There is something odd happening with reporting of crime in Minneapolis these days. First, almost every reporter relays MPD’s statements as fact, even as they have all seen as recently as in their original recounting of Floyd’s murder, that MPD has a problem with the truth.
For example, take this from @WCCO (the station, btw, that employs Bob Kroll’s wife Liz Collins as a reporter and whose national network (coincidentally, I’m sure!) landed the only interview with that police union head. google.com/amp/s/minnesot…
WCCO, like others, report on crime as if it were somehow being caused by recent efforts to reimagine community safety in Minneapolis. But wait, MPD hasn’t been defunded or reimagined yet. If something is failing it’s the department in its current form.
Isn’t this actually evidence that a department that can’t keep itself from harming and killing black people *also* isn’t good at preventing crime? But let’s look further: 
A resident saying that 911 told them they’re on their own and don’t “because they don’t have people to come help” seems like something worth pursuing. Are MPD officers engaged in a work slowdown in order to try to make the point they’re indispensable?
And what about those “bottles and rocks” being thrown at responders? This has been repeated over and over by local media. I’m not saying it hasn’t happened, but in this day and age there’s no video of this? Body cam footage?
Wouldn’t reporters normally show a healthy skepticism from a source known to lie and who clearly have a motive to promote themselves as indispensable right now? Shouldn’t the press be trying not to simply become agents of propaganda?
More cops do not *prevent* crime. Uptown was apparently swarming with cops last weekend and, even with 24 hours notice, they seemed unable to prevent the shootings there wedgelive.com/2020/06/minnea…
Another egregious example of how local media should not just take MPD’s word about events & actually investigate themselves. It turns out MPD was completelty wrong when they announced this man died as a result of the shooting in Uptown. He was downtown. startribune.com/police-weekend…
