Four off-duty police officers working the WNBA Lynx game at Target Center on Saturday night "walked off the job after the players held a news conference denouncing racial profiling, then wore Black Lives Matter pregame warm-up jerseys," according to Randy Furst of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. Minneapolis Police Federation Lt. Bob Kroll, who heads the union that represents rank-and-file officers, said that he "praised them for quitting." Kroll said that the four officers also "removed themselves from a list of officers working future games." Kroll: "Others said they heard about it and they were not going to work Lynx games." Furst notes other officers will "fill in for those who quit." Kroll added, "If [the players] are going to keep their stance, all officers may refuse to work there." Kroll said that despite the police "walk-off Saturday, Target Center still retains private security" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 7/12). ESPN's Bomani Jones believes the officers walking out was partially due to the fact it was a women’s basketball game. He said, "The gentlemen from the police union in Minnesota also made it a point to say we only send four officers because the Lynx are such a bad draw." He added he would be "curious to see what would happen" if the T'Wolves "had dome something like this" ("Mike & Mike," ESPN, 7/12).
