IN THE NEWS: Minneapolis PD Suspends Christian Psychologist for Being a FORMER IFI Board Member

Excerpted from “Use of police psychologist put on hold for inquiry”, by David Chanen and Rochelle Olson, published Aug 28, 2006, in Minneapolis Star Tribune:

…The issue of Michael A. Campion’s affiliation with a conservative Illinois group that says it opposes the “gay lifestyle” was brought to interim Chief Tim Dolan’s attention on Wednesday during a meeting with the Police Community Relations Council.

Although he said there’s no indication of any bias in Campion’s work, Dolan decided the next day to stop using him until an independent review could take place.

…”Everybody is entitled to their views. But we felt it would be hard to separate them when reviewing people,” said Frank McNeil, a Springfield alderman.

Campion’s business, which is based in Champaign, Ill., has performed psychological testing for 32 years for more than 100 law enforcement agencies, including St. Paul. Last month, Campion received high marks from a consulting firm hired by the Minneapolis Police Department to evaluate his “general procedural goodness and specific cultural fairness” of his testing procedures.

A portion of Campion’s testing was developed through a U. S. Department of Justice grant in which he sampled St. Paul residents on what characteristics were important in an officer.

Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Don Harris said it was only within the past week that they became aware of Campion’s association with the Illinois Family Institute, a nonprofit group that says it advocates for religious freedom and opposes gay marriage, civil rights protection for gays, abortion and embryonic stem cell research.

Campion, who didn’t return repeated telephone calls from a reporter, was a board member three years ago, said David E. Smith, who became the Family Institute’s executive director two weeks ago. He didn’t know Campion’s current level of activity with the group.

“We are absolutely, positively not anti-gay,” Smith said. “Homosexuals were made in the image of God, and we’re commanded to love them. But we don’t have to accept their behavior. We tell them in a loving way that it’s an unhealthy and unsafe lifestyle.”

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