Sue Kolstad
Posted at 12:47am
My response to Sue Kolstad:
I would suggest the readers of this forum listen to Arradondoâs statements
yourself. The section of the video where Arradondo begins to speak, begins
about an hour in.
He does have a plan, which he explains, and he does provide facts to back up
the need for the plan. He makes it clear that the Police Department is
suffering from serious personnel shortages. He said the department went from
about 875 sworn officers, a year ago, to about 725 now. Considering that crime
has gone up, that makes it impossible to respond to all of the violent crimes
that are taking place. Unlike some of the Council Members, such as Ellison,
Arradondo was polite and professional at all times. Lisa Goodman apologized for
the disrespect shown toward Arradondo, and describe their behavior toward the
head of a city department as embarrassing.
Arradondo was not accusatory toward anyone, except for perhaps the criminals,
and the courts who he said, let them back out on the street, "the next day"
after his officers arrested them for serious felonies. He did express an
appropriate amount of emotion when describing the casualties the citizens of
Minneapolis have suffered though, saying at one point something like, "We can
go back and forth on this, but meantime our city is bleeding."
He said that even if the new classes of recruits come on, it will not be this
year. He said the additional officers would be used to respond to the
additional crime. He said people in the department have the expertise to come
up with a detailed plan, once they know what the are working with. Presumably,
after they know how much, if any money will be available and after they know
which other law enforcement agencies have personnel to spare.
He did not refuse any data to the Council Members. He referred relevant
questions to Director of Finance, Mrs McPherson, who was on the conference,
call. She answered all of the questions put to her, including questions
regarding liability and how long the contract would run.
The Deputy City Attorney Eric Nielsen was also on the video conference and
answered legal and other relevant questions, including further clarifications
about liability issues.
Mayor Frey was also on the video conference. He, perhaps provided the most
important data when he said that 500 people had been shot this year, and 74 had
been killed. The most interesting fact that he provided was that 81% of the
victims are African American.
It has amazes me that Black Lives Matter (BLM) donât seem to care about any of
those deaths and injuries. No one is asking people to say the names of any of
the victims of these crimes. I guess they donât fit the narrative, BLM, Antifa,
etc, trying to put out.
CJ Sparrow
