Minneapolis police hiring the color

In the past, Rambix has dogged the local free weekly paper, City Pages, for its unending Marxist propaganda and its gradual move from simply a liberal publication to a left-left-leftist publication. In fairness, however, Rambix notes that City Pages has had a relevant history, as noted in a 6/26/05 post:

The City Pages had a history of some good investigative work, and some very interesting stories that papers like the Red Star would never print. They might write an expose on the local crime scene unit, or do a profile on some interesting local personality. Fun reads.

City Pages hasn't published much in recent years worth reading, but every once in a while they manage to do what they sometimes forget they do best: bust out a local investigative issue. A January 4, 2006 article by G.R. Anderson chronicles the (professional) relationship between the mayor and the Police Chief in Minnesota's most dysfunctional city, Minneapolis: "Splitsville?".

When R.T. Rybak brought Bill McManus to town to head the MPD, both men talked big about reforming the troubled department. But when the chief ran into political resistance, some say, the mayor blinked. Now their relationship has hit the skids, and the future of McManus and his bid to change the Minneapolis police are in doubt.

If nothing else, read the story for the Alice in Wonderland oddity of one Minneapolis liberal calling another Minneapolis liberal not "progressive" (liberal) enough. The characters in the story are alluded to with regard to their political (city politics) perspectives, but the reader tends to forget that no one involved is a centrist, much less to the right of center. That's how Minneapolis politics is played - everyone is to the left of center; the only difference is how far.

The article reveals some of the inner workings of the halls of power in Minneapolis, but it also reveals some information that city residents should find troubling. The city does not appear interested in hiring the best cops, rather it is more interested in hiring cops "of color". That's not to say cops of color may not be the best, but you'll notice merit is not the criteria. The main criteria is the color of their skin:

McManus apparently did not like the fact that the list of hires consisted of one African American, one Latino, one woman, and 11 white men (one of whom eventually dropped out). The chief had promises of his own to keep: Part of the reason he had been hired in the first place was to mend the MPD's terrible reputation in local minority communities, and to stem the tide of police misconduct complaints, lawsuits, and bad press. Toward that end, McManus had reshuffled the department brass to put more African American cops in positions of power and visibility, and he had pledged more officers of color on the street too.

It's understood that agreements have been made with the Community Relations Council, various citizen groups, and the race hustlers to increase minority representation among the police, but what is the justification for hiring based on race over merit?

The city has suffered escalated violent crime since the spring of 2005, yet crime suppression does not seem to be the focus of either Chief McManus or Mayor Ryback. In fact, the City Pages article barely touches on the immediate issue of keeping the citizens safe. "Diversity" and "Tolerance" seem to trump crime fighting, and the Mayor and the Chief of Police are silent on actual crime issues.

What would the survivors of Thomas Dahl have to say about that?