Category: History

The Bertillon System was invented by French criminologist Alphonse Bertillon in 1879. It was a technique for describing individuals on the basis of a catalogue of physical measurements including standing height, sitting height (length of trunk and head), distance between fingertips with arms outstretched, amongst other characteristics.

For thirty years, the Bertillon System was generally accepted as the leading method of criminal identification. With the advent of fingerprinting, use of the Bertillon System eventually began to decline.

In 1915, the Minneapolis Police Department used a combination of the Bertillon System and fingerprinting to record the characteristics of individuals who had committed crimes and then used these records to help solve crimes.

On the fifth floor of the Courthouse Building, the Minneapolis Police Department had a Bertillon Room which was managed by Sergeant Irvin P. Jones. In this room, the Minneapolis Police Department had the records of nearly all of the major criminals in the country and also those of lesser criminals who were active in the Twin Cities and throughout the Great Northwest.

The Bertillon Room was filled with cameras, fingerprinting equipment, scales, and other measuring instruments that were used in the identification process. All information was recorded on notecards which were then stored in filing cabinets according to the type of crime committed. There was a cabinet for forgery, for robbery, for murder, for larceny, and so on.

In 1915, the Minneapolis Police Department was said to have one of the most complete Bertillon departments in the country.

Top photograph of Sergeant Irvin P. Jones taking a mug shot

All photographs courtesy of Hennepin County Library

Information from the Minneapolis StarTribune of May 9, 1915

Appointed – April 23, 1962

End of Watch – September 25, 1992

Today we are thinking about Officer Jerome “Jerry” Haaf who was killed in the line of duty on this day in 1992.

Officer Haaf was working his regular traffic assignment in South Minneapolis when he stopped by the Pizza Shack – a well-known favorite spot of Minneapolis Police Officers – for a coffee break.

As Officer Haaf sat drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper, two men who were later identified as members of the “Vice Lords” gang working on an order from its leader to kill a police officer came up behind Officer Haaf and shot him several times in the back.

Officer Haaf called for help on his radio while patrons, including a retired Minneapolis Police Officer, came to his aid.

Squad cars and an ambulance arrived quickly on the scene to rush Officer Haaf to Hennepin County Medical Center where he died from his wounds.

A multi-agency investigation into the killing of Officer Haaf ensued and after months of investigation, the two men who killed Officer Haaf, along with the others who had helped them, were apprehended, convicted, and sent to prison.

Officer Haaf was appointed to the Minneapolis Police Department on April 23, 1962 and served for 30 years.

He was 53 years of age and was only months away from retirement at the time of his killing.

Officer Haaf was survived by his loving wife, Marilyn, their daughter and two sons, and their grandchildren.

Officer Haaf is still remembered and honored by his many friends at the Minneapolis Police Department and throughout the community. He is in our thoughts and conversations, especially on this day.

In the words of a friend of his this morning, “He was always happy and made the shift a good time for all. A gentle man and hard working. Missed very much for sure.”

In the early 1990s, Youth Personal Safety Workshops were held in the Elliott Park neighborhood.

In 1992, the workshops were expanded to include children residing at the 410 Family Shelter and also children in programs at Catholic Charities Branch III.

The workshops were sponsored by the Crime Prevention Committee of Elliott Park Neighborhood Inc (EPNI) with assistance from Community Crime Prevention/SAFE, the Elliott Park Community Oriented Policing Program (EP-COPP), and the Minneapolis Police Department.

Representing the Minneapolis Police Department at the workshops were Officers Mike Taylor and Wally Carlson.

On July of 1992, nearly 20 young people attended a workshop in Franklin Steele Park. On July 30, another 50 young people participated in a second workshop at Elliott Park.

Prior to the workshops that July, the young attendees were asked to write a short essay for a book about their feelings and thoughts on crime and safety. Volunteers helped to record the thoughts of children too young to write their own essays, so the essays contained in the book represented young people from the ages of 3 to 15.

Today, we are sharing all of their essays here with you.

Elliot Park Youth Speak Out on Crime and Safety book courtesy of Hennepin County Library

On this day in 1963, the columnist George Grim wrote about the good work of the Minneapolis Police Reserve.

He encouraged the community to do its part by supporting the Reserve Officers in their effort to get uniforms for all of their members.

Article from the Minneapolis StarTribune of September 23, 1963

Ray Harrington was the well-regarded Head of the Minneapolis Police Bureau of Identification during the 1930s.

He was responsible for establish the Minneapolis Police Detection Training School to train Detectives in the various methods of gathering evidence. In his opinion, Detectives needed to understand something of physics, chemistry, geology, pathology, handwriting, and fingerprint classification. They also needed to be able to establish a rapport with people.

In the training sessions of April of 1938, Mr. Harrington met with Detectives three days per week to teach them about the tools and machinery of the Bureau of Identification. He instructed them in the fingerprint system and taught them how to obtain, determine the value of, and eliminate fingerprints.

He also taught them about something called the “portrait parle” or the “talking picture.” This was the term for the process of obtaining a complete description of a perpetrator from a victim.

Detectives were also trained in gathering blood, soil and metal samples.

The mission of the Detection Training School was to place the full power of Science into the hands of the Detectives with the goal of helping them solve crimes more quickly and with greater ease.

Photograph courtesy of Hennepin County Library

Appointed: January 1, 1948

End of Watch: May 11, 1959

On Monday, May 11, 1959, Minneapolis Police Sergeant William F. Herkal, Jr. was shot and killed in the line of duty.

Two men, one who had just been released from a Montana State Prison, attempted an armed robbery of the Red Owl grocery store in the Hi-Lake Shopping Center at 2124 East Lake Street.

A grocery clerk triggered a silent alarm and within minutes Detective Wayne Leonard and Officer Durwood Witt appeared on the scene through the front door of the Red Owl.

Detective Leonard and Officer Witt grappled with the robbers inside the store. One of the robbers, Jerry Gowdy, pulled out a gun. Detective Leonard told him to drop the gun and Gowdy replied that Detective Leonard would have to kill him first. Then, he and Detective Leonard exchanged gunfire.

Gowdy ran out of the store as Sergeant Herkal approached the scene in his squad car along with two other officers. Sergeant Herkal got out of the squad car and before he could raise his gun, Gowdy ran towards him and shot him at near point blank range. Sergeant Herkal died before an ambulance could arrive on the scene.

Sergeant Herkal was 35 years old at the time of his death.

Sergeant Herkal had been a member of the Minneapolis Police Department for eleven years since his appointment on January 1, 1948. He had served in the US Navy during WWII. He loved music.

Funeral services were held for Sergeant Herkal at the Church of St. Helena on May 14, 1949. He was buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

Sergeant Herkal was survived by his wife, Marie and their four children: Steven, 8; Charles, 7; Judy, 12; and Susan, 2. He was also survived by his mother and two sisters.

Officer Charles Wallace was a Minneapolis Police Department School Safety Patrol Officer in the 1980s.

In its November 1980 issue, The Wedge community newspaper published a feature on his recent visit to the Jefferson Elementary School.

Here is Wedge Reporter Janet Swan’s story:

Officer Wallace: “Where’s a good place to play? Your yard?”
Class: “Yes!”

Officer Wallace: A friend’s yard?”
Class: “Yes!”

Officer Wallace: A stranger’s yard?”
Class: “No!”

Officer Wallace: An old garage?
Class: “No!”

Officer Wallace: “A new garage?”
Class: “Yes!”

Then laughter, when the first graders realize Officer Wallace has tricked them into giving a wrong answer.

Safety in traffic, bicycle riding, playing, dealing with strangers, and Halloween are some of the topics covered by Minneapolis Police Department School Safety Patrol Officer Charles Wallace in his annual fall visit to kindergarten and first grade classes at Jefferson.

Eighty first graders sit with quiet and rapt attention while he goes over safety rules that seem to go in one ear and out the other when promulgated by mom or dad. Wallace’s friendly, positive dialogue with the kids reinforces reasonable and necessary precautions as well as a positive image of the police.

The good feelings are summed up by a boy who said as Officer Wallace left his class, “I wish he were my Dad.”

In the photo above, Officer Charles Wallace and his friends at Jefferson Elementary School. From L to R: Ceridwen Christensen; Alice Swan; Cedric Reason; Kevin Carr; Katie Hatt; John MacRae; and Michael Freeman.

Photograph and article from The Wedge of November 1980 courtesy of Hennepin County Library

In the 1920s, Michael Grenlund was a well-known tailor in Minneapolis with a thriving business.

Around noon on Monday, December 23, 1929, his badly-battered body, along with that of his pet bulldog, was found in his tailor shop at 741 Adams Street Northeast. From the condition of the bodies, it was believed that the murders would have occurred on the evening of Saturday, December 21st.

Immediately, the Minneapolis Police Department’s Bertillon expert Ray Harrington, Detective Frank Munson, and Detective William O’Rourke were on the case.

Mr. Grenlund’s shop had been ransacked. The detectives methodically examined and finger-printed objects in his workrooms and living quarters that might have been handled by the murderer in the hopes of finding a clue to his or her identity.

They found cigarette ashes in the kitchen which were thought to be those of the murderer because Mr. Grenlund did not smoke and only rarely since his divorce 15 years earlier was known to have visitors to his living quarters.

The detectives subjected a stained hammer to chemical tests and after more closely examining the head wound ruled out the hammer as the instrument of murder and determined that Mr. Grenlund’s head wound was likely caused by the butt of a pistol.

The detectives interviewed scores of neighbors but were unable to develop any meaningful leads. They had two suspects: one a man who was thought to have recently robbed two businesses in the neighborhood; and the other a man who had been hanging around the tailor shop and then disappeared after the murder of Mr. Grenlund. In the end, the evidence around both men was found to be circumstantial.

Based upon the disappearance of a diamond ring, detectives believed that robbery was the motive for the crime. After the diamond ring was found in a glass in a cupboard six months later by the new owner of the building, robbery was ruled out as a motive.

After some time, the case went cold and today the murder of Michael Grenlund remains an unsolved mystery.

Top photograph of crowd gathering outside Michael Grenlund’s tailor shop after the discovery of his body courtesy of Hennepin County Library

In 1975, The Wedge – the newspaper of the Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association (LHENA) – published a regular column called “Meet Our Police.”

Hermann Weinlick was the columnist. In the July issue he met with Officer Dave Nelson and Officer Earl Stroshane at the Bryant Avenue Station.

Here are some of the highlights from Mr. Weinlick’s article:

“My main impression from an hour talking with Earl Stroshane and Dave Nelson at the Bryant Avenue Station is that police are people working with people. They appreciate every bit of support they get. They’d like to know better the people they work for.

Dave and Earl both like their work—more than a great many others can say. Earl has been here at Bryant for over six years, Dave for two. Police work is not new to Dave; five members of his family, including his father, have been on the force. Both like the freedom. In the words of Dave, “You’re your own man.” “You can see the light of day. You’re not in an office all day.”

Dave says, ”Any change for the better will come because people care about the neighborhood. We need to cut down the ‘New Yorker attitude.’ You know, you see your neighbor getting ripped off and look the other way.”

The specifics of doing anything are hard, but the keys are old and simple: Know your neighbor. Care about your neighbor.

Dave and Earl have numerous simple suggestions to improve life in the Wedge. They seem obvious, but perhaps their source will give them more weight:

• An ounce of prevention…..The leading crime here is burglary. Any place can be broken into, but many crimes can be prevented simply by making them harder.
• Take a walk. Become familiar with your neighborhood—faces, homes, cars, names. Know your neighbors—or, at the least, come to recognize them.
• Keep your eyes open. Call the police if you see something suspicious.
• Know where your children are.
• Clean up. Have a cleanup party with your neighbors.
• Get to know the police. They’re people. Get together with your neighbors and call the station to set up a meeting just to get acquainted and to answer questions. Shoot the breeze with the police on the street. Earl says “I believe good working relations between the police and the neighborhood are essential”. “

From The Wedge of July of 1975 courtesy of Hennepin County Library

In the 1970s and 1980s, The Northeaster, the community newspaper of Northeast Minneapolis, featured stories of the Minneapolis Police Officers of the Second Precinct in a column by Karen Anderson called, “Meet Your Northeast Police”.

Here are the stories of Officers Nick Josul and Lieutenant Malcolm Laramore as written by Ms. Anderson:

Officer Nick Josul

“Officer Nick Josul, a lifetime Northeast resident, has been on the Minneapolis Police force for almost 18 years. All of those years have been spent serving as a patrolman out of the Eastside Precinct.

Most of the time, you’ll find Nick walking along Central Avenue. At other times, Nick is the one who takes your call at the front desk at the station. Still other times, Nick works out of a patrol car.

Nick says he became a police officer because he enjoys working with people. He says it’s interesting work and “I work with a nice bunch of guys.” Nick must be a pretty nice guy himself as he made this compliment of his fellow officers while a bunch of them were giving him the business during my brief interview with him.

Besides his regular police work, Nick also serves as a guard at the Fidelity State Bank on Central one day a week.

Nick is active at St. Mary’s Russian Orthodox Church and is a member of the Arcana Masonic Lodge, St. Mary’s Veterans’ Association, and the Goldbricks Club (How many of you know what that is?). Nick loves to fish and is an avid mushroom hunter.

Thanks for your dedication to our community, Nick.”

Lieutenant Malcolm Laramore

“Lieutenant Malcolm Laramore has a big smile on his face these days. He’s retiring January 15th, after 20 years with the Minneapolis Police Department. Not that he hasn’t enjoyed his work. He has—because “No two days are the same.” When asked why he became a police officer, he replied that he likes people and police work provided the opportunity to make life a little better for his fellowman.

Lieutenant Laramore started his career at the Second Precinct on January 1, 1960 as a patrolman. He was a Patrolman for 8 years. He was then promoted to Sergeant and transferred to the Third Precinct where he served for 4 1/2 years. In November of 1972, he was promoted to Lieutenant and spent a few years at the Bryant and Minnehaha Precincts. In August 1977 he was transferred back to the Second Precinct where he currently serves as the Watch Commander.

Lieutenant Laramore has been a member of the Masonic Lodge for 35 years and plays eight instruments. He also enjoys hunting, fishing, target shooting, and electronics. Lieutenant Laramore plans to retire to the Ozarks where he has purchased a home. He says he plans to travel and “do the things I never had time to do while I was working.”

We wish him well and extend our wishes for his many years of fine service to this community”.

Article on Officer Jossul from The Northeaster of December 1979 Courtesy of Hennepin County Library
Article on Lieutenant Laramore from The Northeaster of January 1980 Courtesy of Hennepin County Library