opinion

they should partner with the dea as many other cities/counties do, using the dea as leadership with local police to help fill the ranks

This is horrible. If one of the Strib's goals is to entertain then I would agree they are succeeding. As far as providing a watchdog function this paper drops the ball through omission, deletion and censorship. Go ahead, write something remotely controversial and watch it get deleted. Where is the Strib coverage of Doug Kelley's role in the Petters scam? 35mm in legal fees as receiver, trustee and former Petter's lawyer. Have the victims gotten a cent? Find a precedent in a fraud case where the receiver and trustee are the same person. Let's see an expose of the legal cronyism is this community Nancy. The biggest story of the last year completely ignored by the "watchdog" media.

Hello Nancy. Turn your reporters loose and tell the truth about what's happening at the University of Minnesota, when so-called researchers like Dr.'s Schulz and Polly are able to rack up hundreds of thousands of dollars of personal income at the expense of tax payers. The U doesn't quite get it, that those Dr.'s are first and foremost employees of the U, not some pharma company. The psychiatry dept at the University of Minnesota is nothing more than a carnival booth, with mentally ill people the mark, and the so called psychiatrist reaping all the prizes.

"We learned, through Furst's reporting, that STEALING had become common practice on the ORGANIZED GOVERNMENT INTIMIDATION SQUAD AGAINST BROWN PEOPLE, first to help fund the ORGANIZED GOVERNMENT INTIMIDATION SQUAD AGAINST BROWN PEOPLE, and occasionally so CRIMINALS COULD HAVE ALL THE NICE THINGS THEY WANT. (This is IN AMERICA, where many non-brown people are still amazed when brown people are not sufficiently appreciative when white people with guns come into their neighborhoods (or other countries for that matter), in order to save them from other brown people by treating ALL OF THEM AS THE ENEMY FIRST.)

Since this horse is dead and safely buried, perhaps you'd like to try wading into some other real corruption. Why not start with a little investigation of where the stimulus money is going? How 'bout looking into the money being spent in the various nonexistent congressional districts in the state. I mean, it may seem a little strange, rooting out inefficient spending by this administration, but it could be worth a look. I know you have important stories to contend with such as old people falling down, but this spending one is really staring everyone in the face. Just a friendly suggestion from a reader.

I remember Randy Furst being raked over the coals in the comments section after he first broke the story of irregularities at the Strike Force. I remember the outrage that he would try to tarnish the reputations of a fine group of law enforcement heroes. Thing is, I don't remember any apologies offered as the deeper stories unfolded and he was proven to be correct. I guess no one wants to admit that folks at the Strib sometimes get it right.

Great Work on this story by Randy Furst and the Strib. People don't realize how widespread the corruption runs in our metro law inforcement. There is currently no accountability for officer misconduct and this has lead to a police force where bullies roam free and lying is commonplace. Where are the criminal investigations of Minneapolis Police Officers Lucas Peterson and Sherry Appledorn? Both shown in recent Strib articles to have lied in their reporting.

a part of the mpls police force...the strike force just exposed a bunch of them as they got complacent for having been allowed to run roughshod for so long. Those officers and many more like them exemplify the kind of people we DONT WANT on our force. They lacked the personal integrity, the sense of fairness, the HONOR, and the plain decency that we should EXPECT from ALL of our law enforcement authorities. Now the price is being and will continue to be paid for the damage that this group has caused the city of mpls and law enforcement as a whole.

Why is it that Bob Bushman is named in these articles as the Statewide Coordinator and has his office in the same building, but he gets no blame? How can he not know that there is $400,000 cash in the building? If he knows, he's at fault and if he doesn't, he's at fault too!!

There was nothing new in this article the investigation will work its way through system and if warranted charges will be filed.In the end careers will be ruined if warranted and convictions are acquired.The real question is why wasn't there an investigative report done on who and why funding to strike force was cutin first place.What feel good program did Pogemiller and and old what's her name steer money too.I can guarantee that money not cut from budget.How about some real investigations by the biggest print media in state.Like why were votes not counted in senate election.Why more prisons not being built instead of trains to no-where.How about an investigation into how much money rampant welfare claimants from other states cost school's,taxpayers and public safety.The Police are an easy target Ms. Barnes for once it would be nice to see you become a little original and do what press is supposed to do expose stories that have not been beaten to death.