Down with Bob Kroll

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 28, 2019

Minneapolis Police Federation Will Quietly Reelect White Supremacist Bob Kroll as President 

At the end of March, the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, will almost certainly announce that Bob Kroll has been reelected for another two-year term as their president.  Details of the election are private – the Police Federation refuses to comment on the election – but Kroll’s misuse of his position make the election a public concern. Off-the-record sources indicate the Kroll is running unopposed.

The existence of Kroll as president is one of the many reasons why TCC4J is working for community control of the police. We will propose a city board that sets the hiring and conduct rules for officers, and which would make clear to officers who are racists that Minneapolis is not the place for them to find or keep a police job.

If we had proper police accountability, Kroll would not be a police officer.  Kroll has 39 complaints filed against him, including beating and choking a teenager while shouting racial epithets and starting a physical altercation while off-duty then using his position to have his victims arrested.

Kroll is a member of a white supremacist motorcycle club, City Heat, that displays Nazi and Confederate symbols on their jackets (http://www.startribune.com/controversy-follows-minneapolis-police-union-chief/361517061/).  Kroll and the group were named in a 2009 lawsuit filed by black police officers over racism in the department.

Kroll consistently appears in media making divisive and inflammatory comments.  After officers shot Thurman Blevins in the back, killing him, Kroll described Blevins as “fair game” and falsely stated that Blevins fired at officers.  After the police killing of Travis Jordan during a wellness check, Kroll described the officers as “heroic and courageous”. When no discipline was announced for the police killing of Jamar Clark, Kroll painted the officers involved as victims for having a year of paid leave and desk duty.

When the Police Officer Standards and Training board voted to defy Governor Dayton’s directive to name a training program after Philando Castile, Kroll was the only person to speak against the against using Castile’s name.

Kroll abuses his position as a platform for right-wing politics that do not represent the city, police department policy, or the average citizen.  He has acted against the orders of two police chiefs and two mayors using police uniforms and vehicles in ads for conservative candidates. When Minneapolis added placards to police vehicles to inform immigrants of their rights, Kroll embarrassed the city by appearing on Fox News to attack the policy.

One rare time that Kroll did not choose to make comments to the media was after officers in Minneapolis’ fourth precinct (a black community heavily impacted by police violence and harassment) decorated a Christmas tree with items representing racist stereotypes of the black community, such as a box of Newports and a bag of Takis.  Kroll had no comment about this.

In addition, when a Somali American police officer Mohamed Noor killed Justine Damond in a rich white politically heavy-hitting neighborhood, he also had very little to say compared to when white officers kill black, brown, and working-class community members. 

Minneapolis is in the top twenty communities nationally for killings by the police, and police violence and harassment is disproportionately directed towards people of color. Continuing to give a grandstanding racist like Kroll control demonstrates the Minneapolis police department’s racism and lack of concern for repairing relations with the community.

People say, “there are many good police officers”. Well, two years ago, 75% of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis chose to elect a violent white supremacist as their leader, and at the end of March, with neither fanfare nor protest, they will quietly do so again.

Who is TCC4J?

TCC4J was formed after the murder of Jamar Clark by the Minneapolis Police Department on the night of November 15, 2015. We stand in solidarity with all victims and families of police crimes. In particular, we have worked on the cases of Jamar Clark, Marcus Golden, Philando Castile, Terrence Franklin, Justine Damond, Marcus Fischer, Map Kong, Phumee Lee, Cordale Handy, Phil Quinn, Jaffort Smith, Justine Damond and others.  TCC4J is organizing for an All-Civilian Police Accountability Council which would control all aspects of Minneapolis policing from budgets, to the police rule-book, appointment of the chief, and hiring/firing/discipline practices and investigations of complaints.

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