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Retired Minneapolis police union president Lt. Bob Kroll is banned from serving as a law enforcement officer in three counties for the next 10 years under the terms of a settlement reached this week.
The settlement stems from multiple class action lawsuits filed against the city of Minneapolis in the wake of the George Floyd riots. The lawsuits alleged that Minneapolis police used excessive force against peaceful protesters.
Kroll, who served as president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis at the time, was named as defendant.
“The case alleged that his actions as a de facto policymaker led to the use of excessive force against demonstrators,” said Teresa Nelson of the ACLU, which represented some of the plaintiffs.
Kroll said the ACLU chose to sue him “based upon the content of my speech.”
“They went against the very foundation on which the ACLU was formed. Not too long ago, the ACLU would have been the one coming to my aid in a lawsuit like this,” he said.
The settlement agreement prevents Kroll from working for law enforcement agencies in Hennepin, Ramsey, and Anoka counties.
“They are so stupid they thought I lived in Anoka County,” Kroll told Alpha News. He lives in Washington County. Under the terms of the settlement, he could still work as a police officer in his home county. He said he may consider a run for Washington County sheriff in the future.
“I would be a Minnesota version of Florida’s Grady Judd,” he said.
Kroll, who is married to Alpha News reporter Liz Collin and does monthly burger reviews for Alpha News, retired in January 2021 and said he currently has “no intention of coming out of retirement from police work after serving 32 years.”
“There is no monetary settlement, which is what all the plaintiffs were really after. They wanted $1,000 from me, and when we said no and we would seek dismissal with sanctions, they immediately dropped the monetary portion,” he said. “The suits were entirely frivolous.”
The settlement also prevents Kroll from serving in any capacity on the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST). He said he has never had any interest in working with the POST Board.
“Attorneys’ fees were costing the police federation money, and we needed that to end,” he said of the settlement.
Kroll pointed to the Minnesota Department of Human Rights’ April 2022 investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department, which made no mention of him or the police federation.
“MPD’s failures have always been on police administration,” he said. “The entire lawsuit was based on a concocted lie created by elected officials, representatives, and PR consultants in Minneapolis and the Capitol to blame Minneapolis’ failures on me personally.”
He also commented on the decline in his former profession.
“Who in their right mind would even enter police work in this environment?” he said. “This is evidenced by the lack of people entering the profession and the number leaving.”
This article originally appeared at Alpha News.
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Source: www.lawofficer.com