Several weeks ago I saw in the Pioneer Press an article that described
the millions of dollars that St Paul taxpayers had to pay for the bad behavior
of some of the saintly city's cops. What "intrigued" me about
the article was the following statement:
"The city attorney's office
sends memos to all city departments at the conclusion of lawsuits, which
include recommendations for any changes. Grewing (City Attorney) said they're
confidential under attorney-client privilege, so she can't specify what
suggestions have been made, but sometimes they recommend changes to
training."
When I saw this statement I said to
myself, “That is not right - the public has a right to know."
The "corrective actions"
that the St Paul Police Department are going to take should be public. The public has paid out millions of
dollars because of lawsuits over police actions, and they have a right to know
what steps are being taken to correct those actions.
Should it be a secret what new
training the St Paul Police Department is doing to make sure that the residents
of St Paul are not beat upon? Is it so "top secret" that the
public should not know what policy changes are made to be sure that bad cops
are held accountable by the Chief and the public?
I decided to approach St Paul City
Council President Kathy Lantry's office and speak with her. I had
communicated with her in the past - most recently about the $300,000 plus
payout for the violation by St Paul cops of Anne Rasmusson's privacy.
Ms, Lantry was not available so I
spoke with her staff person Ellen Biales. I stated that the data should
be public and I encouraged her to ask the appropriate people to make it public.
Our interaction on this issue continued over the next couple of months, with
her telling me yesterday that the memos that were given to the St Paul Police
Department outlining "corrective actions" will remain secret under
attorney/client privilege.
The memos she described to me do not
deal with specific individual behavior, but recommendations for changes for the
Police Department to make sure there's accountability.
Now I appreciate Ms. Biales and
Council President's Lantry's office efforts to find out what the documents were
about and to entertain my questions. Whether or not Ms. Lantry wants to
have those documents public is another matter. But as my conversation
with Ms. Biales ended yesterday in the hallway of City Hall she made it very
clear to me they will not be public.
But Ms. Biales is not the person that
decides … it is not the City Attorney who decides … it is the client. The
privilege rests with the client, not the City Attorney. In this situation
as in most municipalities and in the City of St Paul, the most logical person
is Mayor Chris Coleman.
Mayor Coleman, the privilege should
not be claimed here, and the memos should be public.
It is interesting to note that nearly
$500,000 has already been spent in 2013 on settlements, courts costs, and staff
time for bad cop behavior.
Will actions of the cops be corrected if the public does
not know what the suggested recommendations for corrective action are?
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