CC MINUTES 10251977 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• thrown there. He felt "this is the time to put a stop to this ridicu- lous tradition" . He saw a lack of commitment to stop this type of action and felt there should be more forceful action taken in the future. He questioned whether the juveniles who pelted the police and squad cars could not have been prosecuted for "assault against a police officer" and wondered if the offenders could not have been "detained in a temporary detention center and released to their parents" , if the City police were too short handed to take them to the Juvenile Center? The Manager had given his prospective of the event to the Council in his October 14th memorandum and reiterated his explanation that he had not authorized an increase in police manpower that evening because neither the police, school officials nor he had anticipated the situation with the egg fight would get out of hand the way it did, He felt a $400 price tag for the necessary 32 hours of overtime was an unreasonable subsidy of the tradition. Councilman Stauffer said she could not see the solution as a police problem but rather a discipline problem and one of parenting. She later said the school hadn't asked the City for help and had followed the recommendations of a parents ' group which had advised against offering other school activities as alternatives to the egg fight. Councilman Haik felt the Police Department should have been able to make some identifications of the law breakers and contended there should be some "naming of these kids and social pressure built up to make such • behavior unacceptable" . Mayor Miedtke agreed that the Police Department would probably concede that some other action should have been taken that night and hoped the two C.E.T.A. additions to the department who will be working in the schools will open communications between the police and the students and will be able to provide a greater involvement with the elementary grade children. He did not feel the City was in a position to take any action regarding the school 's handling of the situation and he agreed with the principal that "it is not fair to cut off all homecoming activities since 100 of the students were involved in the incident" . The Mayor commended the Manager and Councilman Stauffer for their letters to the editors which conveyed the City' s reaction to the "inap- propriate remarks" from a Minneapolis alderman regarding the City' s rightful use of peacekeeping forces from other municipalities under the Mutual Aid Agreement. A listing of incidents in which the City assisted the Minneapolis Police Department this year was submitted to justify this contention. Councilman Sundland suggested an "auxiliary (reserve) police force" might be a solution to aid the Police Department in similar emergencies in the future. He felt both parents and youths must have input in any solution and was especially concerned that the lines of communication be kept open between the school and City officials . He wanted a plan • (5)