One of the few issues to draw bipartisan support at the Minnesota Capitol this year has been efforts to recruit and retain officers using money from the state’s projected $7.75 billion budget surplus.
But one of those initiatives — a $1 million pro-cop advertising campaign — proposed by Sen. Karin Housley, R-Stillwater, has set off a pointed debate in the Republican-led Senate for its timing and messaging after the killing of Amir Locke by Minneapolis police.
The debate has also turned into a proxy fight over broader police issues that are sure to play a role in the fall elections that will determine who controls the House, Senate and governor’s office.
Part of a larger recruitment effort
Housley’s bill would direct the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to work with the state’s police licensing and training board on an ad campaign the legislation says will “publicly promote the importance of peace officers for the safety of Minnesotans” and draw more people into the profession.
While the legislation doesn’t specify what that ad campaign would look like, police officials say they’ve got at least a general idea.
In a hearing last week in the Senate’s Judiciary and Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee, Jeff Potts, executive director of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, said the money could be spent on a “branding and marketing campaign” that could be used by colleges and universities with police training programs and by departments themselves that are hiring.
Potts said when such branding material is “done properly and done well” it can be successful. He highlighted ads from the Alaska State Troopers selling law enforcement and Alaska’s outdoors and environment as desirable. Potts said similar “robust” marketing and branding campaigns for the armed services have also worked, even if policing and the military aren’t the same profession. Potts noted there are roughly 900 open police officer jobs in Minnesota right now and a drop in enrollment in the state’s law enforcement education programs.
In a separate hearing Thursday in the Senate’s Finance Committee, Housley said the ads would “build up the entire field of law enforcement” at a time when the industry is having a hard time attracting workers. “The morale of our police officers right now is so so very low and there are so many police officers that are retiring early and they can’t fill the void of these police officers that are retiring,” she said.
The GOP is fast-tracking Housley’s bill, aiming for a vote by the full Senate on Monday, even though the $1 million ad campaign is only a small part of a $65 million Republican plan aimed at helping recruit and retain officers. The GOP also hopes to pass $20 million for bonuses offered to new officers and $40 million for scholarships and grants tied to law enforcement school programs.
Most legislation in the House and Senate is passed in a package that is tied to a specific topic area, such as public safety. Then, later in session, lawmakers from the two chambers meet to negotiate a final agreement to approve the “omnibus” bills. Some standalone bills do get floor votes, but no other police recruitment and retention bill has been slated for a floor vote by itself in the Senate, suggesting the ad campaign measure is an urgent priority for the GOP.
Republicans aren’t the only ones to support an ad campaign. DFL Gov. Tim Walz proposed spending nearly $6 million over the next three years on improving police recruitment, part of which would include developing an advertising campaign.
Walz also has other plans to increase recruiting and retention, such as scholarships for students, and House-majority Democrats are also generally in favor of such efforts. DFL legislators have already said they want to help recruit police candidates from diverse and nontraditional backgrounds, and Democratic House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler of Golden Valley plans to roll out a new set of recruitment and retention proposals later this week. In the Senate, DFLers on the chamber’s Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee backed a Republican bill that would increase financial aid for students seeking law enforcement degrees and even pushed to double the maximum grant awards in the proposed program.
Senate Democrats push back
But Senate Democrats have balked at some of the specifics of Housley’s ad campaign plan. Several lawmakers said the effort seemed too broad and unfocused, or said the police licensing board doesn’t have the experience to carry it out. Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen, DFL-Edina, said during the Finance committee hearing on Thursday that not defining the ad campaign or properly targeting it meant the plan might just be “throwing money into the air,” and said it wouldn’t do anything to reduce crime quickly.
Roseville Sen. John Marty, the top Democrat on the Finance committee, said what Minnesota “desperately” needs is “more understanding law enforcement that represents more the communities they work for.”
[image_credit]Screen shot[/image_credit][image_caption]Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen said during the Finance committee hearing on Thursday that not defining the ad campaign or properly targeting it meant the plan might just be “throwing money into the air,” and said it wouldn’t do anything to reduce crime quickly.[/image_caption]
Senate Democrats also had a larger point of disagreement: timing. López Franzen said Senate Republicans should “really be sensitive about the moment we’re doing this,” a reference to police killing Locke, sparking protests and prompting renewed scrutiny of police tactics in the Twin Cities and around the state. López Franzen said the legislation could be OK in a package of other police recruitment bills, but she said the GOP was “leading with this” in a time where there is higher distrust in police after a “horrible incident in our community.”
[image_credit]Screen shot[/image_credit][image_caption]State Sen. John Marty proposed removing the money for the ad campaign and instead spending $2 million on the “pathways to policing” career training program that aims to bring diverse recruits into law enforcement.[/image_caption]
“Saying we’re going to run an advertising campaign the week after that, we’re going to put a million dollars into saying ‘police are great’ — there are lots of wonderful police officers but let’s try and address the problems,” Marty said.
Election year politics
The political fight over the bill is also tied to both parties’ election plans for 2022. Republicans have already made support for police a key pitch. The DFL has used police reform and accountability as a campaign issue, and while some of their anti-crime plans rely on police, they also hope to fund community groups for help alongside officers.
[image_caption]State Sen. Bobby Joe Champion[/image_caption]
Sen. Eric Pratt, R-Prior Lake, meanwhile, responded to Marty’s earlier proposal by saying “why are we trying to not promote law enforcement as an honorable profession after the two years that we’ve been through.”
“I look at this and I say after spending two years of progressive politicians tearing down our police, trying to defund our police, besmirching their reputations, Senator Housley has got a reasonable bill here to try to build that reputation back up,” Pratt said. “And I think it’s a good try.”
Sen. Michelle Benson, a Ham Lake Republican running for governor, said police have faced protests at their homes, people calling them names like “pig” and “teenagers who feel free to flip you off as you’re driving down the road.”
“Maybe a sign that says we appreciate you keeps them from leaving,” Benson said.
And Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, said replacing the $1 million ad campaign with money for the pathways to policing program would be “voting against peace officers.” Republicans already had a separate $1 million bill for the pathways program, so they amended the ad campaign measure to include the money for advertisements and $1 million for career training initiative.
On Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee approved the bill on a 6-4 party-line vote. If and when the bill passes the Senate, however, House lawmakers don’t have to take it up quickly, by itself, or at all.
House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said Thursday she didn’t have enough context on the Senate debate to weigh in on whether it’s appropriate to pass an advertising campaign measure soon after the Locke killing.
“At the point at which something heads our way I’ll take a look at it,” Hortman said.
State government writer Peter Callaghan contributed to this report
What a joke. The state is (rightly) going to put time and money into recruiting more law enforcement officers. That is not enough for Senator Housley and the similarly empty suits in the Republican caucus, who have decided to get a few minutes of publicity for a “love the police” ad campaign.
This is nothing more than a distraction. Never mind the talk about reforming policing, and never mind the early concern shown about episodes like the summary execution of Amir Locke (whose death, according to some here, may be understandable or even excusable because he was sleeping in an apartment rented by someone with a criminal background). No, let’s play on the voters’ real fear of crime with an utterly meaningless gesture. We’ll say we love the cops, and that will prove our support for law enforcement!
Per the article Walz also wants an ad campaign
As a part of an overall recruitment campaign, not just as an empty “I [heart] Cops” gesture.
If you’re looking for wasteful government spending to cut a tone-deaf advertising campaign talking about how great it is to become a police officer would be at the top of my list. Everyone is aware of the profession of law enforcement and the current challenges. No advertising campaign is going to make the actual issues go away. These are difficult issues to solve. It reminds me of the ad campaigns taken out by Flint, Michigan when they tried to re-brand as a tourist destination after GM closed the automotive plants.
Also, why the special treatment for law enforcement? The public schools are desperate for workers in all job descriptions and are looking at a potential collapse due to an exodus of teachers. If the schools fall apart no amount of law enforcement will be able to put society back together again. Nurses are being overworked into leaving the profession. Nothing is being done to improve working conditions and we aren’t even replacing the nurses at normal retirement age fast enough. EMT are underpaid for a stressful job with irregular working hours which has caused a huge shortage. Pay for counselors and social workers isn’t high enough to make it worth taking on the college debt required to get the masters-level training needed for the job.
We have a crisis across the board in essential jobs paid for through government spending because wages and benefits are not growing as fast as they are in the private sector and working conditions are deteriorating. Why is it only police officers that get the focus?
Couldn’t agree more. We need police (and police reform) but I’m more worried about teachers and healthcare workers. But some people would rather ignore the problems in public schools and privatize education. And I guess if you don’t have a healthcare crisis you don’t have a crisis with healthcare workers.
Excellent point about recruiting for other hard-pressed public service fields.
Of course, ads yapping that “Teachers are Great” and “Nurses are Great” etc wouldn’t fuel the divisive Total Culture War that Repubs are seeking to incite (and fund with public money), so the question of “why not” answers itself…
To your point, the “Heroes Work Here” signs did nothing to stave off COVID, terrible working conditions, and danger for healthcare workers.
Without attention to underlying causes and conditions that are driving experienced people out of the profession, this campaign isn’t going to do squat. A cop who’s flipped off and called a racist while carrying an extra workload and fearful of making a mistake that’ll end his career isn’t going to think, oh hey, there’s a billboard! I’m not going to quit after all.
“Why is it only police officers that get the focus?”
That question practically answers itself.
Law enforcement is being drafted – sometimes willingly, sometimes not – as foot soldiers in the Republican-instigated culture wars. Perhaps it’s because of the authoritarian movement in the Republican Party, or because of a perception that beating the drum about crime will resonate effectively with the white electorate, especially after another highly-publicized incident of police violence against an African American (“Hey, too bad he died, but look where he was when he was killed!”).
Another attempt to generate ammo for the Culture War, a specialty of the Repubs. Indeed, it’s about all they have to offer.
Sounds like the Police Chiefs Association has some (marginal) ideas about what to do with this tiny amount of money, but ties it to actual recruitment via “marketing”. Fine, I guess.
But Repub operative Housley just wants to throw some taxpayer money away on some symbolic “Police Are Greeaaat!” ads, that will somehow (in her words) “build up law enforcement [when]….the morale of our police officers right now is so so very low…” It’s hardly worth the fight, since $1million will accomplish nothing, except allow Repubs to run their own “We Love Police!” campaign ads down the road.
Most likely some compromise can be worked out that doesn’t allow Housley her propaganda boondoggle.
This: López Franzen said the legislation could be OK in a package of other police recruitment bills, but she said the GOP was “leading with this” in a time where there is higher distrust in police after a “horrible incident in our community.”
This standalone bill gets an early hearing ahead of recruitment, training, pay and reform measures that will actually make a difference. This way, it’s just a taxpayer-funded GOP campaign ad.
Agree with this is a waste of taxpayers money. The campaign to demonize the police was free compliments of BLM, Democrats and media. The Twin Citiesdo not need a “feel good” campaign to counter all the negative things thrown at local police. What they do need are safe streets and less crime. A video will not accomplish this, only enforcing the law will change this dynamic.
Right on Joe. All I can hear are the liberal left try and shout over what has been presented. I don’t agree with this spending nor do I believe in spending money on the non profit groups that amounts to them spending on their hierarchy and as we have seen time and time again and they get rich and the programs do a lot of nothing.
The reply from the democrats” Democratic House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler of Golden Valley plans to roll out a new set of recruitment and retention proposals later this week. ” More liberal talk, and talk and more talk. What has he done so far? What will be his pet project he will attempt to fund at taxpayer expense.
I am a conservative and I don’t believe the spending of tax dollars without a specific measurable objective. How can these democrats object to throwing money at any and all subjects? This has always been the practice of the democrats. Their spending has never had a measurable objective, unless buying votes in an election is their goal. Think about it!
What we need is to address the mindset of the individuals who apply for the training offered and PLEASE asses the training programs being offered, and those teaching the students. I have been exposed to two of the law enforcement training programs in the state, and seen the results of both. I shake my head when encountering individuals from these programs.
Ed, you really need to read “The Afghanistan Papers.” After the two Bush wars, Republicans should never again be confused with anything related to “conservative.” Talk about throwing money away!
Just as meaningless as the “Support Our Troops” bumper stickers. But more expensive.
Next up: Republicans introduce legislation for an ad campaign branding
insurrection against verfied voting results as “legitimate political discourse.”
And it passed the Senate at 50-15. Seems the Dems liked it too.
Or they thought it was not worth the fight, despite it being an absurd waste of taxpayer funds.
It is usually wise to pick one’s battles.
and they know that the House isn’t in any hurry to pick it up as a standalone bill, so most of them are taking this for what it is: Karin Housley grandstanding again.
Proving that “bipartisan” is not a synonym for “well-thought-out” or “necessary.”
I’m saving this comment as a regular quote.
This smells like one made for campaign flyers
“people calling them names like ‘pig’” and “teenagers who feel free to flip you off as you’re driving down the road.”
I don’t normally encourage derision from legislators but I hope there was some laughter that happened when Senator Benson made this statement. If you are so emotionally fragile that teenagers calling you names will make you quit your job in law enforcement then I urge you to quit as quickly as possible. You need to be able to handle a whole lot more than that to be a good police officer. Also, don’t go into education, nursing, sales or any job that involves interacting with the public.
Obviously, it is not a single incident or several incidents of someone calling police a “pig” or some punk kid flipping their middle finger at the police. It is ludicrous to think that …. is that what you and ian are thinking? It is a culmination of ALL of the derision and criticism that is thrown at police … and that IS SIGNIFICANT for people who are risking their lives to protect our society and dealing with the worst of our society. The “pig” and ‘flipping’ incidents are meant just as a few examples, of many, that are happening.
I invite them to deal with all that without a gun and badge — try being a teacher. While I don’t think that it’s likely a whole lot of fun to be a cop in a time where the bad eggs ruined it for everyone, I do think that they need get a little bit of perspective. And maybe some therapy. Maybe make some friends in their communities. And work to get rid of the bad eggs to make it better for everyone. And if none of that helps, they’re simply in the wrong job. Or at least in it for the wrong reasons.
Maybe the recruitment drive needs to be something like: “Reform from within. Become one of the GOOD cops!” It might not only bring in a new kind of cop, but also embolden the “good” ones to help get rid of the bad ones. No more bad apples excuses. It’s like the lawyer jokes…mean, but with more than a hint of veracity. (And I say this as someone who loves working with lawyers. But only the good ones. There are enough of the bad ones to taint the whole barrel.)
I think the problem is one of cart’s in front of horses and what not. Clearly no matter how “good” your new recruits are, if they’re recruited into an organization like MPD they not likely to end up being good cops. One thing that the Floyd killing clearly revealed is that one bad cop surrounded the three good cops still gets people killed because it’s the culture, training, and organization that’s getting people killed and producing bad and dangerous policing. You can recruit people who WANT to be good cops, but unless they work in a “good” police force, the odds of good recruits becoming good cops is severely diminished.
The Serpico Effect is in place in most police departments. The barrel is full of rotten apples and rotten apples that come in contact with “good apples” just creates more rotten apples. Fiction is a good place to look at how the public really feels about police. Since truth is often stranger than fiction, authors grab tried-and-true scenarios that most everyone will believe and corrupt, racist, and brutal police (especially small town sheriffs and deputies), incompetent FBI agents, and corrupt and/or incompetent local politicians is always an easy favorite. When police are tasked and incentivized, first, with creating revenue and, second, with providing themselves with perks and spoils from property and cash seizures, it’s pretty easy to see how that will go bad.
To be fair, Paul, I was being somewhat facetious. It would seem that it’s the barrel that’s the problem–sure, a few bad apples go into the barrel, but the rot of the good apples starts with the barrel. No one knows what to do with all the apples to even begin to think about how to get rid of the barrel. Meanwhile, we keep putting all the apples in the same barrel. I have no idea how to fix the current issues with poor policing. I am pretty certain that reform isn’t going to work because we’ve been trying to “reform” for decades. It gets a little lip service, but real change requires a real change in perspective. And that would require changing the barrel.
Here’s what I don’t understand about all of this: Who’s actually responsible for low morale, and public distrust, and over-all disintegration of public confidence here? I don’t see how we can avoid the conclusion that the police themselves created this situation over the course of several decades. We have decades of police homicides, beatings, theft and corruption that Chauvin ends up being a poster child of. So do all these cops with low morale blame other cops like Chauvin, or are they just doubling down on their hostile population mentality?
And does anyone really think that a commercial or branding campaign of some kind, no matter how expensive, is going to fix this? Do you really think that MPD can wantonly ignore any direction provided by their civilian authorities and then recruit new cops as-if they’re not hostile to the community they’re supposed to serve and protect? Do you really think you can just slap some kind of commercial on top of this and pretend nothing happened?
Whatever.
I think the one consistent characteristic of government, regardless of which side, is an amazing inability to market anything competently. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it is evidence that any money spent by government to sell anything is a waste of money.