Officers Research Mpls. Police History Ahead Of 150th Celebration

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A look inside file cabinets left untouched for years uncovers history of the Minneapolis Police Department not known until now.

"We have old rolls of film, some of them date back to 55 and older," said Officer Ken Tidgwell. "Promotional stuff, awards, open houses at different precincts over the years,"

These are just some of the documents, pictures and artifacts that have not been discarded, damaged, transitioned or moved over the years.

And it is up to veterans of the department to sift through it all and identify faces and events to make sure history does not disappear.

"You can see that we have boxes and piles and we need to better chronicle our history," Tidgwell said.

Tidgwell is one part of a two man team tasked to turn all this into a narrative of Minneapolis police.

Many of these artifacts come from personal collections.

"Just about every picture that you can identify something immediately pops," Jeff Grates said.

There is 90 years of experience between these former cops. Ninety years of emotion waiting to be unleashed.

"As time goes on you always tend to remember the good things, the things that make you laugh. The sad, the tragedies and stuff, seem to recede into the background, which is a defense mechanism I suppose," Grates said.

Only silence can stop a flood of tears triggered by memories of officers lost.

"I think nine of the guys I rode with ended up getting killed, never on a night that I was working with them. Probably eight or nine got shot, but never when I was working with them," Phil Osterhaus said.

The goal is to preserve all of this so others can look and learn about MPD.

"Potential for people to see the good, the bad and the ugly of the department," Tidgwell said.

In a place where those who served and those who support can together honor 150 years of service.

MPD is looking for other items the children and grandchildren of officers may have in their homes.

If you are willing to donate photos or documents to the department they would like to hear from you.

MPD is currently working with the city to identify a place to house the police artifacts.

For now, many are on display at city hall and in dedicated spaces inside police precincts.