An Imported Force

Minneapolis gets high marks for its “quality of life,” but the home addresses of its cops tell a different story. According to police insiders, less than ten percent of Minneapolis’ police force lives within city limits. Mayor R.T. Rybak and would-be mayor Hennepin County Commish Peter McLaughlin both claim they want more cops living in the city, but think it’s better to make it happen with the carrot (financial incentives) rather than the stick (no residency, no job). Neither believes the “political will” exists to revive a residency requirement, but it’s worth noting that their assessments are based on feedback from the very groups that oppose residency—i.e., public employees such as the cops and their suburban allies in the Legislature.

In 1993, north Minneapolis DFLer Richard Jefferson convinced his initially skeptical state Legislature colleagues to allow Minneapolis and St. Paul to require that their public employees live in the cities they served. Jefferson argued that residency would shore up the municipal tax base and keep city employees—particularly police officers—from appearing as mercenaries who took their money and their stabilizing presence home to the suburbs every night. But by 1999, the Minneapolis Police Federation succeeded in getting it repealed, with the help of a group of largely suburban legislators, led by former state senator and Minneapolis police captain Rich Stanek. Stanek says several Minneapolis City Council members, allegedly facing recruiting problems and city worker opposition, wanted to deep-six the residency requirement even before the Legislature did, but, fearing a grass-roots backlash, they lost their nerve.

When I asked McLaughlin if he thought Minneapolis should lobby the Legislature to reinstate the authority, he replied that doing so “would be a misplaced use of the city’s political capital.” Rybak supports the “concept” of a residency requirement, adding, “The presence of cops living in the city does create a greater sense of community and makes everyone feel safer.” But he also said he would rather focus on diversifying the department, starting with outreach at inner-city high schools.

Rybak’s unspoken assumption—that recruiting black and brown city kids means they will live in the city after they become cops—is probably wrong. According to Sgt. Charlie Adams, head of the Minneapolis Black Police Officers Association, virtually none of Minneapolis’ forty-eight or so black cops live in the city. He himself left north Minneapolis for Brooklyn Park four years ago. “I grew up in the city, loved it, and used to be all for residency,” he said. “When I lived in North Minneapolis, however, I had to teach my kids to hit the ground when they heard gunfire. Now I don’t have to worry about things like that. Furthermore, I like the fact that I am relatively anonymous up here. My biggest problem is figuring out which neighbor’s dog pooped in my yard. And that suits me just fine.” With a bit of prodding, Adams admitted that in the suburbs he could live “incognegro,” safely insulated from the Minneapolitan expectations that he be at the community’s beck and call 24/7.

Let’s face it—the majority of people living in the metropolitan area are suburbanites. Should cops be penalized for having similar residential preferences?

Minneapolis City Council Member Natalie Johnson Lee is not terribly sympathetic to the anonymity argument. She believes that a critical mass of police officers must live in the city before cops can truly become a part of the “fabric of our community.” She makes no bones that getting cops “24/7” is one of the primary reasons she supports both a residency requirement and a fight to renew Minneapolis’ authority to impose it.

I’m with Johnson Lee on this one. Commuting in for an eight-hour shift and then checking out may be acceptable for average citizens, including other public employees, but cops are part of a gun-carrying, arrest-making quasi-military force. Along with these powers, cops have a special responsibility to really know and understand the citizens that they have pledged “to serve and protect.” Ask anyone who has lived in a college dorm, served in the military, or spent three weeks at Camp Gitcheegumee—living among people from different cultures breaks down stereotypes and builds trust, the key piece in establishing a real community. In a city where, rightly or wrongly, many minority citizens do not trust the police, I know that I’m more likely to trust someone if he’s committed enough to my community to share in its joys and challenges 24/7.