Former North High SRO Charles Adams pens memoir on being pulled from school after George Floyd's murder
MINNEAPOLIS — The standoff over school resource officers continues, with Brooklyn Park being the latest police department to pull its officers over concerns of the wording of a new state law.
What has not gotten a lot of attention is that SROs haven't been in St. Paul and Minneapolis schools since just after George Floyd's murder.
In a powerful new book, a longtime Minneapolis North SRO makes the case for those officers being back in those schools.
Minneapolis and St. Paul were among the school districts that decided to remove school resource officers in 2020 in the aftermath of Floyd's murder. In a new book, "Twin Cities: My Life as a Black Cop and Championship Football Coach," Charles Adams writes about his 13 years as an SRO at Minneapolis North High. During that time and to this day he remains the coach of the North High football team, but he wishes he could be back on the job as an SRO.
READ MORE: The 10 largest Twin Cities school districts' plans for school resource officers
Adams writes in the book that since Minneapolis schools let their SROS go he believes criminal incidents near and around the school have increased. And he believes had he been at the school as an SRO in February of 2022, he might have been able to prevent 15-year-old star quarterback Deshaun Hill from being shot to death in a chance encounter outside the school.
Adams was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning at 10:30 a.m.
"I don't blame myself for the act of what happened, but I feel that me not being there, it probably wouldn't have happened. And that's why I take the blame, and everybody in the community knows that that day I probably wouldn't have let any kid leave the building, especially a kid that plays football," he said.
Adams' book also provides a first-hand, harrowing account of being in the middle of the worst of the riots immediately after Floyd's death. He also writes about knowing Derek Chauvin from being on the police department and about how he believes the department's training systems at the time contributed to Chauvin doing what he did.
Adams' book is available online and everywhere books are sold. And while he proudly remains North High's football coach, after he lost his job as a school SRO he very quickly was offered a new job, which he accepted and holds to this day: director of team security for the Minnesota Twins.
You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Adam Del Rosso every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.