Valerie Castile, the mother of Philando Castile, speaks with reporters following a meeting of the Minnesota Peace Officer Standards and Training board in St. Paul on Thursday, July 27, 2017. The board rejected a call to rename a training fund after Philando Castile, who was shot to death by a St. Anthony police officer during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights in July 2016. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

Valerie Castile, mother of Philando Castile, gave an impassioned plea to the board to use her son's name on a training fund. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

St. Paul Police Federation President David Titus listens during a board meeting of the Peace Officer Standards & Training which was discussing whether to use Philando Castile's name on a training fund. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

Curtis Avent of St. Paul requests that Peace Officer Standards & Training board use Philando Castile's name. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

Clarence Castile, uncle of Philando Castile and a member of the board of the Peace Officer Standards & Training speaks about the reasons to use his nephew's name on the training fund. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)



Members of the Peace Officer Standards & Training board discuss whether to use Philando Castile's name on a training fund, in St. Paul, Thursday, July 27, 2017. (Scott Takushi / Pioneer Press)

The grave of Philando Castile at Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis on the one-year anniversary of his death on Thursday, July 6, 2017. (David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/TNS)

Philando Castile’s family and other community members were convinced — naming an officers’ training fund for Castile was only right, and would help bridge the gap between the community and law enforcement.

But members of the law enforcement community were strongly opposed. They said that giving the fund his name would be insulting to officers and that his shooting by a St. Anthony police officer was not “an open-and-shut case.”

After Gov. Mark Dayton asked the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training to name the training fund for Castile, the board voted against it Thursday.

“I respect people’s passion about this, but from my standpoint, the board does not want to be involved in sort of partisan, high divisive issues,” said Nate Gove, POST Board executive director, who is not a voting member of the board. “We want to actually do the work moving forward that actually leads to some of the very changes that people seek. … That’s what we’ve done for 40 years, and I think the reason that the board didn’t want to get in the middle of that is because it detracts from the work that needs to be done.”

The bill — drafted by law enforcement and overwhelmingly supported by the governor’s council on law enforcement and community relations — was approved with bipartisan support in both the House and Senate and signed by the governor as part of a larger public safety measure.

It earmarks an extra $12 million — more than Dayton originally requested — through 2021 to pay for police training specific to the areas of “crisis intervention and mental illness crises; conflict management and mediation; and recognizing and valuing community diversity and cultural differences to include implicit bias training.”

The POST board received two messages in support of naming the fund for Castile and 31 messages from people who opposed it, according to a packet presented to POST board members.

Nearly all the messages in opposition were from law enforcement associations, and current or retired officers. People wrote that naming the fund for Castile would further polarize law enforcement and that they didn’t want to make “a hero out of someone with drugs in his system.”

At St. Anthony officer Jeronimo Yanez’s trial, his attorney argued that “none of this would have happened” if Castile had not decided to “get stoned” on marijuana before operating a vehicle while armed with a gun. The prosecutor, meanwhile, said Castile was not under the influence of marijuana when he was killed, and maintained that Yanez was a nervous officer who was too quick to pull the trigger when Castile told him he had a firearm. Castile had a permit to carry.

In June, a jury found Yanez not guilty of manslaughter and other charges. Valerie Castile told the POST Board on Thursday that her son did not get justice.

“The system failed us, and now all we ask is for this training bill to be named after my son because of the manner that he was killed,” she said. “… This is for everyone. This is not about my son anymore. This is about humanity. This is how you treat our human beings? You just gun them down like that and it’s OK? It’s not OK. … My son deserves that training bill to be named after him.”

Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, said a training fund has never been named after a person.

“We’ve had 243 line-of-duty deaths (of) peace officers in the state of Minnesota,” Kroll said as he addressed the POST Board. “It’s never happened for any of them, much of which have died heroically. This is the wrong move to go down this path. … We need to leave politics out of policing. … This in direct response to irresponsible statements made from the onset by our governor. You need to stay the course and not start naming training funds.”

After Castile was killed on July 6, 2016, Dayton said it would not have happened if Castile were white. The 32-year-old man was African-American.

Other than Kroll, community members who attended Thursday’s meeting spoke in favor of naming the training fund for Castile.

“Every time you have a mishap, you ask the community to trust you,” said John Thompson, a friend of Castile’s, as he addressed POST Board members, who are mostly part of the law enforcement community. “… We didn’t break the trust with you guys, and you’re constantly throwing your dukes up and defending these officers. … You’re not sorry nor do you want to move forward. You want to keep going as business as usual. Of course you wouldn’t want to name it after Philando because, every time you get out of your car, Philando Castile’s name is going to play in your head.”

Valerie Castile talked about bridging gaps between law enforcement and the community, but after the meeting, Kroll said her public comments from the day that Yanez was acquitted indicate otherwise.

She said that day, “Yanez may have gotten away with justice on this planet of existence. He will not get away with divine justice. … He will have to face his creator and I hope he die tonight.” But Valerie Castile’s brother, Clarence Castile, said Thursday that she had been speaking out of frustration in the moment.

During Thursday’s POST Board meeting, community members said not enough people knew about the important decision and urged the board to delay its vote to get more public input. Clarence Castile — whom Dayton appointed as a POST board member on the one-year anniversary of his nephew’s killing — made a motion to postpone the decision, but it was not approved.

Eight board members then voted to maintain the training fund’s name as the Peace Officer Training Assistance fund. The two who voted against it are the board’s only public members — Clarence Castile and board Chairman Timothy Bildsoe. The board’s other members are comprised of peace officers, sheriffs, a city council member and people who work in the law enforcement higher-education field.

Clarence Castile said he and his family would continue to look for a way to have the training fund named for Philando.

In a statement issued after the vote, Dayton said, “I stand by my recommendation to name the fund after Philando Castile, but I have always known the decision was the POST Board’s to make.”

Minneapolis Police Lt. Bob Kroll, who heads police union, on why law enforcement didn't support naming the training fund for Castile. pic.twitter.com/HWJNySbJph — Mara Gottfried (@MaraGottfried) July 27, 2017

Valerie Castile speaks after the POST Board voted against naming officer training fund for her son. 2 voted in favor and the rest against. pic.twitter.com/UEHHtkZhRw — Mara Gottfried (@MaraGottfried) July 27, 2017

Sophie Carson contributed to this report.