Michael Campion, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety

Michael Campion, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety

Exactly what criminal use might a street gang have for a wood chipper? And what about a stump grinder?

Those were among the questions contemplated by legislators at a hearing Wednesday afternoon scrutinizing the beleaguered — and now defunct — Metro Gang Strike Force. The special session was prompted by two damning reports released in recent months alleging that the law enforcement agency routinely seized money and other items from citizens without justification, failed to adequately account for its assets and displayed a general disregard for the civil rights of citizens, particularly minorities.

The evidence from the two probes has been turned over to the FBI in order to look into possible criminal charges.

The initial report from the legislative auditor’s office was released in June. Among the findings: the law enforcement agency couldn’t account for 14 vehicles and thousands of dollars in cash that had been seized from individuals. In addition, the probe scrutinized 545 instances in which cash was appropriated from people. Investigators discovered that in 202 of these cases, the proper paperwork accounting for the seizures could not be located.

“We basically found that the gang strike force lacked fundamental controls,” James Nobles, the state’s legislative auditor, told legislators. “When we went to the gang strike force the problems from the first day we walked in the door were obvious.”

Among the other assets seized by gang investigators: the aforementioned wood chipper and stump grinder. While Nobles acknowledged that some people might be amused by these unusual purported tools of criminality, he insisted that it’s not a laughing matter.

“Upon reflection it really concerned us that the gang strike force had gone out and seized somebody’s wood chipper and stump grinder,” he said. “I don’t know that that’s involved in gang and criminal activity. It seems to me that’s somebody’s business livelihood that they took.”

The legislative auditor’s report was followed by an equally damning assessment from former federal prosecutor Andy Luger and former FBI agent John Egelhof. It determined that some gang investigators routinely mishandled seized property and violated the civil rights of individuals, primarily minorities.

“We reached the conclusion that some of the individuals at the Metro Gang Strike Force engaged in serious misconduct, misconduct that we believe was appalling and outrageous,” Luger told legislators at today’s hearing. “Something went terribly wrong at the Metro Gang Strike Force, and it must never happen again.”

Luger stated that the handling of investigations was so slipshod that it was impossible to conduct a thorough probe of the agency’s operations.

“We cannot overstate how poorly documented the strike force’s operations were,” Luger said. “File after file that we reviewed is missing essential documentation to explain what happened in an investigation or with an informant or with evidence. Some files were simply empty. This is inexcusable and would not be tolerated in any professional police agency.”

Much of the blame for the troubled law-enforcement agency has been laid at the feet of former gang strike force commander Ron Ryan, who retired last year. According to Nobles, when the new commander, Lt. Chris Omodt, of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, attempted to clean up some of the problems he encountered serious blowback from his new charges.

“So here you have a man who is walking into a difficult situation as a commander of a paramilitary organization and he clearly did not have command of the situation,” Nobles said. “That I think is a very dangerous situation.”

The Metro Gang Strike Force was established by the legislature in 2005 following the dissolution of a similar agency that operated statewide. Legislators expressed dismay that the problems at the organization had apparently been festering for several years without coming to their attention. Sen. Linda Higgins (DFL-Minneapolis) wondered why the word “corruption” had not been used in either of the reports scrutinizing the gang strike force.

“These are people who have, or should have, the public trust,” Higgins noted. “Did you think about the fact that this is corrupt behavior?”

Luger didn’t exactly shoot down this characterization of the investigation’s findings.

“We did not come across any evidence in our review of an officer taking money from an individual and putting it in their pocket,” he said. “We can debate the definition of the word corruption, but that is the kind of behavior that I would use that term to describe. Others may use that term to describe what’s in our report. We chose not to.”

Some legislators expressed surprise that few of the people whose assets were improperly seized apparently raised a stink about the matter. But Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) suggested that the lack of uproar shows a troubling cynicism among many metro residents with regards to law enforcement.

“Some of these people are just beaten down and they’re not going to fight,” Latz said. “Because they know if they do they’re going to be targeted again. The cops are going to come back after them again and again and again, and make them pay for standing up for their rights. This is not in defense of gang-bangers. This is in defense of every citizen, or person, that is entitled to a certain amount of rights under state law just as a member of our society.”

Near the close of the three-hour hearing, the state’s public safety commissioner, Michael Campion, addressed legislators. He vowed to get to the bottom of the matter and implement any changes deemed necessary by the legislature to avoid such systemic failings in the future.

“In hindsight I believe now that we gave the Metro Gang Strike Force and its two advisory boards too many chances,” he said. “This is a very sad time for law enforcement and people in the criminal justice system.”