In the latest fallout from the implosion of the Metro Gang Strike Force, the state delayed starting the annual funding process for anti-crime task forces in the metro area's two largest counties, and that drew an angry reaction Wednesday from a pair of top law enforcement officers.
At a meeting of the Gang and Drug Oversight Council in St. Paul, Ramsey County Undersheriff Nick O'Hara accused state Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion of lacking the courage to show up and explain why Hennepin and Ramsey counties were excluded from an invitation to submit funding requests for their anti-gang efforts.
The same issue appeared to prompt St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington to get up and walk out of the meeting.
"The gangs aren't going away, and the drugs aren't going away," O'Hara told Jeri Boisvert, executive director of the Public Safety department's Office of Justice Programs. O'Hara said Campion should have been there himself to explain the delay rather than "to cut and run, to pull the funding and not tell us what's wrong."
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Campion said in an interview that concern by legislators over allegations of improper oversight of the Metro Gang Strike Force led Public Safety to temporarily exclude Hennepin and Ramsey counties from an invitation to submit requests for proposals for funding for tasks forces -- four in Hennepin and one in Ramsey.
Campion said the Legislature's caution is warranted, and he shrugged off O'Hara's more personal remarks.
"After all the problems that were unveiled the last several months with the Metro Gang Strike Force, I'm not sure I care what Deputy O'Hara's personal opinion of me is," Campion said, adding that he had a lengthy phone conversation late Monday with Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher about Public Safety's strategy to work with the Legislature to renew funding.
"Sheriff Fletcher seemed pleased with the direction we were going, so I am surprised [O'Hara] would make those comments," Campion said.