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Bob Kroll (police officer)

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This article is about the Minneapolis police officer. For the athlete, see Bob Kroll (American football).

Lieutenant Bob Kroll (born around 1965[1]) is the president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis[2], which represents officers of the Minneapolis Police Department.

Early life

Kroll grew up on the East Side of Saint Paul, Minnesota.[1] His father was in a union.[3] He married Liz Collin, news anchor for WCCO-TV, the CBS affiliate in the Twin Cities.[1]

Career

Kroll joined the Minneapolis Police Department in 1989.[1] He was on the department's SWAT team for 15 years and served in the vice and domestic violence units.[3] He joined the board of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis in 1996.[3] He won his first two-year term as president of the Minneapolis police federation in May 2015.[1][3]

As head of the federation and its approximately 800 members,[4] Kroll advocates for additional police officers[5] and additional autonomy of the police.[6]

Kroll subscribes to the "broken windows" theory of policing.[1] Over his career he has been been involved in three shootings.[7] In a lawsuit against the city, Kroll was accused of using excessive force during a no-knock raid on an elderly couple's residence.[3] In 2007, after referring to then-Congressman Keith Ellison as a terrorist and making disparaging comments about a gay staffer to mayor R.T. Rybak, Kroll was named in a racial discrimination lawsuit brought by five black officers, including Medaria Arradondo (who is now Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department). As a result of the suit, Kroll was suspended.[3] As of 2015, Kroll had received 20 internal affairs complaints.[3]

After the shooting of Jamar Clark, Kroll contradicted witness statements that Clark was handcuffed at the moment of the shooting, saying he was actively resisting arrest and tried to take the weapon of one of the officers.[8][9] Kroll was also critical of the responses of then-mayor Betsy Hodges and Chief of Police Janeé Harteau, who said that Kroll's views were "not consistent with 21st-century policing".[3]

Following the death of George Floyd in May 2020, Kroll characterized Floyd as a "violent criminal" and called the protests a "terrorist movement".[7] Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy criticized Kroll in June 2020 for "a long history of bigoted remarks and complaints of violence made against him" toward black residents. McCarthy, Education Minnesota (the state teachers' union), and former Minneapolis Chief of Police Janeé Harteau called for Kroll's resignation. Harteau said Kroll's behavior during the George Floyd protests was a "disgrace to the badge".[10]

Politics

Kroll supports and endorses[1] President Donald Trump[11] including speaking at a Trump rally in Minneapolis[12] and selling "Cops for Trump" shirts.[13][14] Kroll appeared on Fox News' Fox and Friends to speak about violent crime and the Minneapolis City Council.[15]

Kroll is a member of City Heat, a white supremacist[16] police officers motorcyle club.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Jany, Libor (November 3, 2019). "Amid attention and controversy, Minneapolis police union head has no regrets". Star Tribune. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  2. ^ Mullen, Mike. "In letter to Minneapolis police, Bob Kroll plans to 'fight for jobs' of cops who killed George Floyd". City Pages. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Jany, Libor (December 11, 2015). "Controversy follows Minneapolis police union president". Star Tribune. Retrieved June 3, 2020.
  4. ^ Mullen, Mike. "Mayor Betsy Hodges calls out Bob Kroll for 'jackass remarks' on Minnesota Lynx". City Pages. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  5. ^ Mullen, Mike. "Police union president Bob Kroll: Public scrutiny of cops leads to gun violence". City Pages. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  6. ^ What the Minneapolis police union leader said at a 2019 Trump rally - CNN Video, retrieved 2020-06-01
  7. ^ a b Grim, Ryan; Chávez, Aída (June 2, 2020). "Minneapolis Police Union President: "I've Been Involved in Three Shootings Myself, and Not a One of Them Has Bothered Me"". The Intercept. I've been involved in three shootings myself, and not one of them has bothered me.
  8. ^ KARE 11 staff (November 18, 2015). "Union: Clark shot while trying to take officer's gun". KARE-TV. Retrieved November 20, 2015.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Zurowski, Cory (November 18, 2015). "Minneapolis police union president: Jamar Clark "was a justifiable shooting"". City Pages. Retrieved November 20, 2015.
  10. ^ Thiede, Dana (June 2, 2020). "AFL-CIO joins call for Mpls. Police Union's Bob Kroll to resign". KARE-TV. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Retrieved June 2, 2020.
  11. ^ Mullen, Mike. "Bob Kroll sat down with a Minneapolis Jewish activist. It didn't go well". City Pages. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  12. ^ Oh, Inae. "Minneapolis banned warrior-style police training. Its police union kept offering it anyway". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  13. ^ "Minneapolis police union sells 'Cops for Trump' T-shirts". MPR News. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  14. ^ Klecker, Mara (October 7, 2019). "Minneapolis police union selling "Cops for Trump" T-shirts, in wake of uniform ban". Minneapolis Star Tribune.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ Jones, Hannah. "Minneapolis police union chief blames 'ultra-left agenda' for pack robberies". City Pages. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
  16. ^ "Bigots on Bikes" (PDF). ADL.
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