The Profession That Dare Not Speak Its Name

The Minnesota State College and University System (“MnSCU”) includes 37 colleges and universities around the state, and trains a large majority of Minnesota’s law enforcement officers. Only you can’t call them “law enforcement” anymore:

One of Minnesota’s public university systems has ordered its schools to remove any and all references to “law enforcement.”
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“One of the changes is that law enforcement has to be taken out of everything,” the [MnSCU] email reads. “Meaning the website, business cards, sign out front, directional signs to the building and so on.”

What is going on here? It is part of the institutional attack on the police that we have seen in recent years:

These changes stem from recommendations made in February 2021 by Minnesota State’s “Taskforce on Law Enforcement Education Reform,” which was convened in August 2020 after the death of George Floyd. Minnesota State says it educates 86% of Minnesota’s law enforcement officers in various programs across its 54 campuses. These programs are being completely revamped, according to a report issued by the task force.

The report identifies “creating anti-racist law enforcement education programs” as one of the top objectives.

“Rename Minnesota State Law Enforcement Programs to Peace Officer Training Programs,” one of the recommendations in the report says.

The report also calls for removing “paramilitary language from all law enforcement education programs, courses and training.”

Further changes include incorporating “cultural competency” into the curriculum and requiring “anti-racist education courses [to be] a part of the core set of course requirements for law enforcement programming.”

Alpha News asked Hennepin Technical College, which trains police officers, for an explanation:

In an email to Alpha News, a Hennepin Tech spokesperson said the changes are “designed to focus on a holistic approach to community service and provide future peace officers the needed knowledge and skills to be successful in the field.”

But why does “law enforcement” need to be abandoned? Isn’t that what police officers do?

Another source with insider knowledge of the situation told Alpha News that law enforcement course instructors were told the phrase “law enforcement” is “triggering” to certain people.

To criminals, I suppose. In the modern world of “anti-racist” policing, we can’t have that.

Not surprisingly, the anti-law enforcement attitude, of which these changes are among many manifestations, has not been conducive to recruiting new officers. Who would want to go into law enforcement when the institutions that would train you won’t say “law enforcement” for fear of “triggering” someone?

Very few, naturally. The linked article says that enrollment is down by 80% in some programs.

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