The Minneapolis Police Department was gutted during the Black Lives Matter riots of 2020 and the subsequent defund movement at the hands of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) and Mayor Jacob Frey (D).
Lieutenant Randy Sutton (Ret.) of The Wounded Blue, a national nonprofit that exists to support law enforcement officers who have been injured or disabled in the line of duty, says those who remain want to do their jobs, but they are being told to ignore the safety and wellbeing of their brothers in the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
"I have never seen this in my entire law enforcement career," says Sutton, a distinguished figure in the law enforcement community with more than 34 years of service. "I've never seen a police agency like Minneapolis completely turn its back on the responsibilities that they have in their community."
Meanwhile, the protesters are well-funded and organized.
"There's a lot of money being poured into this; there's a lot of organization," Sutton relays. "There's a lot of technology that is being employed here to foment the destruction and the divisiveness and the hatred."
The protestors also have the support of Gov. Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), who are telling them to get out their cameras and record everything ICE is doing.
"Ellison is a complete moron," Sutton says. "He is threatening, along with Walz, every single officer who is simply doing their duty. It's basically let's set up failure, and then when they do, let's threaten them with prosecution."
Sutton says overwhelmed and discouraged federal, state, and local officers in the Minneapolis–St. Paul metro area should know that The Wounded Blue is available to support them with peer assistance, education, and advocacy.
