Thanksgiving With The Fourth Precinct (And God Bless Them!)

Photos and blog post by John Hoff, except last photo was contributed, xoxo

For the past several years, Northside neighbors threw a Thanksgiving meal for all three shifts of officers at the Fourth Precinct. Joan Thom and her husband, Len Lewis, are the primary organizers of this event with a lot of help from Buzzy Bohn and her son, Jeremiah.

It wasn't your usual Thanksgiving conversation as officers laughed over which officer would eat extra pie, versus which officer would be the "designated runner" in foot chases. One officer was described as a 14-year veteran who...

...can run like a deer, even while wearing a utility belt. The officer himself, however, was more humble and felt like he'd been getting slow in the past few years compared to when he was younger.

There was general agreement among the officers that Thanksgiving is indeed volatile, as relatives get together, drink, and then argue while cooped with each other. The Winner Gas station (Lyndale and West Broadway) was described by one officer as selling beer "left and right" on Thanksgiving Day, since the liquor stores were closed.

Officers expressed thanks to residents who provided the meal, but the residents were insistent that it is the officers who deserve our thanks, every day, and a meal on Thanksgiving while they work their shifts, away from their families, is the smallest of favors.


The officer at the front desk, above, was very nice to my 13-year-old son, Alex, and showed Alex stuff about the cameras and shot spotter.
Joan Thom helps with the meal as officers serve themselves. The officer who can "run like a deer" is to the right of Thom.
Pies served to the officers included pumpkin, blueberry, cherry, pecan, and this helpfully labeled sweet potato pie.
My son Alex assisted by cutting up numerous pies. This is the second year Alex has been to the event, click here for coverage of the previous event.

Sharing Thanksgiving With Minneapolis Police...

Photos By John Hoff, and contributed photos xoxo

The tradition is not quite as old as Thanksgiving itself, but for several years residents of the Fourth Precinct have been putting on a meal for the police officers as a show of gratitude. Joan Thom, head of the Public Safety Committee in the Hawthorne Neighborhood, and her husband, Len Lewis, as well as "Buzzy" Bohn have been the ones to take the lead in putting on the annual dinner.

The dinner doesn't happen just once on Thanksgiving, but serves all three shifts. Numerous Northside residents contribute items to the dinner and are involved in its preparation. I don't have a list of all the different residents and their contributions, but off the top of my head I know Housing Director Jeff Skrenes made an incredible fruit salad and Jordan resident Megan Goodmundson contributed pumpkin pies. Oh, do I know about those pies. For two days, I had to transport those pies around, careful not to crumble the crust in the slightest bit. Megan called them her "police pies" and reminded me not to commit (even by accident) "police pie brutality."

Megan was preparing to make homemade pies, but when she saw pies for $2.88 at Cub Foods on West Broadway, she was all, like, "I can't MAKE pies that cheap." So, being a frugal Nomi homie, she bought the pies instead. This was Megan's first year at the dinner, and she says she wants to go every year from now on.

This was also the first year I attended, along with my 12-year-old son, during the "mid-shift" dinner...

Two of the officers at mid-shift were not from the Fourth Precinct, but with a K9 unit that sees action all over the city. Here's video from YouTube of one of these officers in action, click here to see Officer Edwards and her four-legged partner, Chief.

One Fourth Precinct officer was a former member of a SWAT unit and not only chatted with us at length, but also posed for a photo with my son. Another officer had a lot of stripes and medals on his uniform, which he jokingly referred to as "bling."

My son took note of an interesting display case, full of old and unusual weapons taken off suspects.

In chatting with the officers, two themes emerged. The Fourth Precinct appreciated the show of gratitude (or, to put it another way, they were grateful for the show of appreciation) and, secondly, there was common agreement things have really turned around in North Minneapolis.

The officers were there long enough to eat a meal and chat a bit, but then they went right back out on the street to keep everybody else safe as citizens enjoyed their own Thanksgiving. One young officer remarked to his partner that he was going to hit the "stair climber" machine before leaving, so he could work off part of the dinner.

That's part of the reason why he's a police officer, and I'm just a blogger.