Police leadership in Minneapolis is urging the city’s Somali community, and other immigrant residents, to call 911 if they spot masked individuals detaining people in their neighborhoods.
At a Tuesday press conference, Brian O’Hara, Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), warned that some masked individuals detaining people “may be kidnapping people,” saying the department had received “those reports.”
He urged community members to call 911 if they were unsure whether those enforcing arrests were legitimate law enforcement — and pledged MPD would investigate and log every such call.
He did not stop at documentation, however. “If there is anything that is … a violation of someone’s human rights or civil rights, excessive force or anything like that, they absolutely have a duty to intervene as police officers,” O’Hara declared.
Brian O’Hara:
“Folks that are masked—when people aren’t sure if they’re law enforcement, or if they may be kidnapping people—we have had those reports. I want to be clear to the community: the community should know that if you see something like that and you don’t know whether someone is law enforcement, you should call 911 and provide as much information as possible. Because let’s not forget, we very recently had a tragedy in this state involving someone who was purporting to be law enforcement.So please, let’s be clear: that is something everyone should report, and we will immediately respond to it and document it—whether someone is unsure if there’s a kidnapping happening, or unsure if law enforcement is present or not.
And that is something else that is part of the additional policy requirements we are implementing: we will document and report these types of things anytime we hear them, and we are reminding our officers of their duty to intervene. So if there is anything involving someone’s human rights or civil rights, excessive force, or anything like that, they absolutely have a duty to intervene as police officers.”
Hellbound and Down 