation, with the chief insisting on the participation of the Urban League as a party. The mediation set-up, including the secret membership of most of the parties to the mediation, is bizarre beyond immediate comment. One of the few publicly identified “community representatives” elected at a meeting this fall is a leader of Minneapolis Citizens Against Police Brutality, which might give you some idea why the officers aren’t too thrilled with the production. Interested readers should consult the stories on it in the Star Tribune yesterday, “Mediation with police will start when community is together,” and today, “Community panel involved in mediation still unknown.”
Incidentally, Minnesota readers may be interested to know that Rocket Man and I are scheduled to appear and discuss the column on WCCO AM 830 on Friday for the hour at 2:00 pm taking calls with WCCO’s Kim Jeffries. We will be preceded on the show by the targets of our column, Mayor Rybak and Chief Olson, who will appear between 1:30 and 2:00.

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