oh132.xml ST. PAUL POLICE ORAL HISTORY PROJECT: An Inventory of Its Oral Histories at the Minnesota Historical Society Finding aid prepared by Jennifer Huebscher Minnesota Historical Society
St. Paul, MN.

Oral History Collection

Finding aid encoded by Jennifer HuebscherNovember 2011 Finding aid written in English. OVERVIEW Minnesota Historical Society St. Paul Police Oral History Project. Oral history interviews of the St Paul Police Oral History Project. 1979-2008. Materials in English. For this project, members of the St. Paul Police Department were interviewed representing a wide range of experiences reflected by their personal tribulations and successes. The subjects discussed in the interviews include police culture; dynamics between officers of varying ranks; drug enforcement; situations involving death and the response to such situations; influence of war experience on police work; training and use of weapons; role of religion and faith; the changing dynamics of the St. Paul Police Department when ethnic integration occurs within; gender and racial discrimination and barriers; civil unrest in the 1960s; upward mobility; citizens' expectations; occupational stress and fear; death of fellow officers; life outside the department; and retirement. Interviewed by Kate Cavett of HAND in HAND Productions and Fred Kaphingst. Transcripts: 11 volumes (922 pages); 28 cm. OH 132: See Detailed Description for shelf locations. CATALOG HEADINGS

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics: Crime -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul. Law enforcement -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul. Police -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul. Police training -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul. Persons: Bailey, Carolen, interviewee. Bradley, Timothy Robert, interviewee. Buehlman, Edward, interviewee. Cavett, Kate, interviewer. Corcoran, Joseph Kane, interviewee. Fahey, Theodore, interviewee. Jyrkas, Wilfred, interviewee. Kaphingst, Fred, interviewer. McCutcheon, William, interviewee. McDonald, Laurence Francis, interviewee. Montgomery, Deborah Gilbreath, interviewee. Scott, Herbert, interviewee. Walsh, Thomas, interviewee. Organizations: Hand in Hand Productions (Saint Paul, Minn.) Saint Paul (Minn.). Dept. of Police. Document Types: Interviews. Oral histories. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. St. Paul Police Oral History Project. Oral history interviews of the St Paul Police Oral History Project. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

 Accession Information:

Accession number: AV2011.28

 Processing Information:

Processed by: Jennifer Huebscher, November 2011.

Catalog ID number: 007444207

 DETAILED DESCRIPTION Carolen Fay Gesin Bailey, May 10, 18, and 25, 2007.

Biographical Information: Carolen Fay Bailey was appointed policewoman for the St. Paul Bureau of Police July 17, 1961. She was promoted to Sergeant December 25, 1971 and Lieutenant May 25, 1985. She retired January 31, 1991. During her career she was Minnesota Association Women Officer of the Year in 1980 and Minnesota Assistant Commissioner of Public Safety 1992-1997.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include her early life and college; having kids and working in the Welfare Department and the Police Department; having to quit because of her pregnancy; women coming into the Police Department; promotion to sergeant; working with juveniles and the positives of working in the Police Department versus social work; undercover work; being protected by other officers; guns and shooting; being promoted to lieutenant and doing roll call; Ramsey County Child Abuse team and Sexual Offense Services; family reaction to her career; Sackett case; Black Muslims threatening Carolen; reviewing Carolen's eleven police scrapbooks; working VICE; helping other women in the department; working in Sex Homicide; working patrol; mentors; uniforms; proudest moments.

Interviewed by: Kate Cavett.

Use Restrictions: None.

 OH 132 1 117 pages. Timothy Robert Bradley, December 22 and 29, 2005.

Biographical Information: Timothy Robert Bradley was appointed to patrolman for the St. Paul Police Department September 8, 1975. During his career he won many awards including: Medal of Commendation, Medal of Merit, St. Paul Police Officer of the Year, Medal of Valor.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include the 'calling' to be a police officer; his father being a police officer; growing up in a police family; St. Paul Police Band; Police Academy; Debbie Montgomery; being a rookie; women in the department; being a field training officer; John Harrington; trusting your partner; holding St. Paul Police officers to a higher standard; public perception of police officers; giving back to the community; bike patrol; Timothy's speech upon receiving the Police Officer of the Year Award in 2000; organizing the 2000 Time Capsule for the St. Paul Police Department and the 1999 photo shoot of the entire department; tragedy and police officers dying in the line of duty; police funerals.

Interviewed by: Kate Cavett.

Use Restrictions: None.

 OH 132 2 122 pages. Edward Buehlman, August 15, 2007.

Biographical Information: Edward Buehlman became a St. Paul Police officer in 1955. Before joining the Police Department he had served in the Navy. Edward worked his entire career as a patrol officer.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include moving to St. Paul and early life; Veterans preference laws in Minnesota; becoming a police officer; Mercado's Marauders, Mobile Tactical Unit; starting a K-9 unit; working, training, and living with dogs; Rondo Ave race riot; driving the police emergency truck; volunteering and community work; Housing Environmental Liaison and Police Program [HELP]; 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago and police perception afterwards; burglary detail; retiring.

Interviewed by: Kate Cavett.

Use Restrictions: None.

 OH 132 3 60 pages. Joseph Kane Corcoran, March 14 and May 13, 2008.

Biographical Information: Joseph Kane Corcoran became a St. Paul Police patrolman March 2, 1964. He was promoted to Sergeant October 3, 1970 and Lieutenant March 24, 1990. He retired March 27, 1998.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include his early life; being in the Navy; deciding to become a police officer and briefly being rejected for not being tall enough; working undercover; reactions to violence on the job; working in the crime lab as a fingerprint expert; developing finger print technology; St. Paul becoming a national and international leader in finger print technology; being promoted to lieutenant of the homicide division; starting Victim Intervention Program for family members of murder victims; using the media to help with police work murders of police officers Tim Jones and Ronnie Ryan Jr.; spirituality and police work; Black Panthers; police work and being a father; St. Paul Police Department standards compared to other departments.

Interviewed by: Kate Cavett.

Use Restrictions: None.

 OH 132 4 114 pages. Theodore C. Fahey, April 20, 1981.

Biographical Information: Theodore C. Fahey became a St. Paul Police patrolman October 13, 1947. He was promoted to Sergeant September 16, 1955, Lieutenant December 18, 1965, and Captain December 9, 1972.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include being hired right after World War II; Chief Rowan; Police Officer Allen Lee murder; police officers eating for free being perceived as 'moochers'; Ted's father police officer James S. Fahey; 1930s military style police uniform; rewriting the criminal code; St. Paul Police Chief's from 1955-1972; becoming a Captain.

Interviewed by: Kate Cavett.

Use Restrictions: None.

 OH 132 5 50 pages. Wilfred O. Jyrkas, November 18, 2005.

Biographical Information: Wilfred O. Jyrkas became a St. Paul Police patrolman July 29, 1949. He was promoted to Sergeant, August 11, 1960 to Lieutenant, December 14, 1985, and to Captain, November 29, 1971. Wilfred retired August 28, 1986.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include his decision to become a policeman; learning on the job; police work during the 1930s; policing the Flats neighborhood; the murder of Allen Lee; using and not using a gun; how his experience in the military helped him with police work; how the department has changed; diversity in the department; James Griffin suing St. Paul for being passed over for Chief Deputy; Debbie Montgomery; women coming into the department; detaining criminals; working alone compared to working with a partner; notifying families of a death.

Interviewed by: Kate Cavett.

Use Restrictions: None.

 OH 132 6 58 pages. William McCutcheon, July 7, 2006.

Biographical Information: William McCutcheon served as St. Paul Park Police from 1948 until 1954. In 1954 he became a St. Paul Police Department patrolman. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1960, to Lieutenant in 1965, to Captain in 1969, to Deputy Chief in 1972, and to Chief in 1980. He retired in 1992.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include working for the St. Paul Park Police; working to improve police training; judge Miles Lord working with the police department; Debbie Montgomery; style of being a Police Chief; moving up the ladder; being sued by the Police Federation; St. Paul Department hierarchy; process of becoming a police chief; dealing with budget cuts; Eastman Report; working with the mayors; retiring; developing officers; murder of John O'Brien; civil unrest in the 1960s; disciplining officers who acted inappropriately; uniform cops versus detectives; department changing to semi automatic Glocks; Minneapolis Tribune investigating McCutcheon.

Interviewed by: Kate Cavett.

Use Restrictions: None.

 OH 132 7 67 pages. Laurence Francis McDonald, December 14 & 28, 2005 and January 5, 2006.

Biographical Information: Laurence Francis McDonald was appointed patrolman for the St. Paul Police Department July 11, 1955. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1966, to Lieutenant in 1971, to Captain in 1989. He was awarded the Medal of Merit in 1993. Laurence retired in 1995.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include his early life and becoming a cop; police exam; park police; the communities negative perception of the police department; improving police training; recruiting new police officers; social unrest in the 1960s; Housing Environmental Liaison and Police Program [HELP]; community policing/team policing; black community in St. Paul; training new officers; department psychologist Bob Hobart; becoming a regional training center for other departments; starting a K-9 unit; policing the west side of St. Paul; why some police officers burn out; spirituality and police work; carrying a gun; Mercado's Marauders tactical unit; developing police intuition; University of Minnesota riots, 1972; miscellaneous stories and experiences from being a cop; being commander of the Southwest District; researching how other cities dealt with violent protesters; talking to college students during the Vietnam war; working in the Sex-Homicide Department; The Miranda Warning; the importance of listening.

Interviewed by: Kate Cavett.

Use Restrictions: None.

 OH 132 8 166 pages. Deborah Gilbreath Montgomery, May 24, 2004, July 11, 2005 and January 30, 2007.

Biographical Information: Deborah Gilbreath Montgomery was appointed police officer for the St. Paul Police Department on September 8, 1975. She was promoted to Sergeant in 1987, to Lieutenant in 1998, to Commander in 2000, and Senior Commander 2003. Deborah retired July 31, 2003.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include being the first woman to become a St. Paul Police Officer; becoming a cop; physical tests to become a police officer; police academy; difficulties dealing with deaths on the job; partners; being black and a woman within the department; developing young officers; Carolen Bailey; traveling with the International Association of Women Police to China and Russia; comparing women police in other departments; working nights; losing a partner; taking the position of Assistant Commissioner of Public Safety for the State of Minnesota; working in the Juvenile Department; community policing.

Interviewed by: Kate Cavett.

Use Restrictions: None.

 OH 132 9 83 pages. Herbert W. Scott, May 11, 1979.

Biographical Information: Herbert W. Scott was appointed patrolman for the St. Paul Police Department in 1931. He was promoted to Detective in 1936. Herbert retired July 10, 1967.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include his early life; jobs before becoming a police officer; police officerss uniforms in the 1930s; Thompson submachine guns; gangsters.

Interviewed by: Kate Cavett.

Use Restrictions: None.

 OH 132 10 21 pages. Thomas Walsh, December 14, 2005.

Biographical Information: Thomas Walsh was appointed to patrolman for the St. Paul Police Department on May 22, 1972. He was promoted to Sergeant in 1983, to Acting Lieutenant in 1984 to Acting Commander 2001. Walsh retired June 28, 2002.

Scope and Content: Subjects discussed include working with juveniles; intuition; early life, college and Vietnam; maintaining a marriage while being a cop; training on the job; delivering babies and DOA situations; reluctance to carry a gun; team policing; death notifications; women coming into the department; black officers coming into the department; being a good partner; Jerry Vick and his death; having a healthy home life after work; favorite memories; comparing St. Paul Police to other departments.

Interviewed by: Kate Cavett.

Use Restrictions: None.

 OH 132 11 64 pages.