“When I started, Black folks I’d speak to in Minneapolis seemed surprised that I’d been hired,” Chief Green said when I spoke with him recently. “They told me they and most people they knew avoided driving through Golden Valley.”
Members of the overwhelmingly white police force responded to both hires by quitting — in droves.
TIL black police chiefs are the answer to removing bad apples.
Mr. Harris is quick to point out that Golden Valley may not be the perfect model for the rest of the country. “This is a wealthy community with very little crime,” he said. “We can afford to go through this change. I realize that may not be the case in other places.”
tl;dr: Rich town with low crime rate does wacky changes, doesn’t really mean much, but still interesting
I wish that were true in Portland. Cops quit, the city stopped doing enforcement of most crimes, car/retail theft exploded.
Car theft (and catalytic converter theft) exploded during the pandemic irrespective of local police staffing. Only thing which helped there was going after the fences, but the cops mostly don’t care about that