The head of the St. Paul police union said Friday that he won’t resign, despite calls from the mayor and mayoral candidate Pat Harris for the union’s leadership to do so.

Dave Titus also said the St. Paul Police Federation Political Awareness Committee is stopping all political activities for the remainder of the election.

The Police Federation had endorsed Pat Harris in his bid to become mayor.

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On Tuesday, the Federation issued a letter that questioned mayoral candidate Melvin Carter III after a burglary at his home in August. The letter criticized Carter for not providing to police serial numbers from two handguns that were stolen.

On Thursday, fliers landed in St. Paul mailboxes from the political action committee Building a Better St. Paul. The mailings apparently sought to link the gun thefts from Carter’s home to a recent increase in gun crimes in St. Paul. The committee, supported by the St. Paul Police Federation and a variety of other groups, included a quote from Titus on the flier.

The campaign material was quickly derided by Minnesota’s political leaders. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and the police union-backed candidate Pat Harris both called for the Police Federation’s board to resign.

Titus said in a statement on Friday that the Police Federation’s executive board “had little to no involvement in the political activities of the past week. As President of the St. Paul Police Federation and Chair of the Federation Political Awareness Committee, I take full responsibility. I regret the distraction this has caused during such an important mayoral race and period of violent crime in our City. I regret the negative attention this has brought on the Police Federation Executive Committee and membership.”

Titus went on to say the Federation’s letter from Tuesday “was an ill-advised political attack meant to highlight inconsistencies, that was in no way shape or form racially motivated.” Carter’s campaign and a variety of other people have criticized them as racist.

Titus said once “the ramifications of the letter became clear I issued a sincere apology to the Carter Family, an apology I reiterate today.”

He said he requested that Building a Better St. Paul stop all communications on the topic, noting it had become racially “charged,” but the campaign mailers had already been sent out.

“In no way were we implying these guns were used in the commission of a crime, rather that we need a Mayor whose priority is public safety,” Titus continued.

He concluded by saying that members of the St. Paul Police Federation elected him to his position.

“I have an open-door for discussion with any member,” Titus said in the statement. “When my term expires, my members have the opportunity judge me by my overall body of work.”

MIXED REACTION FROM COPS

Officers within the St. Paul police department, speaking on the condition of anonymity, appear to have varying views of the situation.

Some told the Pioneer Press they regarded the Tuesday letter from the Federation as purely political — an attempt by the union to support their endorsed candidate by criticizing an opponent — and not racially motivated. Others said they were embarrassed and that their union’s attack is not representative of who they are.

One officer pointed out that Carter’s father was a longtime St. Paul police officer and said he found the union’s treatment of his son disgraceful. He said he had trouble believing the Police Federation would make such comments about a retired officer’s son if he was white.

But another officer said he thinks it had nothing to do with race. He said the Federation would have tried to seize on an opportunity to support their candidate and discredit an opponent, regardless of race. A different officer said he thinks people have hyped the race aspect, while he sees it coming down to only a political agenda.

Another officer said he worries how the Federation’s comments about Carter — who would become St. Paul’s first African-American mayor if elected — will affect already-tenuous relationships with communities of color.

“We’ve been trying to build up community relations and this takes us 20 steps back,” the officer said.

POLICE CHIEF CRITICAL OF COMMENTS

Also Friday, St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell sent a department-wide email saying, “the federation leadership has raised questions about a burglary at a mayoral candidate’s home that are not in the interest of an investigation, but are designed to advance its own political agenda.”

He called the questions “unnecessary and irresponsible,” and said they worked against the department’s efforts of building trust with the community.

“Politics can play no role in the way we respond to and investigate crimes. … I am disappointed that a small group of people put our community trust in jeopardy. I also know that the divisive rhetoric of a few does not define us,” Axtell said.