I know, I’ve been joking about it on the blog and among friends, but let me explain how these things work, for this historical record.

Minneapolis PD may be gone but Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department is not. The Sheriff will pick up the slack and likely will hire the Minneapolis PD officers that it wants, to swap patches. Some will have too much negative paper and won’t get picked up.

 

Likely to be repainted with Sheriff’s colors.

 

In a federated system of government if Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department didn’t do the job, the Minnesota State Police would step in, and so forth. Likely there are talks behind the scenes for Minneapolis to become a contract city for the Sheriff’s Office.

In the interim, it’s likely that the sheriff has taken on major case investigations and emergency response calls in the city. Minneapolis PD had about 900 sworn officers, I have no idea how the Sheriff will manage the transition. It’s a big problem, but that’s how things work.

Policing in the City of Las Vegas and Clark County is handled by the sheriff, who runs the “Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department”. The County of Oahu, Hawaii is policed by the Honolulu Police Department. This sort of arrangement is by no means unique. However, with Minneapolis being in the mess that it is, there will likely be growing pains.

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17 COMMENTS

    • If the department is dissolved, the city will make any residual payments to the terminated officers. The job no longer exists. The union may have obligations to its members and they’ll pay those out before they close the door. Terminated officers can go on COBRA for benefits until they find another job. If they are eligible for pensions, they can file. Usually its a state system and if they go to work for the sheriff or another department, the years of service will transfer with them for the purposes of retirement. If they haven’t vested, they’ll get a pay out for their portion of whatever they put into the pension system.

      The Sheriff will likely NOT allow any acquired seniority to transfer, though that’s negotiable. MPD captains may bump down to sergeant but again, that’s negotiable. In the police business reputations proceed the officers. Detectives may stay detective, etc.

        • And all this is going on during the Obamagate hearings… I wonder why?

          Or that just me being paranoid?

          • You cannot be thinking that this is meant to distract people from learning the true nature of the previous federal administration, can you?

            Paul L. Quandt

  3. OK, the ins and outs elude me. What is the law(s)? So many (P)regressives that can add J.D. after their names seem to ignore laws they find inconvenient. The work of a police department results in people in jail, prosecuted by others, and judged by still others. How can you have the prosecutors and courts without a legal requirement to have a police department? Wouldn’t you need to abrogate the statutes that allow the police to begin with? Can that be done with a stroke of a pen? If so, what happens to the decades of arrests resulting in convictions if the legal basis for those arrests no long exist?

    • Most state constitutions don’t require police departments. In fact, they aren’t mentioned. County sheriffs (who are elected) are mandated and those sheriffs are required to maintain custodial facilities. Usually they also have some patrol (in unincorporated areas) and investigative functions, run a crime lab and may contract with cities to provide police services.

      Police departments are the option of cities. They hire a chief and hire officers.

      Cities can form police departments and can dissolve them. Some cities have private pension plans but most opt with a state system. No city or county can dissolve a Sheriff’s department if they are constitutionally mandated. If there is a problem with a county sheriff’s department, technically, the state police can take over until the problem is solved.

      • In our Minnesota County, there are only two Law Enforcement Agencies, the County Sheriff, and the Police Department for the county seat. Everything outside the county seat is the Sheriff’s responsibility. The other cities and townships contract with the Sheriffs Department for coverage.

        For big cases and big crimes, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension assists in the investigations. It does the same for most of the Minnesota Counties. Most Minnesota counties do not have many or any homicides in a year, and most they do have are simple to solve, domestic violence and murder suicides.

    • > equals empty leftist posturing?

      I don’t think so. Even if there is minimal *practical* effect (which remains to be proven), it is a large symbolic victory. There is propaganda value, it heartens their foolish true believers, and tends to sway undecideds to their camp(s) on the principle of “people want to back winners”.

      • I’m disgusted by what I’ve seen – and the blowback that is still simmering will likely be felt at the upcoming election.

        It’s not “me” who will be hurt by this insanity but by the people I care about who will be dealing with it long after I’m gone.

        Black people are upset about being black – despite the fact that the previous two term president was for all intents and purposes, black.

  5. Yes. This is what I have been saying all along. Even if the pinheads in the Minneapolis City Council didn’t want to contract with the Sheriffs Department, the rest of Hennepin County will not allow the city to be unpoliced, and 800,000 sane people live in the rest of Hennepin County with only 400,000 crazies (likely many fewer next year) in Minneapolis. Add in the very rich and very influential Minneapolis residents that live in very pricey enclaves around the lakes and in some very exclusive neighborhoods. When you pay mid five figures a year for property taxes, you expect service.

    Fortunately Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman is a relatively sane, older prosecutor. But he is old, and after the successful Officer Noor prosecution for killing Justine Damond, he is also a recovering alcoholic. If the next election puts a woke Soros owned prosecutor in the County Attorney spot, things could spiral even worse.

    The Anoka County Sheriff has already said that he does not want to send his deputies back to Minneapolis next time.

  6. IF I were the Hennepin Co sheriff, I’d walk away from that mess. And the MSP should do the same. Once the smoke clears and the bodies have rotted away, THEN go in and police up what is left.

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