It's 7 o'clock in the morning and a tall man wearing a wool cap and a hooded sweatshirt approaches a cluster of neighborhood activists on the corner of 25th St. and Bloomington Av. S. in Minneapolis. This is not how the neighborhood crimefighters figured their new chief of police would look. "He looks like one of the bad guys," says Shirley Heyer, part of a group that has stood vigil every morning for two years, trying to keep drug dealers, prostitutes and pimps away from kids waiting for the school bus. "Except his clothes are cleaner.
"Minneapolis has a new lawman, and less than two weeks after getting his chief's badge, Bill McManus is turning the heat up -- from street corners in crime-ridden neighborhoods to the highest level of the police administration in the City Hall bunker.First, he ticketed Mayor R.T. Rybak for leaving a city car unattended. Then he called a dramatic news conference to clear the name of wounded officer Duy Ngo but said nothing when Ngo made the astonishing statement that he did not feel safe in the Third Precinct because he doesn't trust the cops there. one officer had been cleared; dozens were now in question.
The next day, McManus stunned his department by suspending three top officers involved in handling the Ngo case, a move that could signal his intention to restructure a department that has been notoriously resistant to reform.If McManus was trying to distance himself from the nine-year administration of former Police Chief Robert Olson, mission accomplished. McManus has yet to put on his new chief's uniform -- he says he won't wear it until he is certified by the state police board and can carry a gun. But he has been taking a windshield tour of the city and hopping out of an unmarked Crown Victoria driven by officer Mark Klukow to meet citizens and cops every day. "I'm still looking at the city from 500 feet above ground," he says. "I want to be on the street every day, interacting with community groups and officers -- letting them know that the chief is out here and is actually aware of what's going on.
I'm not a street cop, but I've been there. All my assignments coming up through the ranks were on the street. I know what my role is, but I don't want to lead from a perch. "Is that what they call an 'ice dam?' " he suddenly asks as Klukow wheels the chief's car through the Phillips neighborhood and past a house with a thick ridge of ice above the gutters. "Yeah, but you see a lot worse than that," Klukow says.The mysterious ways of life in Minnesota are of great interest to McManus, who is trying to find a home for his family -- wife Lourdes, two small children and a third due in April. McManus rejected one home last week after structural engineers told him it would be extremely expensive to repair. Still, he is committed to finding a house in Minneapolis.
"I love this city," he says. "I love the size, the feel -- I like the energy downtown, too. I saw the marquee at the Target Center said Kid Rock and Beyonce are coming. I love that. "McManus listens to his favorite music, hip-hop, as he drives (it's making Klukow crazy) and talks about seeing Prince in Washington, D.C. "Prince is from here, right? That was the best concert I've ever seen. "McManus is still wearing his hooded sweatshirt as he arrives at the offices of the NAACP on Plymouth Avenue in north Minneapolis to introduce himself to president Brett Buckner.McManus promises Buckner that he will tell him the results of any investigations into police misconduct before the media are informed, giving the NAACP a heads up on any problematic findings. "All I'm going to do is go by the facts," he says. "But I'll keep you informed of high-profile incidents. "That's a great first step," Buckner says.
Buckner says some "elements" in the community need to be reined in but he objects to "liberties" taken by some officers in the past, especially the aggressive tactics of what he calls "suburban raiders. " He says the community wants "a new relationship" with the cops.McManus responds by talking about expanding community policing to the entire Police Department in order to "develop a better relationship. "It is all a kind of dance: The cops and the community have been at each other's throats and it's got to stop. "I am going to hammer this over and over until people are sick of hearing it, and then I'll say it again," says the chief. "We got to be more user-friendly. We gotta treat people with respect. "Then McManus outlines a policing strategy that may be user-friendly but also is meant to sound like it's for real.
"We're going to go after [illegal] behavior, whoever that may be," he tells Buckner. "We're going to surgically identify the individuals who pose the most threat and who are affecting the quality of life. I want to turn the temperature up on them, about a thousand degrees. But we need community support first, so there's no place for these guys to run. "I'm pumped, I'm excited, I'm glad you're here," Buckner says. "This is a good time for all of Minneapolis. "The two embrace like old friends and exchange a three-part soul brother's handshake as McManus departs.This is not your father's police chief.McManus heads to Franklin and Chicago Avs. for lunch at the Best Steak & Gyros restaurant owned by Sophal Nhep.
I wrote about Nhep a while ago: He asked McManus to talk to him about how to be a good chief and how to respect people. But when McManus comes through his door and orders a steak, Nhep is all smiles. "Everything I wanted to tell you, you already know," Nhep exclaims. "You're a step ahead -- especially with giving that ticket to the mayor!" Lunch over, it's time for McManus to change into a suit and tie for the news conference with Officer Ngo, the cop whose shooting has caused such division within the department. "I'd be less than a man to not have gone to see him," McManus says before the news conference he has called to refute rumors that Ngo shot himself before being machine-gunned by another cop.
Less than a man? If that seems harsh judgment on the way his predecessor left Ngo twisting in the wind, McManus can live with it. "I'd be negligent if I did not address it and let it linger," he tells the news conference, with Ngo beside him. This zinger seems aimed at the top cops -- McManus made them attend -- standing sheepishly behind him, staring at their shoes. Some were probably wishing they were somewhere else. By the next day, three were. "I'm going to move cautiously," McManus had told me earlier, discussing his leadership style as he toured the city. "That's a smart way to do it: Navigate the waters cautiously.
But the honeymoon could be over as quickly as the first incident happens. "Honeymoon? What honeymoon?"