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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsMinneapolis' Police Union Chief Won't Talk to Reporters. Maybe He Should Admit He's Married to One.
SAMANTHA MICHAELS
Reporter
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Lt. Bob Kroll, the outspoken leader of the Minneapolis police union, is not normally one to shy away from the media spotlight. Last October, he proudly took the stage with President Donald Trump at a televised campaign rally in the city. And over the years hes been quick to speak with reporters, whether to defend police officers or condemn Black Lives Matter, which he once described as a terrorist organization.
But in the days since George Floyds death at the hands of a white officer in Minneapolis, as tens of thousands of people protest around the country, Kroll has been reluctant to comment to the press. Over the past week, as activists call for Kroll to resign and accuse the police union he leads of protecting officers who engage in misconduct, journalists at multiple outlets, including myself, have reached out to Kroll repeatedly and not heard back. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Kroll called the police on one of its reporters who had knocked on his door for an interview. The reporter was later pulled over by an officer who said Kroll had reported suspicious activity on his front porch and explained that he doesnt want any press.
But even as Kroll hides from the press, theres a fact that he cant run away from: Hes married to a local television reporter and anchor in Minneapolis, Liz Collin of WCCO-TV, who previously reported on policing in the citywithout disclosing their relationship. On Wednesday, protesters showed up at the news agencys headquarters in downtown Minneapolis and called for Collin to resign from her post. They described her marriage to Kroll as an obvious conflict of public interest.
Its unclear when Kroll and Collin began dating. In 2016, Collin interviewed Kroll, who has been a frequent subject of reporting for the TV network, about police use of force. Minneapolis-based reporter Becky Dernbach, previously a Mother Jones fellow, learned about their relationship in June 2017, and revealed their marriage in a series of tweets in 2018. Since at least 2013, Collin had been covering the Minneapolis police department for WCCO. In July 2017, Collin reported a story about then-outgoing Police Chief Janee Harteau, who was resigning at the mayors request following the fatal police shooting of Justine Damond. Collin did not disclose her relationship with Kroll in the article, even though Harteau had a contentious history with Kroll: In one heated exchange in 2016, the police chief said the union president made jackass remarks when he commended officers who walked off their security jobs at a Lynx basketball game to protest players wearing Black Lives Matter warm-up jerseys. Kroll responded to the chiefs criticism by selling #jackass T-shirts to the public.
https://www.motherjones.com/anti-racism-police-protest/2020/06/minneapolis-police-union-chief-bob-kroll-refuse-media-marriage-local-anchor-liz-collin/
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,297 posts)Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)and this Federation is not recognized by the AFL-CIO or the Labor Council of the Twin Cities.