Someone Call the ACLU

I live in Saint Paul, and I genuinely love the place It's a major city with a small-town feel - one wag called it "Fifteen small towns with one mayor", and he's not far off. While Minneapolis is largely a bunch of bedroom neighborhoods built around a Downtown, Uptown, Dinkytown (the U) and increasingly Northeast, the real action in Saint Paul is in the neighborhoods.

Despite the city's relentless DFL slant, we have some genuinely good city services: the best urban fire department in the US, and an excellent police department as well.

This morning's Strib tells the story of the SPPD's "God Squad", a group of inner-city ministers that the police call upon to help mediate problems.

The ministers walk the streets, attend high school events and talk to everyone from gangbangers to school administrators looking for ways to stem or prevent violence.

The ministers aren't out proselytizing or trying to fill pews on Sunday mornings. They say they're trying to keep volatile situations from turning deadly on Saturday nights.

"We're not trying to 'save' folks," said the Rev. Devin Miller, who helped start the group. "We're trying to save folks."

Harrington and other police officials credit the God Squad with helping to keep St. Paul one of the safest cities in the country by talking to suspects, victims, relatives and residents on behalf of police.

"There are times when the police will call us out and say, 'Why don't you guys handle this,' " said the Rev. Divar Kemp of the Greater Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church on Dale Street in the Summit-University neighborhood.

Harrington [SPPD Commander John Harrington] thinks the group is unique because police call them, and because ministers coordinate with police on ways to keep the peace. The relationship became more formal in November when the police gave the ministers dark blue windbreakers (called "raid jackets") with "God Squad" written on them.

Mixing church and state! Let slip the dogs of political correctness!

How long do you suppose it's going to be?

Posted by Mitch at January 2, 2004 07:14 AM