Comments on: No ‘anarchist KOA’: Cops in Minneapolis plan to boot would-be RNC campers from city parks

By: hartman_john

hartman_john — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:56:40 +0000

As long as they don't bother the lefse bakers, the cops can do as they please.

By: robmpls

robmpls — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:57:43 +0000

Chris-

Thanks for that. "Cleaning up camps" is certainly not the policy of the MPD, nor that of the Park Police as far as I know. I checked with the officers who were there and no one remembers saying that.

The reality is that in both Minneapolis and Saint Paul we are not interested in "moving the homeless out of the area," despite repeated rumours that we are doing just that. We enjoy a pretty good relationship with the majority our homeless population and they are often good neighbors who report when there are problems in their community. We don't want to jeopardize that.

RA

By: chrissteller

chrissteller — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 07:14:35 +0000

Commenter kcmpls raised a question that wasn't the focus of the meeting or of my story but seems worth asking. At the meeting, it was one of the other members of the Minneapolis police force who talked about “cleaning up camps that are forming” and also about what sets the seed for locations where people coming to protest the RNC may try to camp. I heard that as referring to existing camp sites, occupied or not, which might appear to visitors as good camping sites. If I misunderstood that and my comment response here are wrong, I stand corrected and thank you, Dep. Chief Allen, for the chance to clarify in any case that the speaker was not you or Lt. Goodsell, who I named in the story.

By: robmpls

robmpls — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 22:03:28 +0000

Chris-

You wrote:

Chris Steller
Posted jul 31 2008 11:44am with +0 votes

kcmpls, that came up briefly at the meeting. The police said they

By: hartman_john

hartman_john — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 16:51:02 +0000

“Minneapolis Park Police Lt. Rob Goodsell promised his force would

By: kcmpls

kcmpls — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 13:17:48 +0000

That makes me pretty mad. We already fail them by not having enough beds for those who want them, now we are going to take away the only semi-safe places they have to sleep.

I'm going to have to do some research and see if any local advocacy groups are going to try and open temporary shelters.

By: chrissteller

chrissteller — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:44:50 +0000

kcmpls, that came up briefly at the meeting. The police said they'd be “cleaning up camps that are forming” and that existing (homeless) camps would set the seeds for locations where new RNC campers might go. It sounded to me like camps that might be tolerated at other times would get broken up with greater enforcement of the camping ban during the RNC.

By: kcmpls

kcmpls — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:29:25 +0000

So, what happens to the many homeless Minnesotans who sleep in the parks and along the riverfront? Will they too be displaced? Where will they stay?

By: hartman_john

hartman_john — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

As long as they don’t bother the lefse bakers, the cops can do as they please.

By: robmpls

robmpls — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Chris-

Thanks for that. “Cleaning up camps” is certainly not the policy of the MPD, nor that of the Park Police as far as I know. I checked with the officers who were there and no one remembers saying that.

The reality is that in both Minneapolis and Saint Paul we are not interested in “moving the homeless out of the area,” despite repeated rumours that we are doing just that. We enjoy a pretty good relationship with the majority our homeless population and they are often good neighbors who report when there are problems in their community. We don’t want to jeopardize that.