Rash: A laudable law enforcement effort to capture Boelter

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The search for Vance Boelter, charged with assassinating DFL Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, and shooting DFL Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, was the largest manhunt in Minnesota history.

At a Sunday-night news conference, political and police leaders rightly credited the women and men behind this manhunt, joining everyday Minnesotans lauding law enforcement for their efforts at keeping the public — as well as several other targeted political leaders — safe after the initial attacks.

And, in fact, the carnage could have been much worse: Boelter went to four, not two, targeted homes, and according to Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mark Bruley, the quick thinking of Brooklyn Park Police Sgt. Rielly Nordan interrupted the assassin’s spree.

Bruley detailed how after Nordan’s shift his instincts kicked in upon hearing about the attack on the Hoffmans in their Champlin home. Knowing that the Hortmans lived nearby and that the speaker emerita would be worried about her colleague and his family, Nordan dispatched two officers to check on the Hortman home.

There they confronted Boelter, who was impersonating a police officer, driving what looked like an official squad car. Gunfire, perhaps from Boelter toward the officers, was returned, but Boelter was able to get in the house and escape out the back door. Meanwhile, the officers tended to Mark Hortman, yet unaware that Melissa was slain.

From then on the manhunt was on, with federal, state, county and local law enforcement entities cohesively coordinating their efforts that ended 43 hours after Boelter allegedly invaded the Hoffman’s house with the arrest of the man suspected of crimes that acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson rightly described as “the stuff of nightmares.”

The successful efforts should increase trust in the police. If so, it would amplify a trend tracked by Gallup in its most recent poll of public perceptions of 17 major U.S. institutions. After faith in police plummeted to 48% in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd and another sharp drop to a record low of 43% in 2023, confidence increased last year by eight percentage points, the biggest increase of any institution, to 51%.

“The connection between trust and successful policing is both practical and profound,” Jillian Snider, an adjunct lecturer at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said in an email interview. Snider, a retired New York Police Department officer, added that “In law enforcement, trust isn’t just a philosophical goal — it’s a tactical necessity.”

And indeed, trust was a tactical asset in the manhunt when Wendy Thomas spotted her neighbor Boelter in the grass, clad in black and covered in mud, and then indicated to officers who drove by, “He’s right there!” Or when another neighbor, Gordon Bates, shown trail-camera footage of Boelter, directed police to the right woods and then lent his side-by-side off-road vehicle to aid in the search.

“It’s a huge help to law enforcement when they gain community trust,” said Josh Parker, deputy director of policy at the Policing Project at the NYU School of Law. “Trust between police and community members is essential to get community buy-in to fight and solve crime.”

Tragically, trust was weaponized by Boelter, who allegedly impersonated a police officer to gain entry into the Hoffman and Hortman homes. Impersonating an officer is currently a misdemeanor in Minnesota. Hortman’s and Hoffman’s fellow lawmakers should work with DFL Gov. Tim Walz to make it a felony.

The police valor on vivid display in recent days is commendable — and yet common, justifying the public’s increased confidence in the police as well as citizens’ key role in contributing to community safety. Nothing can undo this tragedy, which is unprecedented in scale and scope here in Minnesota, but it’s acted as a timely reminder of the dedication of, and the risks taken by, those who wear the badge.