The Minneapolis School Board is poised to grant a low-bid, high-six-figures contract for liaison police services to the Minneapolis Police Department. It means a switch from the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board’s independent police force, which has provided cops to the schools for the last five years. The move puts cops who serve under Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak in schools—a boost for the youth violence prevention initiatives that Rybak took national at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting earlier this summer.

Park Commissioner Scott Vreeland raised the alarm on the Minneapolis Issues online discussion group yesterday after spying the switch on the school board’s consent agenda for its meeting tonight. Earlier, at the park board’s June 18 meeting, Vreeland asked Park Police Chief Brad Johnson about the status of the park police’s bid in response to the schools’ request for proposals (RFP). Turns out the park police had an "in"—Johnson’s brother Randall is the Minneapolis School District’s director of safety and security—but may still end up on the "outs." 

PARK COMMISSIONER WALT DZIEDZIC: Your brother still the security head for the school board?

JOHNSON: Yes he is.

DZIEDZIC: Have you talked to him about the contract at all?

PARK SUPERINTENDENT JON GURBAN (joking): Black that out.

JOHNSON: He was the one who put out the RFP.