Save Budgets by Calling Off RNC Political Witchhunt

by: Grace Kelly

Thu Dec 11, 2008 at 11:55:38 AM CST

Ramsey county has a Sheriff budget line  of $44 million and County Attorney has a budget line of $33 million. In these difficult budget times, I can understand prosecuting people where we have a preponderance of evidence for high priority dangerous crimes. It seems we have one alleged case of planning to use Molotov cocktails against two people from Texas. Yet all of the rest of cases seem to revolve around broken windows or less. And what really bugs me, is that the Sheriff department says that it is still looking, even holding press releases with only a suspicious internet photo as evidence. Basically, aren't there meth labs or real crime that our resources should be better spent on? Aren't we always told about priorities? If the Sheriff Fletcher has the resources to still be searching for RNC crimes, then shouldn't this be the first place to cut budgets?  

After the RNC on November 6, 2008, MPR's Laura Yuen reports that

St. Paul, Minn. - The St. Paul Police and Ramsey County Sheriff's Office are asking the public for help in identifying a man who was apparently assaulted on the first day of the Republican National Convention.....

Police Chief John Harrington said investigators would like to pursue the case, but the man has not contacted police...

Police and sheriff's deputies have formed an RNC investigative unit. They're also looking for motorists whose cars were damaged by rioters later that afternoon on Shepard Road.

After RNC on November 13, 2008, MPR's Laura Yuen  reports that

Investigators with the Ramsey County Sheriff's office have devoted an entire room to analyzing the events that occurred on Sept. 1, the first day of the Republican convention. Sheriff Bob Fletcher points to a wall filled with the mug shots of individuals arrested on that day. (MPR Photo/Laura Yuen)

St. Paul City Attorney John Choi said of the 6000 hours of video tape taken during the RNC: "The reality is that someone needs to review the video prior to releasing it, and that is a monumental task requiring lots of staff time."  This was reported by the Pioneer Press (now under pay per view).

Really, in this time of budget cuts, isn't continuing the search for more RNC crime low priority and wasteful? Shouldn't we re-prioritize and cut budgets?