A veteran Minneapolis
police officer testified in Hennepin County District Court on Tuesday that he
has been the victim of continuous retaliation for his role in investigating
corruption inside the department.
Lt. Andrew Smith, who
once commanded the high-profile Violent Offender Task Force, said that when
word leaked out about the investigation in 2007, he and another investigator,
Sgt. Patrick King, were falsely accused of policy violations and became
"outcasts" within the department.
"Going to work
felt like we were being dropped behind enemy lines," Smith said. "It
was bad."
Tuesday was the first
day of testimony in the trial in which Smith and King have sued the city of
Minneapolis for being transferred off the task force last year.
The case reopens
painful chapters in the department's recent history, including the FBI-led
investigation of allegations that several police officers were on the payroll
of a local gangster in 2006 and the 2009 collapse of the scandal-ridden Metro
Gang Strike Force.
Among those expected
to testify are most of the Minneapolis police leadership, including Chief Tim Dolan,
who is retiring; Assistant Chief Janée Harteau, whom Mayor R.T. Rybak has
nominated to be Dolan's successor, and Deputy Chiefs Scott Gerlicher and Rob
Allen.
At the centerpiece of
Smith and King's suit is a 2010 memorandum that Dolan wrote to Smith in which
Dolan thanks him for participating in the 2006 FBI-run corruption inquiry.
"There is a
potential for retaliation towards you as result of this investigation. ... I
respectfully ask that future Minneapolis police administrators take very
seriously any allegations from you regarding possible retaliation for this
case," Dolan wrote.
Assistant City
Attorney Tim Skarda said in an opening statement Monday that there was no
retaliation because Dolan approved the transfers of Smith and King.
Skarda said the
transfers came long after the corruption inquiry ended. He said the men were
transferred because of a communications breakdown between federal authorities
and the two officers.
The federal
relationships had become more important, because the Violent Offenders Task
Force, where Smith and King worked, had been absorbed into a new Safe Streets
Task Force to fight violent crime and gangs. Formed in 2010 to replace the
Metro Gang Strike Force, it is headed by an FBI agent and is supported by the
U.S. attorney's office.
Smith contends his
relationship with the federal authorities was excellent.
A contentious issue
in the trial is expected to be the amount of overtime pay that Smith and King
collected during their work on the Safe Streets Task Force. Smith earned
$65,865 in overtime in 2010 and regular pay of $98,444. His total pay was
$15,000 more than Dolan's.
Smith testified that
the overtime was needed and was authorized by Dolan. He also said Gerlicher,
who oversaw internal affairs investigations, was highly critical of Smith's
overtime pay.
Smith now heads the
department's juvenile division, and King works in licensing. In asking for
monetary damages, their attorney, Patrick Burns, is expected to argue they are
no longer receiving overtime pay because of the transfers.
Smith testified
Tuesday that in the wake of the corruption investigation he found himself at
odds with other officers.
He recalled one
instance in which Dolan asked him to investigate a threatening call made to
Dolan's house that Dolan's wife answered. Through Caller ID, the number was
traced to a downtown pay phone, and video provided by the building's security
showed Minneapolis police Sgt. Michael Keefe near the phone, Smith said.
Keefe, formerly a
lieutenant, had headed the Violent Offender Task Force and was removed in 2007.
According to Star Tribune articles, Keefe had questioned the validity of the
corruption investigation and made allegations that King was a racist. King was
cleared of wrongdoing, and Keefe was suspended.
Attorneys on both
sides in the case told Judge Philip Carruthers on Tuesday that no witnesses
needed to be sequestered. Keefe sat in the courtroom when Smith testified.
In a courtroom
corridor, Keefe's attorney, Al Goins, said it was "preposterous" to
suggest Keefe was implicated in a threatening call. "If anything had
happened, he would no longer be an officer with the Minneapolis PD and he would
have been prosecuted, and that has not happened," Goins said.
Only one Minneapolis
officer was charged in the corruption investigation. Michael Roberts was
convicted and sentenced to a year in federal prison for public corruption and
tax evasion.
As the result of an
agreement by both sides in the Smith-King trial, Carruthers is hearing the case
without a jury. After testimony is completed, Burns and Skarda will prepare
findings of facts and conclusions of law, which will be submitted to Carruthers
in several weeks. After that, Carruthers will issue his decision.