Ep. 252: Retired Minneapolis cop tells all: Somali fraud, stolen cars, and ‘the last straw’

0:00A Minneapolis police officer worked for decades on the streets and tell the final straw. A candid conversation about shocking stories of new recruits, Somali fraud, and more. Next. We're going to call our guest today Sam, due to the anti-law enforcement sentiment in Minneapolis. He does not want us to use his name or show his face, but Sam, thank you for being here. Most importantly, thank you for your service, sir. Thank you for having me appreciate it. You served as a Minneapolis police officer for several decades until you recently retired. I know you've seen a lot in that time, especially the past few years, from the riots to skyrocketing crime and the lack of manpower that's been an ongoing problem. But I know there was something about the lack of cooperation with federal law enforcement during the recent ICE operation. Why was this the last straw for you, Sam?

1:01Well, for me, it was a long career in the anti-police sentiment, the defund the police, and everything making us out to be the worst people on the planet during the riots and act of the riots. And then just when things are calm, I'm relatively calm. You know, our politicians, city leaders, and they start going on and on about, we're not allowed to assist ICE with anything. We can't even let them use our parking lots. They're not allowed to use our restrooms. There's little or no cooperation. And it was just, it got to the point where all these years work, we've worked well with outside agencies. And all of a sudden we're being told not to because of political narrative. Do you think that if there weren't more cooperation from the Minneapolis Police Department, the Alex Pretti or Renee Good deaths would have even happened? I don't think there would have been any issues because when you have the mayor and the chief

2:02going on and on, say, let us know if you see ICE and interrupt their operations, etc. And I don't know exactly who said what because I try not to pay attention to them. But when they say that stuff publicly, it gets the entire population of Minneapolis and they're not provided. It gets people that don't live in the city coming into this city, causing chaos because they've seen it done before, especially during the 2020 riots. You know, and any good street cop knows that if you ask a good street cop, where are the bad guys? They'll tell you where the bad guys are and what to do and what not to do, what time to go in the neighborhood, what areas to avoid for detection. You know, ways to corden off a block, if they're going to take a violent person into custody, that's something that we could have assisted in and we could have held protesters that day. Just peacefully because we've learned very well on how to peacefully manage protests and people that are trying to amp up a situation

3:02and whether it doesn't need to be. We heard at one point that community service officers, so CSOs were even allowed to serve meals to illegal immigrants on duty. Do you know anything more about that? I heard it and it frankly disgusted me because we have a lot of work to do in the city and feeding people that honestly shouldn't be here and not contributing to society. Why are we feeding it? Is that our role as a police department or should that be like a social organization, you know, some type of social work? Because there's plenty of those organizations out there. I mean, every around every corner, there's another shelter or charity which serves the purpose of our community and I think isn't that what they should be doing. It's interesting because this line then was sort of drawn in the sand and you guys are ultimately paying the price. You know, we've heard from many officers who are planning to retire. Those who have also

4:03have plans to use the new state paid leave program that allows 20 weeks of paid leave. The Minneapolis Police Department has been struggling to keep officers on the streets for years now. Give us a sense though, Sam, just how many officers are even on patrol at any given time? How bad do you think things could potentially get here? Many years ago, it was not unheard of to have 10 to 12 officers on a shift. And now you're seeing officers and they're going out there with maybe three, four, five other cops. It would be a great day if there was five other cops on your shift. But for the most part, they're not putting out numbers that is really safe for number one, the citizens. Number two, the officers. Honestly, that's why this is in my opinion. This is why ICE and DHS came in with such a huge amount of officers agents because there wasn't enough Minneapolis to protect them. We couldn't protect them. And you saw that with that

5:03initial thing on Lake Street way back when there was so much disinformation going on and on about that. But we don't have the numbers to protect each other. We don't have the officers to safely navigate a potential hostile situation. And they're kind of playing with the numbers a little bit too, Sam, aren't they? I mean, they're counting these CSOs and these positions as full-fledged cops where that's not reality. And many of them have now moved into administrative positions where you have kind of this top heavy department now. And that wasn't the case before. No, it was a very, there was so many street-level officers out there that you could you could deal with everything. And there wasn't, there was very little community service officers and there was always a few here and there. But now you're seeing 10, 12 hanging around the precinct looking for something to do. But they're doing so much with the CSOs and the interns. I mean, because there's a lot of interns

6:04and you have the CSOs and then you have recruits and cadets. There are so many different levels and they have so many people in the pipeline, which is great. But they're not actually doing police for it. You're not going to see the numbers of what it used to be like. I mean, I think we're supposed to have over 800 officers. And there's not even remotely close to that many. They're at numbers I've never seen in my entire career. And it's extremely shocking to see when you're sending out three able squads, maybe four, five squad officers at most on a shift, sometimes two. There's so much concerns for officers safety that it's just becoming a really sketchy environment for the officers on a state. It's almost like this perfect storm of problems with retirements, paid leave, also recruiting, which I wanted to talk a bit more about MPD has a non-citizen among its ranks

7:06as we previously reported. There also seems to be a growing number of officers who do not speak English as their first language, along with some kind of pressure from what I understand to pass candidates with questionable qualifications. What can you tell us about that part of this story, Sam? There are a lot of new candidates that when you're training in a new officer, there's always going to be some criticism of that new officer, which is understandable, because that's how they learn. All over when these new officers are going to criticize, they're complaining, they're going to the supervisor who is in charge of new officers. And that supervisor is calling the individual training officers and saying, hey, can you speak nicer to this candidate? Can you speak nicer to the recruit? That's preposterous. And you're seeing a lot of the training officers, which there isn't that many, just deciding that it's not worth the training on another officer, because they feel like, well, I'm being told what to do. And also, if you're being forced to pass somebody,

8:12where's the liability going to come to? They've been a lot of officers feel like it's going to come on their shoulders. And that's still a scary proposition, because we've seen what administrations, politicians have done to demonize law enforcement, especially Minneapolis police officers. Are there even qualifications now at this point? They seem to at least be vastly different than they were even just a few years ago? Well, let's put it this way. From what I want to understand, there's people that are doing backgrounds investigations that are being told to push people through. And there's being officers that are going through training and failing miserably, but being pushed through. And let's be honest here, if you're if you wanted to be a cop in this state and you went through the schooling, why would you come to Minneapolis when we've been demonized for so long? And if you have all the qualifications, when there's how many departments around the state, especially in the metro area that pay way more than Minneapolis does, with a considerable

9:18less drama. And who wants to go to every day go to work with all the drama? Speaking of a drama, at the same time, City Hall doesn't seem to have a shortage of political messages these days. Just one recent example, we wanted to highlight the city sent this email to all employees about tracking reports of ICE activity and how they're working with community groups. There are plenty of emails I know about the so-called trauma stemming from federal law enforcement operations. Those emails continue. What's your perspective on all of this? Sam, is the city helping or hurting officers on the job with that kind of messaging? One instance throws an email that came out. And I believe it was after the first shooting involving ICE. And I believe if I'm almost positive that it was natural law enforcement day. And the email from the city manager was all about, let's take a moment of silence for this person who passed away, which obviously is very unfortunate and sad. However,

10:18you're sending this email is going to the police department. And all those cops are like, hey, what about us? Who live at every single day? Meanwhile, there's also the fraud. I know you have a unique perspective on this since you worked in Cedar Riverside for decades. That area has been recognized for having the highest concentration of Somali residents in Minneapolis. But along with all the fraud we've been hearing about, there seems to be more fraud that we haven't heard much about. More than a few first responders have told us that Somalis never seem to die. And a lot more can't even remember a call that involved the death of a Somali. For example, one paramedic who is responded to hundreds of emergency calls in cardiac arrest in Hennepin County told us that not one of them ever involved a Somali. So given your experience on the job, could this have anything to do with fraud? Well, it's very interesting that I've never been to a DOA involving a Somali,

11:19never been in my career. And I spent many, many, many years on the street. And it's, I don't know exactly what's happening, but we're not seeing it. And I find it very strange that something that happens routinely in the department on a daily basis that you do not see in a Somali DOA. It's very, it's very odd. I would love to know the reason why. What's your perspective on this as a former cop? Is Minneapolis safe? We have auto thefts in Minneapolis. They're up almost 40% from last year. And if I can ask a question that kind of says it all, are you planning to visit often? I would not say Minneapolis is safe at all. I would say that there's probably certain areas that are safe. And as far as like the odd, I've talked to people, victims that have their have their same vehicle stolen two or three times. And I think eventually that their insurance company said, we're not going to

12:19cover you anymore. So they have to shop for insurance because they can't get insurance because of where they live and the vehicle they have. And so I think it's disingenuous that say that crime is down. And there isn't as many auto thefts. Numbers are easy to fudge. And they do it all the time. And to be honest with you, if it wasn't to maybe go to a twins game during the day, rather than let know. And I tell everybody, I know don't come to Minneapolis. I've had family that lived in the city. And they've all moved out because of the way the crime is. And just how they see their taxes going to absolutely ridiculous things. And there they were just fed up and they left in the city that they left because they were both those in my family were a little eclectic and they liked the city. But why did you want to tell your story and talk about these issues? It breaks my heart for the cops that are there that that that that go to work every single day. And they put their lives on the line for people they don't know. And that that breaks my heart because

13:23they do that. They do that because that's what they were born to do. And now they go knowing that no matter what they do, they're scrutinized. And they can be held to such ridiculous standards and make them out to be these evil people when they're not. And it's like, you know, my heart goes out to these cops because a lot of the cops that I've met and known over the years, they did it because it was a calling. And now they're hiring people just because it's a paycheck. And you see that's what they're getting. They're getting people that just want to come to work for a paycheck. They've lost hundreds and hundreds of years of knowledge of veteran officers leaning because they're so fed up with it. And or some have gone to other departments. It's like, I'll take my experience elsewhere and I'll do good where somebody who appreciates me, a city, a city council, a mayor, a police chief that appreciates what I bring to the table. So it's those cops that are still there that are doing the right thing. And it just breaks my heart that they have to work

14:28under these circumstances because some can't leave. Because once you're into a career and you're making good money, you're building your pension and you want to retire, it's the stress that is involved in all that. And if you had a city council and an actual chief of police that actually had your best interests at heart, things have changed because they weren't different then. And I wish we could say there was light at the end of the tunnel. But thank you again for joining us. We certainly wish you well in retirement, sir. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. And we'll do it for this episode of Liz Collin Reports. We'll see you next time.