During his press conference, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman stated the Police Federation advised officers to not cooperate in the investigation of the death of Justine Damond. The Federation takes great exception to this irresponsible statement. Early on, the Federation sought legal advice and briefed all board members on what our legal obligation was in offering advice to our officers that were requested to provide voluntary interviews with County Attorneys.
Legal counsel was careful to advise board members that our duty was to inform officers of their rights and not to give direction or advice on whether to speak with County Attorneys or not.
Many of our members under subpoena for Grand Jury had no involvement whatsoever with the incident. They were confused on why the County Attorney’s office would want to speak with them. The Federation’s duty is to protect the rights of its members and fully advise them of what their rights are. No opinions were offered on what action to take with any of our members. For Mr. Freeman to say this, he is either lying or perpetuating a lie told to him. This is evidenced by the fact that nothing in the criminal complaint was discovered during grand jury testimony. Mr. Freeman’s underlying motive for requesting voluntary statements of our members was to strip them of their Garrity rights provided to public employees under law.
