Finney - Saint Paul Police

Finney - Saint Paul Police Chief Bill Finney is leaving his job as St. Paul Police Chief:

"Finney will be leaving a department much changed from the force he took over 11 years and three mayors ago.

His tenure has marked a shift from the 'professional,' paramilitary model of policing to a 'community policing' strategy that has attempted to forge closer ties between officers and the neighborhoods where they work."

There are a long list of reasons I prefer Saint Paul to Minneapolis - less expensive, better neighborhood character, better schools, the best urban fire departmentin the US - but the police force is an important one. While there are exceptions (like with any police department), the Saint Paul police are a sharp contrast with the Minneapolis department. Saint Paul has had as successful an implementation of "community policing" as any city in the country, and the comparison of crime rates shows it.

Minneapolis' police department seems to follow the same model that the Los Angeles PD had under Darrell Gates (and still reportedly has) - the too-small force motivated by a strong "us against them" ethic. And while there are many great cops in Minneapolis, the MPD seems to have a different feel about them on the street - tense, edgy, prickly - that you don't generally find with the SPPD. And Bill Finney is largely responsible for that ethic.

Finney had his critics of course:

There have been regular allegations that St. Paul officers have used excessive force, and that the chief has been lenient with friends and family members who allegedly have strayed from the law or department policy.

Most recently, Finney's son, St. Paul Police Sgt. Jon Loretz, has been accused of assaulting patrons at a local bar during a melee on Oct. 19. Loretz denies any wrongdoing, and the case has been turned over to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for investigation to avoid any conflict of interest.

One episode about Finney is, I think, illustrative - and bear with me, my memory of the details may be a tad fuzzy after nine years.

In 1994, two Saint Paul cops and a police dog were murdered by a deranged ex-Marine during a nightmarish day-long manhunt in Saint Paul. After the shooting of the first officer, a citizen fired at the perp as the perp was drawing a bead on a woman that had seen the shooting. The impact of the bullets on the car scared the perp, and probably saved the woman's life, and certainly helped the police, who were quickly told they were looking for a bullet-holed car with two blown-out windows.

The Ramsey County Attorney - Tom Foley, if memory serves - did his best to try to bring charges against the citizen. The police department, reportedly at Finney's direction, refused to cooperate with the prosecution, and eventually decorated the man.

Bill Finney has not been the perfect police chief - but compared to the Olson years in Minneapolis, I think Saint Paulites have every reason to be thankful for the Bill Finney years, and hope we do as well with our next chief of police.

Posted by Mitch at November 4, 2003 07:14 AM