MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Since the death of George Floyd in police custody, police in the city of Minneapolis, Minn. have been under intense scrutiny. Right, wrong, or indifferent, many officers have begun to feel the strain. As a result of the strain, officers are filing for disability claims, which will most likely lead to leaving the force.
An attorney, Ron Meuser, told 5 Eyewitness News, that they currently have 175 officers who have filed disability claims and he believes there will be many more. Currently 100 officers are considering doing the same.
Meuser told the outlet:
“The 100 additional officers are doing their best to hang in there and not leave because they want to serve their community. But if there is more rioting in the near future, I would not be surprised to see the number of officers filing for disability to reach between 250 and 300 officers.”
Meuser claims that the disability filings are done for both physical and mental issues that have occurred since the civil unrest following the death of George Floyd. He also noted that the number of officers filing claims is almost double since this time last year.
Meuser said:
“It is a particularly high number and it speaks to everything else these officers have gone through in the past year. It has been extremely tough physically and mentally for them and their families.”
What some people do not realize, or understand, is that officers get into police work to help people, to stand up for those that cannot stand up for themselves. Officers yearn to put the bad guys in jail and save the day; it has nothing to do with the color of the skin of the person they are arresting.
It also does not matter the gender, creed, or religion of the person who committed the crime. What matters to the officer is who did the crime. Officers, for the vast majority, will work just as hard to find and arrest a person responsible for harming a black person as they would a white person, justice is blind.
There are some examples, although few in comparison, of officers who are racist. What people do not understand is that good police officers who really care, despise those officers as much as the general population, if not worse.
There are many officers who despise the dirty cops, those who either commit crimes or are racist in some form. Why? Because those dirty cops give all cops a bad name. According to the USA Today, the numbers of founded misconduct of officers is quite low.
USA Today found that over 85,000 officers had been investigated for some type of abuse or other issue. Of those, 22,924 were for use of excessive force, again, these are complaints. It does not mean there is anything to them (we will explain later). Of those, 30,000 were found guilty and lost their police certification.
What does this mean overall? It means that just over one in 10 officers are investigated for something improper. Only around 25 percent of the time police complaints are made, they are for some type of alleged abuse or excessive use of force.
It also means that only 3.6 percent of officers are seemingly bad, and over 99 percent never engage in abuse of force. That is a huge contrast between what you are told to believe from the mainstream media and what is reality.
Use of force claims come out of almost every single time an officer uses force. Those who are the subject of the use of force, many times, will claim that it was excessive.
What those who complain do not know is that the supervisors of those officers thoroughly investigates those claims to ensure that there is not a bad cop among them. Supervising officers will obtain video surveillance of the situation and speak to witnesses in the area.
What we can say, with experience, is that the vast majority of times, these claims will be proven to be justified. If they are not, the supervisor will make that acknowledgement and ensure that the incident is investigated more thoroughly. Why? Because that supervising officer’s career, and retirement, is on the line if they are wrong.
Around 150 police officers in Minneapolis have filed PTSD claims following riots – and the number is growing
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – In the aftermath of the George Floyd riots that decimated Minneapolis, reports are coming in that close to one-fifth of the entire MPD are attempting to qualify for disability, due to post-traumatic stress disorder linked directly to working in riots.
While some might think these officers are making a retaliatory move in response to the declining support of police by officials in Minneapolis, an individual tasked with handling disability claims for the police department says these cases seem to be genuine.
Minneapolis Police want “duty Disability” for PTSD over George Floyd protests https://t.co/0pVw7kapyf
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) July 10, 2020
Approximately 150 police officers have filed claims of PTSD and are actively seeking duty-disability from the Minnesota Public Employees Retirement Association. Reportedly, roughly half of those applying for disability have been ordered by their doctors not to return to work, while they’re treating their PTSD.
Attorney for 150 police officers seeking PTSD disability and permanent leave from @MinneapolisPD says 75 are already off the streets , 75 more will be soon @wcco 5pm pic.twitter.com/KOIrkJeoNK
— esme murphy (@esmemurphy) July 10, 2020
Ron Meuser has been tasked with handling a majority of disability claims that stem from the Minneapolis Police Federation.
In his dealings with these cases thus far, he noted that officers who were working the riots “did not feel they were going to come home,” while the riots were at their most dangerous.
Some officers were said to have texted their families final goodbyes, in case they never returned from their shifts. Other officers admitted to “saving a bullet” in case they were left with the choice of taking their own lives or getting beaten to death by the crowds.
According to Meuser, many of the officers active during the riots and protests had worked 17 days in a row, some having to work 12-hour shifts.
Based on those elements, Meuser said:
“It became almost too much to handle.”
When the 3rd Precinct was set ablaze during the riots, Meuser said that was the tipping point for many of the officers’ mental well-being. However, Meuser also acknowledged that there were other contributing factors to PTSD.
He said:
“The symptoms didn’t just start six weeks ago. They’ve been dealing with symptoms for decades.”
Meuser is citing the fact that a majority of officers seeking disability for PTSD have served on the force between 16 and 23 years.
When asked whether these claims of PTSD were some kind of exaggerated display or retaliatory move against a perceived lack of support toward police officers, Meuser asserted that this was not some sort of stunt or charade.
He said:
“I’ve looked them in the eyes, not one of them is attempting to get out of working. Every one of them, to a man and woman, said, ‘I never thought I would be leaving this way.’”
If any of the officers are afforded disability, the officers would be able to claim 60 percent of their average annual salary for a period of 20 years.
Minneapolis City Councilwoman Linea Palmisano worries about the immense number of claims filed, noting the financial impact this could have on the city.
She said:
“This keeps someone who is no longer working, at a significant expense to our city, and I fear with appropriate treatment could have recovered and been a meaningful contributor to our city.”
While Palmisano was worried about the sheer number of claims, she also doesn’t believe these filings to be disingenuous.
She said:
“This is too often a hidden ailment. And we sure don’t want that, because it comes out in people’s lives and their work lives in a bad way.”
Since certain individuals in Minneapolis championed the idea of a reduced or abolished police force, they may be getting that very soon – just not in the manner they likely envisioned.
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