Thursday, March 05, 2015

The Justice Department reports on Ferguson have been published. Officer Wilson is not charged with any breach of federal law, and the report on institutional problems in the Ferguson PD reads as if it were Champlin, with an overlay of racial problems not present in Champlin. We can be thankful for the comparative professionalism in Ramsey's policing policy and conduct.

There are a host of reports. This link contains the quote that shouts "CHAMPLIN" to me, loud and clear.

“Patrol assignments and schedules are geared toward aggressive enforcement of Ferguson’s municipal code, with insufficient thought given to whether enforcement strategies promote public safety or unnecessarily undermine community trust and cooperation,” the DOJ says. “Officer evaluations and promotions depend to an inordinate degree on ‘productivity,’ meaning the number of citations issued.”

The policies could only have undermined the cops’ self-respect and sense of mission.

“This culture within FPD influences officer activities in all areas of policing, beyond just ticketing,” the report observes. “Officers expect and demand compliance even when they lack legal authority. They are inclined to interpret the exercise of free-speech rights as unlawful disobedience, innocent movements as physical threats, indications of mental or physical illness as belligerence.”

Ask Dennis Berg about his anecdotal evidence about Champlin viewing the Anoka Bridge -to- southern town limits of Champlin - that stretch of Hwy 169 as the town's Nile River, the source of bounty and well-being in a town on the banks of the ever productive highway.

In fairness, Champlin police are not discourteous nor badge-heavy.

But they do write up those tickets. Some reporting about recent Ferguson practices of ticket fixing may likely not have parallels in Champlin. But it is the inordinate focus on patrolling Hwy 169, like fishing off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, that resonates with the Ferguson reporting. One would have to examine email evidence to see if there are any problematic communications, candor over citation issuance, etc., and absent that the evidence is clearly that Ferguson has problematic dimensions likely missing in Champlin.

But all those tickets, the will to enforce ... that seems to be real and constant.