Police chief's decision to skip forum could tarnish department

Police Chief Janeé Harteau likely damaged her efforts to improve relations with some community groups Thursday when she backed out of a forum on police and community relations.

Harteau said she decided to withdraw from the event because of fears that some participants were planning a "direct action" which would pose a public safety threat.

But City Council member Alondra Cano, who organized the forum, said city officials pressured the chief to drop out of the event weeks ago.

Cano, who represents the Ninth Ward, said two weeks ago Harteau told her that Mayor Betsy Hodge's office and the city's Civil Rights Department had sent messages that were not supportive of the chief's appearance at the forum.

"They were questioning why she was going. 'Why spend time doing this?'" Cano recalled. "And that was the first time I had heard that these organizations were not supporting the idea of the forum."

Kate Brickman, a spokeswoman for Hodges denied that the mayor's office and city officials had tried to discourage Harteau from attending the forum.

City spokesman Matt Lindstrom said a civil rights department official also disputes Cano's claim.

• More: Mpls. police chief pulls out of community meeting, citing protest concerns

Cano said she organized the meeting because of concerns many of her south Minneapolis constituents have about police brutality. She said she was shocked to hear about the pressure on Harteau, but was also disappointed when the chief decided to withdraw from the meeting.

"It was a huge disrespect to the community to not have her there," Cano said. "It was another opportunity for folks to feel like the system has failed them again. This idea that a new leader, a woman of color, could help us turn things around, just is not part of the dream anymore."

Harteau said in a statement on Friday that she plans to meet with her advisory council next week. On Thursday, just a few hours before the meeting, Harteau said she had received credible information that protesters had planned action that would not only be disruptive but dangerous.

"Public safety is our number one goal," Harteau said. "And I can't in good conscience attend something that I feel has the potential to be physically violent."

Nancy Heitzeg, co-founder of the Coalition for Critical Change, which supported the forum, said the only "direct action" planned by her group was to carry signs and hand out flyers.

"I don't know where those concerns came from," said Heitzeg, whose group encouraged people to come to the forum and have their voices heard.

Heitzeg, a professor of sociology at St. Catherine's University in St. Paul, said the coalition formed in response to the shooting death of an unarmed black man by a white cop in Ferguson, Missouri last month.

The coalition sent out a press release in advance of the meeting saying the group intended to "take action" locally, statewide and nationally to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Heitzeg said she would have liked to have seen a conversation last night between Minneapolis police and members of the public about policy or law changes designed to bring about more officer accountability, such as the use of body cameras by officers, a requirement that officers live in the city and that officers carry their own liability insurance.

"It certainly does not help relations if a failure to appear is couched in some pretty wild and unsubstantiated rumors," she said.

However, Michelle Gross of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said the goal overall of the forum was not to improve relations between the community and the police, but to "improve the police." She said some people who went to Thursday's meeting didn't want to sit and listen to a power point presentation by the police on their efforts to improve community relations.

"People were saying they weren't going to put up with that," she said. "They were going to say at one point, 'hey listen, we came here for you to listen. And it's time for you be quiet, sit down and let us talk.'"

Gross said her group's plan did not include any physical confrontations. She said members of her group came prepared with a list of 30 things the city could do to improve police accountability.

Gross said she and other activists are talking about setting up another opportunity for the chief and members of the City Council to hear their proposals and concerns about the police department.

Harteau said in her statement Friday that she is more than willing to engage in face-to-face conversations with the public, "provided they are conducted in safe and productive environments."

MPR News Reporter Curtis Gilbert contributed to this report.