http://www.startribune.com/local/55951847.htmlGang Strike Force supervisor resigns Minneapolis job
A former supervisor in the Metro Gang Strike Force, who the Star Tribune reported in June was under investigation for allegedly stalking a woman, has resigned from the Minneapolis Police Department.
By RANDY FURST, Star Tribune
Last update: August 28, 2009 - 10:48 PM
A former supervisor in the Metro Gang Strike Force, who the Star Tribune reported in June was under investigation for allegedly stalking a woman by using the unit's electronic monitoring equipment and obtaining her phone records, has resigned from the Minneapolis Police Department.
Sgt. Randall I. Olson, a 10-year veteran of the department, resigned on Thursday, said Sgt. Jesse Garcia, a department spokesman.
According to a police department letter to Olson, provided by the department, Olson was relieved of duty with pay on Aug. 17 by Police Chief Tim Dolan and Deputy Chief Scott Gerlicher. But the letter gave no reason why he was relieved.
Olson was told that he would remain off-duty "pending a decision on your employment status." On Thursday, he decided to resign, Garcia said.
Olson had denied the allegations against him in an interview with the Star Tribune published in June. He did not return phone calls on Friday.
After being relieved of his duties, Olson was told by Dolan and Gerlicher to remain off police department property, except in an emergency, and informed he could not be employed in outside work. He also was told he had to remain at home between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and was to report in by phone to a department internal affairs investigator assigned to his case by 9 a.m. on those days. That is standard procedure when an officer is relieved of duty.
Olson was a supervisor in the now-defunct Metro Gang Strike Force, but was transferred out of the unit in mid-April because of an internal investigation of his behavior, the Star Tribune reported in June. Strike Force operations were suspended on May 20, and the unit was disbanded on July 17 by state Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion after more revelations about the Strike Force and the withdrawal of more law enforcement agencies from it.
At a news conference on Aug. 20, former federal prosecutor Andy Luger, who was appointed by Campion to investigate the Strike Force, said that 10 or 12 officers had engaged in criminal activity, saying some members of the Strike Force had taken home seized property for personal use. But he did not make the names public.
Olson's resignation came a day after a lengthy legislative hearing at the State Capitol on the Strike Force where lawmakers heard from Luger, Minnesota Legislative Auditor James Nobles, and Campion.
Citing law enforcement sources, the Star Tribune reported in June that the Minneapolis Police internal affairs unit had executed a search warrant at the Strike Force headquarters last spring and took possession of one of its global positioning satellite tracking devices that Olson may have used to electronically stalk a 34-year-old woman who is a Minneapolis Park Police employee.
The officers wanted to examine data stored in it to determine whether Olson targeted the woman, Sarah Jean Mann, as she had alleged.
According to her petition for a restraining order filed in Hennepin County District Court, Mann stated that Olson, who is married to another woman, was the father of Mann's then-4-month-old child and that he threatened and harassed her during her pregnancy. She alleged that she believed Olson had subpoenaed her phone records.
In February, a few weeks after Mann filed for a restraining order, she and Olson each signed a mutual no-contact restraining order to be in force for a year. They agreed to a "no findings" settlement, according to publicly filed court documents.
In an interview, Olson said the internal affairs investigation had "nothing to do with the Strike Force," the Star Tribune reported in June.
Asked then why Mann specifically alleged that Olson used electronic monitoring equipment against her, he said, "She knows how I do my job." He predicted that he would he would be cleared of any wrongdoing.
