CRABBY EXCLUSIVE: Ramsey Country Sheriff Bob Fletcher on Somali Gangs

Summary

Garage Logic: CRABBY EXCLUSIVE — Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher on Somali Gangs
Podcast: Garage Logic (Gamut Podcast Network)
Release Date: July 22, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this exclusive episode of Garage Logic’s “Krabby Coffee Shop,” Sheriff Bob Fletcher of Ramsey County joins hosts Jay and Kenny to address Minnesota’s growing Somali youth gang problem—a topic recently in the spotlight following a string of violent incidents and community debates. Sheriff Fletcher, known for decades of experience tackling gang issues in St. Paul and Minneapolis, offers factual perspectives, hard data, and emotional insights. The conversation covers the scope of the problem, compares it to past immigrant gang waves, details community reaction and political pushback, and outlines concrete steps for intervention—all with the podcast’s trademark blend of blunt honesty and local color.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Evolution of Gang Problems in Minnesota

Timestamps: [04:15], [06:50], [13:55]

• Sheriff Fletcher details the historical progression of gang activity in Minnesota, referencing past waves among African American and Hmong communities and drawing parallels to the current Somali youth gang trend.
  • Quote: "Back in the early 80s...the gangster Disciples and the Crips...then, of course, in the late 80s, the Hmong community was struggling with gangs..." — Sheriff Fletcher [04:15]
  • He points out that gang emergence is a recurring pattern in first and second-generation immigrant groups, often rooted in a search for belonging, self-defense, and, eventually, economic survival.

Somali Youth Gangs: The Numbers and Nature

Timestamps: [06:50], [07:01], [07:11]

• The sheriff estimates roughly 300 Somali youth gang members in Minnesota:
  • Quote: "There's 100,000 Somalis in Minnesota. We're talking about 300. But kids. Kids. The range is from 14 to 23." — Sheriff Fletcher [07:01]
• Gangs are geographically based, with about a dozen known Somali gangs.
• Roughly 15% of gang members are considered the ring-leaders or “hard core”—the rest are impressionable followers.
  • "15% of the gang members are really harder core...The rest are kind of followers.” — Sheriff Fletcher [08:05]
• If unchecked, this number could rapidly double due to peer influence and recruitment.

Community Response: Pushback, Denial, and Truth-Telling

Timestamps: [09:10], [21:00], [36:07]

• The sheriff emphasizes deep relationships with Somali elders and leaders, many of whom are proactive and honest about the issue.
  • Somali elders even enter jails to counsel gang-involved youth.
• Political and public criticism arose claiming Sheriff Fletcher was “singling out the community” or acting out of bias.
  • Both hosts and Fletcher push back against this, clarifying the focus is public safety, not ethnic stereotyping:
  • "It was all based on concern for the community and concern for the kids... We've had frank conversations about black gangs. We've had frank conversations about Hmongs. The sensitivity is hurting the kids and fixing it." — Sheriff Fletcher [21:01]
• Fletcher explains unique social, religious, and clan-based fragmentation within the Somali community, making consensus harder than with prior groups (like the Hmong’s 18-clan council).

Why Somali Gangs, and Why Now?

Timestamps: [13:47], [27:13], [31:53], [32:05]

• Broader context: Gangs arise in nearly all U.S. immigrant communities.
• Unique challenges for Somali youth:
  • Racism and exclusion faced as Black Muslims in Minnesota—unlike Hmong immigrants, with whom law enforcement more easily established trust.
  • Many Somali boys lack economic and academic success; young women are excelling educationally and entering the workforce in healthcare and services.
    • "The Somali women, young girls, are doing amazing academically...The young men are not doing as well academically and are struggling both academically and job wise. And those are the kids that are slipping into gangs." — Sheriff Fletcher [27:13]
  • Gangs offer belonging, status, and economic opportunity—even if it starts as “fun” or a social group.
  • "Everybody's looking for some type of social group, but unfortunately, some of them just think it's fun and that's the scary part." — Sheriff Fletcher [32:05]

Real-World Consequences, Community Safety, and Public Perception

Timestamps: [19:08], [22:43], [22:54], [26:45]

• Garrett raised about the risk, noting that gang-on-gang violence can and does spill over to innocents, citing recent State Fair incidents and historical Hmong gang tragedies from the 1990s.
  • "No one's really safe in this particular environment. But yes, usually they're shooting at each other. Eventually, all these gangs center around making money, whether it's drugs or robberies or something else. So we're going to evolve toward that if we don't address it." — Sheriff Fletcher [19:08]
• Public perception of safety has been damaged, leading people to avoid places like downtown or public events.
• At recent community meetings with Somali parents, after reviewing social media videos showing guns and violence, denial was replaced by urgent calls for action.
• But pushback persists from certain local politicians (e.g., Councilmember Osman), often tied up in clan rivalries or political positioning.

Tools, Tactics, and Challenges in Law Enforcement

Timestamps: [17:18], [33:54], [35:30]

• Social media intelligence: Law enforcement uses Snapchat and Instagram to track gang activity and violence posted by youth.
• Dangerous new trends: Use of “switches”—aftermarket devices that turn semi-automatic handguns into full-auto weapons.
  • "One of the biggest differences today, of course, is the advent of switches ... that turns it into a fully automatic weapon. ... And a lot of these kids have switches." — Sheriff Fletcher [33:54]
• High-capacity magazines and extended mags make street shootings much more deadly than in previous decades.

Paths to a Solution: Intervention, Mentorship, and Community Empowerment

Timestamps: [11:20], [37:37], [38:22], [39:14]

• Fletcher identifies the greatest need: young adult mentors from inside the Somali community. Unlike Hmong or Black communities, there’s a gap in surrogate “big brothers” or role models.
  • Working to connect with local youth leaders, professors, and community advocates who are willing to be honest and address youth directly.
• Next steps include:
  • Forming smaller working groups of stakeholders (from a previous 200-strong community meeting).
  • Empowering Somali mothers:
    • “I think there’s some hidden strength in Somali moms that we haven’t tapped into, and we’re going to get there.” — Sheriff Fletcher [38:22]
  • Community vigilance: Residents can help by reporting suspicious activity and providing video evidence, which is often critical to solving cases.
    • "Don’t hesitate to call if you see something suspicious... the biggest thing that helps us solve crime nowadays is video..." — Sheriff Fletcher [39:14]

Comparison With Prior Gang Intervention Success

Timestamps: [08:17], [15:19], [52:35]

• The Hmong gang crisis in the ’90s was suppressed through police action and embracing family and community responsibility as the community matured.
• Federal RICO prosecutions (with leadership like Andy Luger’s) were credited for curbing previous gang violence (“highs and lows” in North Minneapolis).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Scale and Urgency:
  "If it's 300 now and you did nothing, it could be 600 in another year." — Jay [07:57]
  "We have a chance to curtail this now." — Sheriff Fletcher [07:57]

• On Political Pushback:
  "The sensitivity is hurting the kids and fixing it." — Sheriff Fletcher [21:12]

• On Community Meetings:
  "After a half hour watching these videos, there wasn't one doubt in anybody's mind that we have a gang problem." — Sheriff Fletcher [09:23]

• On Youth and Belonging:
  "Everybody's looking for some type of social group, but unfortunately, some of them just think it’s fun and that’s the scary part." — Sheriff Fletcher [32:05]

• On Solutions:
  "I want those moms educated and empowered to talk to their kids, and we need that particular prong.” — Sheriff Fletcher [38:22]

• On His Approach:
  "I'm on a Bob Fletcher agenda. The rest of this national stuff isn't really on my plate. I just wanna fix it so that...I want to build a relationship to show them that someone does give a damn about him, which is very important." — Sheriff Fletcher [21:12]

• On Assimilation:
  "The majority of people from Somalia do want to assimilate...the Somali women, young girls, are doing amazing academically...the young men are not doing as well...and those are the kids that are slipping into gangs." — Sheriff Fletcher [27:13]

• On Public Perception:
  "The perception becomes the reality. People don't want to go to downtown Minneapolis or downtown St. Paul. It creates a perception problem of overall safety, does it not?" — Jay [22:19]

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Critical Segments and Timestamps

• Introduction and Crime Spike — [03:32]
• Scope and Nature of Somali Gang Problem — [04:15] - [09:23]
• Community Meetings and Parental Involvement — [09:10] - [12:11]
• Comparison to Past Immigrant Gang Waves — [13:55] - [15:49]
• Pushback and Political Criticism — [21:00] - [22:54], [36:07]
• Youth, Assimilation & Gender Differences — [27:13] - [32:05]
• Weapon Trends and Law Enforcement Tactics — [33:54] - [35:30]
• Intervention, Mentorship, and Solutions — [37:37] - [39:14]
• Summing Up and Community Call-to-Action — [39:14] - [41:32]

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Summary Flow & Tone

The conversation is direct, at times somber, but also imbued with hope and humor, as hosts Jay and Kenny blend lighthearted banter with intense, real-world concerns. Sheriff Fletcher’s manner is frank, empathetic, and attentive to fact—his frustration with political distraction is clear, but so is his long-term commitment to marginalized youth. The tone is “Midwestern practical”—solutions-focused and unvarnished.

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For Listeners Who Missed It:

• Sheriff Fletcher brings three decades of anti-gang experience, making clear that the Somali youth gang problem, while serious, is currently limited in scale but urgent in trajectory.
• The solution is part enforcement—focusing on a hardcore minority—as well as community engagement, especially empowering parents and mothers and finding positive mentors.
• Gang recruitment and violence among Somali youth reflect a broader American pattern among immigrant groups, compounded by unique social, political, and racial challenges here.
• Despite criticism, most Somali parents and leaders want action, and law enforcement stands ready to partner if the community and politicians can focus on truth over perception.
• Public vigilance, open dialogue, and willingness to address hard realities are key—especially as summer crime surges.

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Recommended for those who want an honest, nuanced look at a local crisis with broader national echoes—delivered by voices grounded in both community and experience.

Transcript

[Jay]

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[Kenny]

and stories about people.

[Jay]

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[Kenny]

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[Kenny]

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[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

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[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

I like the dressing better.

[Jay]

And he's never crabby. We may be crabby, but Bob's. I've never dealt with Crabby Bob ever in my life.

[Kenny]

Boy, you have been a busy guy the last two weeks. Sheriff.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, there's a lot to do out there. A lot of crime. July and August are always the busiest crime months of the year.

[Kenny]

I can't believe what has happened in the last five days in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. It's really gone crazy.

[Jay]

As long as I've known law enforcement officers, they always tell me as a reporter, as soon as the summer heats up, then the crime heats up. And it's almost true to form, isn't it, Bob?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

It is.

[Jay]

Every year, year in and year out, and then just within the last, what, week? Two weeks. It's been about two weeks. I guess you brought up something that's really important that's gotten a ton of attention. And for those who might not know, lay it out for us. What are your concerns about a growing gang problem?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Jay, you've known me a long time. I have a long history of dealing with gang problems. Back in the early 80s, when the gangster Disciples and the Crips came here to St. Paul in Minneapolis, worked with a lot of community leaders and kids to try to get them off that path. Then, of course, in the late 80s, the Hmong community was struggling with gangs. I worked with General Vang Pao and Dr. Yang Dao and Li Pao Zhong to try to get those kids on the right track. Now, while we were trying to do that, of course, we had, you know, in the 90s, 1995, Minneapolis was called Murderapolis. Oh, I remember it. 97 murders in Minneapolis. In 95, 96 was on a record pace as well, although we were able to quell that because we started doing more police work. You remember, Jerry Half was killed we had a. Devesha Gillum, a small child, was a victim of a, of a drive by over there at university in Hamlin. But it took, unfortunately it took a few travesties for the public and the community to say enough is enough. And we have done really some great work over the years at combating gang violence and gang crime. One of the key is people like Tyrone Terrell who have youth outreach and the African American Leadership Council that have been working with young kids that are in this environment. But the latest trend the last two years has been the growth in Somali youth gangs. And we've been watching this and tracking this for some time, hoping that it might be an anomaly, but unfortunately it's not. And the fourth of July weekend with the shootings that took place, and there's been 14 East African Somali related homicides in the last two years and over 100 gun shooting incidents. And so, you know, we just decided we had to do something to mobilize the community. We got to get going, we got to fix this problem and we can't be in denial. And we tried to start a thoughtful conversation about the topic. And for the most part, the Somali community that I've worked with now for 20 years was very receptive and wants the problem solved. But of course there's always some political posturing and pushback, and we welcome that. And so as a result of that pushback, there was some controversy. But on our end, the parents and the people we talk to, they say, hey, help us, help us get our kids steered on the right path. It's about saving children and we're going

[Jay]

to get into the pushback. Okay, but what I think is important, first and foremost is to lay out the problem. You mentioned, I think in previous news stories, 300 gang members, Somali gang members.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Is it really a small number? There's 100,000 Somalis in Minnesota. We're talking about 300. But kids. Kids. Well, the range is from 14 to 23. Really in that range.

[Jay]

Still kids?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah, still kids. So, I mean, that is the size of the problem. But they've really coalesced around different gang names. We have 12 different gangs in the metro area. They're usually geographically based. It's. And that's not unusual for gangs to start historically geographically based. And they're usually about pride and braggadociousness. But they evolve later into drugs and money if you don't check them. I just saw a report of a robbery yesterday, and that's the other thing that happens. Gangs start robbing people on the street Two robberies that I saw. So, you know, we don't want it to evolve into more violence. And you know, we have a chance to curtail this now.

[Jay]

Cause if it's 300 now and you did nothing, it could be 600 in another year.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Absolutely. And like with most gangs, 15% of the gang members are really harder core that really are leading the group, causing problems, encouraging violence.

[Jay]

The rest are kind of followers.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

They're followers. But we have to put the harder core kids in jail, just like Andy Lugar did with the highs and the lows in north Minneapolis and federal prosecution for RICO violations. And we have to put some in jail and then we have to give the others an off ramp to a successful life.

[Jay]

Can you answer this question? And when you mentioned you got some of the best gang investigators, Mike Martin is nationally known as a gang investigator. And you're getting this information from your guys and women on the street following this stuff. This is all fact based. And you've seen this growing trend, correct?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yes.

[Jay]

And a lot of people don't know, Bob, is you've worked. There are Somali elders that support what you're doing with this. Correct me if I'm wrong, You told me, I believe in a news story one time you have Somali elders coming into the jail to talk to some of the young Somali kids there.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yes.

[Jay]

And if you don't nip this in the bud, how bad can it get?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, you asked a lot of questions there at one time.

[Jay]

It's usually what I do. You know me, sorry, I ask a half hour question every time.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, Mike Martin, one of our undersheriffs who leads some of this effort, is really one of the most knowledgeable experts in the gangs in the country. He travels the country and so he's one of our leaders in this area. But regarding the pushback, you know, we had a meeting last night. Yep, we had a community meeting last night. We had 150 Somali parents and leaders there and about 50 persons that were non Somali. And we showed videos, we've been collecting videos of these kids that they post on social media. We have a great intelligence unit. We collect snap, Instagram, et cetera. And after a half hour watching these videos, there wasn't one doubt in anybody's mind that we have a gang problem. Because the number of guns, the number of shootings that these kids post online to brag about what they're doing was clear to everybody in that room. So a couple different steps need to take place. But convincing the parents that they need help, convincing the community Leaders, the religious leaders and law enforcement is always going to be here. But one of the missing pieces here, and you know, I've worked this for, I worked with the Somalis now for 20 years and 20 years with the Hmong before that. One of the missing pieces is we don't have a lot of young adult mentors, role models that can go into this community and talk to these kids. We have religious leaders, we have some political leaders. Parents are really out of the loop. But in the black community and the Hmong community, we have people like Tyrone Terrell's group that can go and talk to these kids. Reverend Spence, Reverend Spence. Be surrogate parents, surrogate mentors, big brothers. That doesn't really happen in the Somali community, and we got to find it. There's a guy that runs a youth group that, for the Parks Board that I met with two days ago, really impressed by him. We're going to try to find some people that can help us reach these kids.

[Jay]

There's also a professor over at McAllister Samatar. Yep.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yes.

[Jay]

Could that be helpful?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yes.

[Advertiser]

You need to get.

[Jay]

I mean, it's a tough, it's a tall task, what you're trying to do.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

He's helpful and he wasn't afraid to speak some of the truth to your reporter about some of the fraud issues. But the fraud in the gang is really. They're disconnected, they're separate issues. But it's always helpful to have people that speak the truth. I will tell you, the leaders that I work with, you know, Omar Jamal, Abdirazak Bihi and a variety of others, Mohammed Kanyadari, they're not afraid to speak the truth. In fact, several were there last night and saying, yeah, we need to do something. So I've got the adult leaders in place, regardless of what council member Osman says.

[Jay]

From Minneapolis.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

From Minneapolis. We've got a lot of adult leaders in place.

[Jay]

Well, you know, and again, I hate to interrupt you, but to give it context, in the Somali community, there are many clans. I don't know how else to describe them, tribes, clans, however you want. And if one clan likes something, quite often the other clan doesn't like it. Do you follow what I'm saying?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Politically, I'm very familiar with that subdivision issue, but I don't want to debate that today. What I will tell you is this. In the Hmong community, when I worked with General Vang Pao, he was the leader of the 18 clan council. There was consensus. We worked through an organization, a structure of leadership, and that was very helpful working with the Hmong community. In the Somali community, we do not have something similar. So we have to work with several different factions rather than sort of a leadership structure. And that faction, besides what you're referring to as clan based factions, there are religious, different mosques that are factions. And now we have the political overlays. So what I think is more valuable is for me just to work with parents because their commonality we had at the meeting last night, we had two families who lost their sons to gang violence. And they spoke and they said to the community, we need to do something about this. And unfortunately, their murders have not been solved, which is a double whammy for them. Not only did they lose their son, but they haven't yet been solved. And we know it was a gang related murder.

[Jay]

So what do you think? You probably already know what is driving the increase.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, first of all, gangs take place in every immigrant community in this country. It doesn't matter. It was different types of fighting. You know, whether it's Irish, Italian, historian.

[Jay]

My grandfather's from Italy.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Okay.

[Kenny]

Yeah.

[Jay]

And was recruited by the Mafia. Just.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah, the first and second.

[Jay]

I get it. Yeah.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

The first and second generation of any immigrant community. And we saw this again with the Hmong community, work closely with their leadership. So it's not unusual. The problem is that in the Hmong community, when the kids got old enough to have children, they evolved out of gangs, they married and they had children. They decided. And part of that was a cultural thing. The parents beat it into them. You're responsible for this child and you better do something wrong. There are other issues though, Jay. I mean, most of Hmong are recruited through the Christian organizations and they became Christian. And the Somali community has more racism toward it than the Hmong community did. We were able to mobilize a community better with the Hmong community because of the religion they chose and because they weren't black. And this is, this is an obstacle for us, the fact that the Somali community is not as welcomed as the

[Jay]

Hmong community, that Black Muslim is not right. Is going to face.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, I mean, and that is the problem, one of the problems. And it's not their fault. But my point is that we have to do more lifting and more work. And like I said, I have a very long, fond relationship of my work with the Somali community. But that is why I felt comfortable stepping out in front of this issue, because I knew that many of them had my back, even though some of the politicians did not.

[Jay]

Yeah. And I want to give you a chance to respond to that and maybe you already are responding to it in your own way. And I remember you might not remember this. Back in 2006, 2007, on AM 1500, I had you on to talk about the work you were doing with the Somali community then. That's 20 years ago you were doing this work. Do you recall that?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

No.

[Jay]

You don't?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah, I mean, I started 2007. I mean, to be honest, it's right in there. Yeah, Omar, Jamal and I started hooking up and back then we had a number of young kids. Well, it all stemmed from the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in Christmas Eve in 2006. And from there the history is.

[Jay]

So my memory is pretty good. I thought it was 2006, 2007, you actually contacted me if you and said, I'm doing some important work with the Somali community and here's what we're doing. And I brought you on the radio. So when you started getting some of this pushback that I saw, I said, I don't think people understand the history you have working with the Somali community.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, for certain, some of the newer young politicians had no idea, didn't know that. And that's fine.

[Kenny]

You know, Sheriff, you mentioned that they're now doing crimes and street robberies, etc. Etc. Are these crimes part of earning their bones or like in the Native American community, they say catching coup or is something else?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, is it likely that the older gang members are using the younger ones to commit some crime? Yes. Okay, so that does happen. But it's not unusual to just have group actions. I mean, right now this is group behavior and we need to find a way to break the group behavior. Did you see the fight online that happened at the green over there?

[Kenny]

Yeah.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

I mean, those are two groups, two gangs, one from the northern suburbs and one from Hopkins that went at each other and one child got beat up really, really badly. So it's more of a group think. Right now the structure isn't there yet, but this is why we have a window. I always say you have a two year window to put a 20 year legacy in place. And then I say, you got a 20 year legacy to put a 200 year legacy in place. So we have to work on the front end here as quickly as we can.

[Kenny]

So I lived in the Twin Cities from, I'm going to say 84 until 2020 and. And I lived in south Minneapolis. And not once were we concerned about gang behavior, gang violence, because it seemed to us our perception was they're into fighting each other and they don't care about the crackers on the south side. Is that the same mentality now? Or should residents be on guard, on the lookout? By the time I moved out of there, I was. I wouldn't get close to anybody in front of me at stop signs. I always looked for a way out. I was always looking in the mirror, super paranoid. And it wasn't like that for most of the time that I spent in the Twin Cities.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, usually the gangs are in conflict with rival gangs. And of course, the highs and the lows in north Minneapolis are the best example of that. So, yes, that's usually the case. Unfortunately, little kids like KG Wilson's granddaughter get caught up in the fire. So no one's really safe in this particular environment. But yes, usually they're shooting at each other. Now, having said that, here's the history I can tell you. When I worked with the Hmong community on the Hmong gangs, they started robbing places. And if you Remember, on West 7th street there, there was two gas stations. They simultaneously robbed two gas stations in the early 90s and they assassinated two clerks similar to the assassination. And they really put guns right to their head and they tried to kill two other people that were in there. Wow. And that was a wake up call. But it was an evolution from rival gang activity to wanting to make economic gain. Eventually, all these gangs center around making money, whether it's drugs or robberies or something else. So we're going to evolve toward that if we don't address it. Now,

[Jay]

you alluded to the pushback. Right. And what I didn't understand is this blanket criticism, Bob, that was you're attacking the whole community and you're singling out the community. Did I miss something in the presentation? When I watched your presentation, it was not a singling out of anybody, in my opinion. It didn't seem that way because you were addressing what the facts were of what was actually happening and actually seemed like more of a concern for the community than disrespect toward the community. Did I miss something?

[Kenny]

No.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

And it was all based on concern for the community and concern for the kids. We've had frank conversations about black gangs. We've had frank conversations about Hmongs.

[Jay]

Exactly.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

And I understand the sensitivity, but the sensitivity is hurting the kids and fixing it. We're not being able to fix it if we're overly sensitive. And that's why I always qualify. Hey, there's 300 kids out of 100,000. Let's just be candid. But there's a lot of Other stuff floating in the air around the world and that impacts people. But I'm on a Bob Fletcher agenda. The rest of this national stuff isn't really on my plate. I just wanna fix it so that. And I talk to these kids. I'm on a. And I talk to them at the coffee shops. There's a coffee shop in Little Canada that they hang out at. There's a juice time in Arden Hills. I go to the Stone Arch Bridge once in a while where they hang out. You know, there's a lot of different places, Mall of America area. I talk to them, try to convince them, hey, this is really stupid, but really, I want to build a relationship to show them that someone does give a damn about him, which is very important.

[Jay]

Yeah. Otherwise they're not gonna listen to you.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Right.

[Jay]

And here's another thing, too. When Kenny referenced not feeling safe and the general public not feeling safe. And generally speaking, yes, it's usually gang on gang violence, but sometimes people get caught in the middle of it. And other thing to it, Bob, is the perception becomes the reality. People don't want to go to downtown Minneapolis or they don't want to go to downtown St. Paul. It creates a perception problem of overall safety, does it not?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, it does. And it rears its head in strange ways. Like the Minnesota State Fair. You know that we're a big part of the Minnesota State Fair security.

[Kenny]

Two years. I can't get away with anything out there. Because of you guys.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah, because of Bob. Two years ago, we had a shooting incident just outside the fairgrounds involving these young Somali gang members. Last year, of course, they can't readily get guns into the fair, which is great. And I got to give a shout out to the state troopers that work the gates. They really help us keep that place secure. And then Asia security, that helps us with metal detection. But once they're in there, they do. They are disorderly. The gangsters, they run around, they scare people. Several fights last year at the fair. We tried to arrest them as fast as we can for fighting. But it does impact the regular people because they see this activity and they get fearful. Usually it's really. We're talking three to six nights at the state fair that it's really a factor.

[Jay]

So usually toward the end.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, usually last weekend, yeah.

[Kenny]

100.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Right. So. But, you know, we prepared, you know, to make sure we can deal with that and keep everybody safe. I love the Minnesota State Fair. I'm one of the biggest fans of the fair, and I don't want anything to happen to hurt that. You want to know. You want to know, Kenny? You want to. My favorite thing first, the corn dog. Yeah, get a corn dog. And then the corn. The roasted corn. That, that Brad guy, he cooks that roasted corn. That is amazing.

[Jay]

It is amazing.

[Kenny]

But five bucks a year, nothing's better than the turkey. I'm sorry, the turkey and the fries. That's all I need. And some root beer. It's obvious that Jay's not going to ask the tough question, so we're going to take a break here and I'm going to put myself on the line and ask a very difficult question. But I want to talk about Ecofund Motorsports. Up in Forest Lake and down in Burnsville, still offering a free single place watercraft personal watercraft trailer with the purchase of select jet skis and Yamaha Jet Blasters. And by select, I mean a whole bunch of them, not just a few. It's really a great deal. If you're in need of water fund, you'll see all the details on the website. Ecofundmotorsports.com I have to be truthful. I fell down the ATV rabbit hole this morning. I was actually wondering if the Yamaha lineups still looks the same in 2026 and if they still make the Kodiak model. Well, not only do they, but they're still very reasonably priced. Great news if a wheeler is in your future. Now, if a youth ATV is in your future, oh, you're in luck. Ecofund has an overwhelming lineup right now of youth ATVs. You can check them out ecofundmotorsports.com and then plan to go there in person and let one of the expert on staff walk you through the whole process. And good news, it's not going to break the bank. And as you may or may not know, getting the kiddos their first motorized toy, one of the funnest things a parent or grandparent can do. Those locations Burnsville, east side of I35, take the county 42 exit, go north on grand and then up in Forest Lake take the Highway 97 exit from I35, go west for about a block. Ecofunmotorsports.com

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[Kenny]

Okay, Sheriff. There's been a perception, and I may have been guilty of this myself, on gl, of accusing, without any firm evidence, accusing, the Somali community of not wanting to, what's the word? Blend in, become Americans, assimilate. They want America to be just an extension of Somalia. Do you see that in all your contact with them?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

No.

[Kenny]

Are they happy and love it here?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, I mean, I don't see that. I think a majority of people from Somalia do want to assimilate. However, having said that, there are some older folks that miss Somalia. Okay. And I know the history of Somalia very, very well.

[Kenny]

So do I. I studied it quite a bit.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

You know, between civil war and famine, a lot of people, 2 million people died during the famine. The civil war cost people. A lot of people went to refugee camps in eastern Kenya before they came here. But just to be really clear, some of the audience might not like this. Our involvement in Somalia, both in distributing food and then in trying to suppress the civil war and capture Aidid, who was one of the Hu' I leaders. Our involvement led in part to the civil war. Not so much our involvement, but our desire to bail out after Black Hawk Down. And if you talk to the pilot that was captured, I went and listened to him speak. He says we never should have left Somalia. We should have established peace. We should have stayed there and brought the tension down between the rival groups. And to be honest with you, the civil war really began when we pulled out. And on top of that, then of course, a famine that killed 2 million people. So our country made the decision to rescue and assist people that were under those adverse conditions. And, you know, we have to respect what happened during, you know, those eras, the Clinton era. I mean, obviously it was, it was. It was Bush first, of course, and Bush made the decision to pull out, strangely under pressure from Republicans to pull out. And then, of course, the Clinton era. But our government really has a history of why the Somalis are here. Now, having said that, a lot of Somalis, there's a saying in the Somali culture that my parents never unpack their bags. What that means is they would really like to return. But on the younger people, no, not the front. And I have to say, I'll say this Again, the Somali women, young girls, are doing amazing academically in the workforce. They're all graduating from college. They're representing their families. If you go to any healthcare industry, you'll see that a lot of Somalis are in the healthcare industry and they're doing very well.

[Kenny]

Have you been talking to such? Because he just spent some time in the hospital and he cannot say enough good things about the Somali nurses he had. He's absolutely in love with him.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

I haven't been talking to him, but it's a great success story in this country. But here's the flip side. The young men are not doing as well academically and are struggling both academically and job wise. And those are the kids that are slipping into gangs.

[Jay]

What have you learned from the Somali elders as to why that might be?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, I don't want to speak yet. I'm really, really studying that issue because I talk to a lot of young kids as to why they're. I mean, even the ones that are going to college, they don't have sense of what they're going to do later. And I'll come back sometime and we'll talk about that. Everyone has a different opinion as to why the kids, why the boys are not succeeding. But it could be a lot of things. It could be whether, and traditionally whether the fathers are strong enough role models. That happens in a lot of families in America today. But one of the things I know about these kids is they, the girls would rather date boys that are successful. And so if you're not successful as a young man, then it's not. I mean, there's a lot of people that, over this country's history that dated men even if they weren't successful.

[Jay]

You're looking at one.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

I don't know. Rebecca chose that.

[Kenny]

Hi, I'm Ken.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

But in the Somali culture, these young girls that are successful, healing, helping Joe Sucre draw blood, et cetera, they want a husband that's responsible and economically going to help. And so if you're not one of those, you have a difficulty, you know, hooking up.

[Jay]

What's attracting these young boys to it? Is it the they want to belong? They found a family by belonging with the gang. Is it about money? Is it about status, machismo? Is it all the above? What is it?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

It's all the above. A little bit of the above. And, and I mean, it's always about a social group. Everybody's looking for some type of social group, but unfortunately, some of them just think it's fun and that's the Scary part.

[Jay]

Yeah.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

And I don't agree with Mary Morarity on a lot of things, but I will say this. The frontal lobe of their brain hasn't developed yet till they're 25.

[Jay]

That's factual. That is science.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

That's a fact. That's factual science.

[Jay]

Kenny and I are still waiting at 65.

[Kenny]

Is it ever going to happen?

[Jay]

But I get it. I do get it. Did you look at anything that's going on in Minneapolis over the last couple of days?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Oh, yeah.

[Jay]

Is that in any way connected to any Somali gangs? Because you said geographically they're all over the Twin Cities.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah. Certainly the nine people shot is not. I mean, Minneapolis has some great leads, obviously. You know, you get videos everywhere.

[Jay]

Yeah.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

The Powderhorn, we didn't get much news, but the Powderhorn park shooting incident, there was 60 plus rounds fired, casings recovered in Powderhorn park. And that was on Monday. That appears to be Somali gang related in that the victim whose car was shot is a Somali member that we've dealt with before. Having said that, he's not overly cooperative, helping us figure out who it was.

[Jay]

How about 18th and Nicollet?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Unknown at this time, but not.

[Jay]

Not likely.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Not likely.

[Jay]

So some of it was connected.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah.

[Kenny]

Do any of them know how to properly handle a firearm? By that, I mean, we've seen videos of crimes going down, and that's. If you want to shoot somebody, that's not how you handle a firearm. I mean, that looks good on film, but my God, that's the worst thing you could possibly do.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, as long as you brought the firearm up. Kenny. One of the biggest differences today, of course, is the advent of switches or a piece of equipment that goes on a Glock that turns it into a fully automatic weapon. And that's really troubling. And a lot of these kids have switches. We have videos of them showing off their switches. So, you know, back when Jay and I started, it was like a.38 special, which was five rounds with a.38 revolver.

[Jay]

I remember news stories. If there were 10 rounds fired, it was a big.

[Kenny]

Did they reload? What in the world.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah, we had speed loaders back then. I started with the revolver, Smith and Wesson revolver, revolver, those speed loaders.

[Kenny]

But you know what I've always said, Bob, about fully automated weapons is these guys don't pay for the ammunition. I. I don't want one of them because, God damn it, ammunition costs a lot of money.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jay]

But it is true. Back in the day, if somebody fired off 10 rounds, it was a huge news story. And now that's nothing, right? That's nothing.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah, no, it's. It's 50 plus. And they use extended magazines. Usually the magazines, they hold 36 rounds or more. And once in a while we run into drum magazines. But the advent of switches in the community, and it's a federal crime, and, you know, the U.S. attorney's office, Andy Luger. I've worked with Mr. Rosen now for a little bit, but Andy Luger did an amazing job at prosecuting these guys. And I said at his retirement, I've never seen one person impact public safety as much as Andy Luger did in that leadership role.

[Jay]

When he took the reins, that changed everything.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

I had goosebumps thinking about it, because I'm telling you, that guy was serious about curbing crime. Yes, he was. And we all owe him a thank you.

[Jay]

And Joe Thompson, who was the interim, did much of the same. As an interim.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yes.

[Kenny]

What I don't get is the people that last week they had this big protest directed at you, and they were calling you racist, like they didn't know the work that you've been doing with the community all. Is it Jamal over on the Minneapolis City Council that went out. How does he not know what you've been doing all these years?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, to be in fairness, I never heard them use the word racist. Okay. It was implied, Kenny. With everything that was said, the message, it was implied. But they never really used that word. And I give them credit for drawing the line somewhere. You know, I have a little bit of experience in politics, and I've grown to just accept, you know, accept that

[Kenny]

the BS what you've got Sanford box doesn't bother you?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, I don't. You know what? I just chart my course and continue on. And the good news is the public is smart enough that the labeling and the stuff doesn't carry. The public really wants facts. They're not really interested in name calling. That's true, and it really has. We've evolved there where the public's in. Okay. We want.

[Jay]

I used to. As a young reporter, it used to really bother me when I would be attacked about a story and be called names. And I was defensive and wanted to fight back all the time.

[Kenny]

And that went away, didn't it? Mr. King signed gang sign guy.

[Jay]

Who. Yeah. Didn't know what he was talking about. Oh, another gang problem.

[Kenny]

Right.

[Jay]

As you mature, I think you mature and go through the experience, you learn the public's not listening to half of that, and they're more interested in the facts. And the facts usually Rise to the top. And you just motor along. You just keep doing what you're doing.

[Kenny]

So where do we go from here? What's the goal? What's the 12 year, 5 year goal?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah, we took names of people that want to be a part of the solution. Stakeholders. We're going to hold some smaller group meetings. I mean, 200 people in a room. It's really too hard to make any significant progress, especially when sometimes people want to argue, you need that venting. But now we need to move to the next stage of actually coming up with some solutions. And there's already a lot on the table. We're going to pull a group of 40 stakeholders together. At the same time, I'm also going to have our female deputy pull a Somali woman's group together. I think there's some hidden strength in the Somali moms that we haven't tapped into, and we're going to get there.

[Kenny]

Mama bear energy.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what. And you know, some of them are hesitant to talk. Some part of it's a cultural thing whether or not women, you know, can take the lead. But we got a lot of role models in the Somali community that are female and have taken the lead. So we're going to break some barriers. But I want those moms educated and empowered to talk to their kids, and we need that particular prong. The other group we're pulling together, we can work on the youth outreach and the intervention. So I think we'll make some progress. But we're already behind. You know, Kenny, just to say we're a little bit behind where we should be. And the next month and a half, July and August, of course, is probably going to continue to be a hot month. Yeah, yeah.

[Kenny]

Is there anything, general citizens that are watching this, listening to this, is there anything they can do to help if so inclined?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, obviously call. I mean, some of our shooting incidents occurred at graduations. You know, we had the Mariucci shooting. We had Roy Wilkins here, downtown St. Paul. You know, don't hesitate to call if you see something suspicious. I mean, that's really, really important. And the biggest thing that helps us solve crime nowadays is video, whether it's on houses or people taking video. If you see something transpiring, get your camera going. And, boy, we've solved a lot of crimes through use of different person's videos. So, I mean, I wouldn't be overly nervous, but, you know, let's just face it. It doesn't matter if it's Somali gang crime, regular gang crime, whatever Kind of crime it is. Just be aware of your surroundings, Kenny. And then, Kenny, where did you move to, by the way, after you bailed on South Minneapolis.

[Kenny]

That's top secret. Western Douglas County. I'm between Alexandria and Fergus Falls. Farm country. Yeah, I. I did live right across the street from Sibley park in south Minneapolis. It's now called 40th Street park because evidently Sibley was a really, really bad guy.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

I saw on the news that Alexandria has a boat. A boat museum. Did you see that at all? I want to get up there.

[Kenny]

One of my boats. Boats spent the summer in there last year.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Really?

[Kenny]

I have a vintage antique 1964 Glastron jet flight.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Really?

[Kenny]

And they had a Glastron display, and my boat sat in there all summer.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

I want to get up there and see those vintage boats. I'm a big boat fan, too.

[Jay]

Look at Kenny up there on his farm. How many acres up there?

[Kenny]

Again, that's none of your business. But that museum has featured. It's funny, you walk around in there and you see little plaques on boats, and about every other one says, formerly owned by Joe Su. So Joe must have had a lot of wood boats.

[Jay]

Of course he did.

[Kenny]

Yeah.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

A lot of those were in movies. Historically, they had had him in movies.

[Jay]

You know, I thought he was a big Chris Craft guy, you know?

[Kenny]

He is.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, Joe hasn't had me on for a while, and you can give him a little grief. I. I assume he'll have me on at the fair, right?

[Jay]

Oh, yeah.

[Kenny]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

So.

[Kenny]

Well, I know that you don't do interviews, so this was really special for us.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Plus. Are you trying to make a joke? Are you trying to make it.

[Jay]

No, he doesn't like to do a lot of interviews.

[Kenny]

We love the phrase a Krabby coffee shop exclusive. We like using the word exclusive.

[Jay]

We got exclusive. With the share today, we'll say whether it's true or not.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah, well, I gotta say, just before we close, I've been in this part of the building doing radio stuff before.

[Jay]

Yeah, my head's down the hall, you

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

know, and I'm kind of big into social media right now. But, Jay, I think this is my first podcast. See, I think this is my first podcast.

[Jay]

Thank you.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

My first podcast. So thanks for having me.

[Jay]

Oh, it's been great. Now I wanted to sit down and have a long conversation about this. It's important. You know what I want to do, though. I really want to ride with you on Live on Patrol and record some of it for the podcast?

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah.

[Jay]

Kenny and I should actually ride with it. It'd be a blast.

[Kenny]

I know. No, you go ahead.

[Jay]

You know, you would have fun. You just don't want to drive down here, do you?

[Kenny]

No, I've made it this far in life that I'm good.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

I'm good.

[Kenny]

I'm not curious.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Well, if Kenny does right, at least when people see us, they'll think he's a criminal.

[Kenny]

That's true.

[Jay]

Look at him. Look at him run the other way too. Well, I still want to. I said that to you when you first started it. I wanted to do it for something for Channel 5, but I'm like, yeah, I could do it now for the podcast because I love watching that.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah, no, it'd be great.

[Jay]

You know, Jay, you've got Live on Patrol's awesome.

[Kenny]

You know they're not going to give you a firearm, right?

[Jay]

They shouldn't either.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

No, you've been a great. You've been a great reporter over your career. We really miss you being on the mainstream and a nice person too, so. Well, thank you. Thank you for all your work.

[Jay]

You lied for me.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Thank you for all your work.

[Jay]

Yeah, I appreciate that. Thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

[Kenny]

Bob. Thanks for coming on.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Bob, thanks for having me. Appreciate you guys.

[Kenny]

Warner's doc in New Richmond, Wisconsin and on the web, Warner's doc.com they still have have a huge selection of Premier and Bentley pontoons on sale. A massive selection is the words I've been using. Both Pontoons, fishing boats and of course all the accessories that go with them. I would just go to the website right now. Start there. Warner stock.com get to, get to know everything. There's a lot of brands there. And then stop in. You're not going to believe the size of this large air conditioned showroom there in New Richmond. If you love fishing and all you've got is that old Aluma craft or Lund, you should really see the new Alumacraft fishing boats. They are amazing. Warner's dock carries Alumacraft boats and you have your pick of power plants here. Suzuki, Yamaha, Mercury, all top of the line. And Warner's Dock loves trade ins. That means there's a full selection of used boats and pontoons for you. They've been in business for 79 years now. That's four generations of family doing sales, service, storage, pontoons, boats, docks, lifts, you name it. Warner Stock in New Richmond is the place for all your boating needs. Check out the inventory@warner's dock.com.

[Jay]

hey Kenny.

[Kenny]

Yeah.

[Jay]

Sorry we had guests Come in.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

That's fine. That's fine.

[Kenny]

That was a lot. How cool is he?

[Jay]

I've always, you know, I can say it now. He's the best. I've known him since the mid-90s. And he's always straight up.

[Kenny]

And the thing is, the facts are

[Jay]

that's all he does.

[Kenny]

If you've never met the guy talking to listeners and viewers, he's gonna be the same with you that he is with us. He doesn't treat us any differently than he treats every single citizen he comes across.

[Jay]

He just. I've tried to explain to people he does more behind the scenes, especially with minority groups, racial minority groups and youths and kids that he never touts. He never. One thing I always appreciated about him, Kenny, as a reporter, he did deal with facts. He said, the fact of the matter is 300 isn't a lot in the general population of the Somali community, but that's 300 kids that we gotta reach. Cause it's gonna get to 600 or 900 if we don't. And it's just fact. And everybody else wants to turn it into something else. And so I've always respected him for that.

[Kenny]

You know, we've had him on GL a number of times.

[Jay]

Yeah, he's great.

[Kenny]

And I think every single time we've had him on, we've ended. We end up talking about kids and what he can do to help these wayward youth that might not have the best parents or any parents at all. And they're finding. They're finding family in gang members. And he's always work to try to fix that.

[Jay]

You know, he's a straight up guy.

[Kenny]

Of course, my idea is we, you know, you heard me talking earlier about ATVs. Put these kids, bring them up to my place, let's put them on a four wheeler, right?

[Jay]

They would never go back to shooting each other again.

[Kenny]

Get them on a dirt bike, let's take them water skiing, let's bring them fishing. Show them that there's life outside of your small little angry circle. And that you can live a long, wonderful life if you can just look beyond what's right in front of you.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

He.

[Jay]

He told me, not in this interview, but this is. Oh, man. Maybe a year. All right, so a year ago, it was last summer, right before I retired from Channel 5. He said to me, he called me and said, you know, we got a growing Somali gang problem and I really want to talk about it. He goes, is that something you'd be willing to do a story on? Because it's going to get a lot of pushback.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Yeah.

[Jay]

He goes, do you want your name attached to a J? And I said, you know me, Bob. I said, yes. If it's the fact, it's the facts, I'll certainly do an interview with you about Somali gangs and the kids and what you think the solution is. And he ended up holding off on it because of the Hortman stuff, all the bad stuff that was going on with the shooting of the lawmakers and everything. So he said, let's maybe do it in the fall. And so we were gonna do it in the fall before I retired. And then Operation Metro Surge started shortly after that, or right around the same time in late fall. And then I retired. And then he said to me again, we chatted because I said, hey, I'm doing a podcast with Kenny. He said, you know, I think I'm gonna talk about it later towards summer when things heat up and get bad. Cause he said, I can tell you right now, in the summer of 2026, as we were approaching 2026, it's gonna get bad again. The reason I bring that whole story up, Kenny, is because he was talking about this and aware of it long ago and wanted to address it, and then was trying to be sensitive enough to figure out when's a good time to talk about it. And then when he did the first interview or did the first story about this a couple of weeks ago, I called him and said, oh, so you finally decided to do that? I said, we talked about it a year ago. He goes. And he said it wasn't a good time. He goes, yeah. He goes, jay, I just finally realized, I don't know if there's ever a good time to talk about something like this, because it's gonna get the pushback and the racism stuff.

[Kenny]

He does know. Good timing. We were gonna. On last Wednesday.

[Jay]

Yes.

[Kenny]

And because of events, he pushed it off until this week. And then yesterday. Was it yesterday or Monday that they had this.

[Jay]

Last night they had the community meeting.

[Kenny]

Yeah, they had this wonderful community meeting. And I know I asked him about it, but I still don't understand it. The likes of Jamal Osmond and other people, why wouldn't you embrace what Sheriff Fletcher wants to do? He wants to help.

[Jay]

He does.

[Kenny]

Why wouldn't you embrace that? Why would you push back against that? I don't understand. If my kid was involved in a gang and he came and said, let's figure this out. Let's fix this, I'd be, oh, my God, thank you. Let's Talk about it. Let's do it.

[Jay]

And again, he won't talk much about it, but I knew about all of his help with the Somali community going back. I had him on AM 1500 back in 07.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

I remember that.

[Jay]

Just like he mentioned, because he was working with the Somalis to get. And the frustrating thing about something like this, Kenny, is all the parents and all the Somalis who attended last night's meeting were in support of what he's trying to do.

[Kenny]

Yeah, well, it sounds like he won them over with evidence.

[Jay]

Yes, yes. But a lot of those folks didn't want to go on camera last night. They're reluctant to go on camera because then the other Klan is going to argue. And for political reasons, Jamal Osman plays the race card with him. It's just all politics and all that

[Kenny]

does is hurt Jamal Osman and it does nothing to further him.

[Jay]

And not only that, it doesn't. Like Bob mentioned, he's got the numbers. If there's 300 kids, there'll be 600 in another year or two. What about those kids? That's what you would say. That's what I would say to Councilmember Osman. What about the kids in your own community that are falling prey to this? And Bob's right, too, because this is the case. He's told me this over and over again, and it always proves out to be true. Of the 300 that are in these gangs, I think he said, what, 15 to 30 are the bad actors, the really bad actors, the violent guys who get the others to go out and do things because they're all looking for something to belong to. You know, even when you think about that, it's only 15 to 30 that they've got to reach. Well, he's trying to do that, and then he gets criticized for it and says it, you know, puts a bad layer on the Somali community. And that's just as he mentioned. And I would agree with him. That just dodges the truth. It doesn't mean out of 100,000 Somalis, you're saying all 100,000 Somalis are in gangs. Nobody said that. But that's always the takeaway because of the politics, Kenny. It's so frustrating.

[Kenny]

I know it sounds naive on my part, but I just love to show these kids there's a different way of living life.

[Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Jay]

No.

[Kenny]

And blue collar workers sometimes make way more money than white collar workers. You don't have to go to college in order to earn a living.

[Jay]

You know, there's all kinds of ways to make good money. And Make a good well. And to his credit, he did mention a little bit about what he does with. He goes out to the Mall of America. He goes over to Minneapolis, he talks to these Somali kids. How many of the people that criticize Bob Fletcher and called him go out

[Kenny]

and do that, Go out, Go out

[Jay]

and meet with these Somali kids like he does? 0. None of them do, but Bob does. So I, you know, I'm gonna defend him on this one because he's trying to. I'm glad he brought up the history with the Hmong gangs. I was here, covered the Hmong gang problem in the 90s and Bob's involvement with that. He's always. He's got the number one gang guy in the country, Mike Martin, as his undersheriff, nationally recognized. And if Mike Martin is saying, this is a problem, I guarantee you it's a problem and it's the truth. And just deal with. Handle the truth and go figure out how you're. Fix the problem. They fixed the mung gang problem that got fixed.

[Kenny]

I might have been too busy in the 90s doing other things to notice the. The gang problem, if you know what I'm saying.

[Jay]

I'm glad the listeners won't know what you're doing, but the viewers know.

[Kenny]

Do we have anything planned for next week?

[Jay]

Didn't you just tell me before the

[Kenny]

show, less work, more.

[Jay]

Oh, minimal effort, maximum glory. Yeah, I got to get a T shirt for you. So you remember that. Minimal effort, max. Maximum glory. You mentioned something you wanted to do next Wednesday, didn't you, before we started this show, And I said, oh, I got a wedding I'm going to. I might have to do it on August.

[Kenny]

That's two weeks out. Your wedding is two weeks out.

[Jay]

Yeah, but then you said, no, this is next week. We're gonna. I don't know. Okay. I love how organized we are. Well, you know what?

[Kenny]

Maybe if we put any kind of idea.

[Jay]

Gabe, if we put any effort into this show, it might be good.

[Kenny]

Maybe you should just hit the music, Gabe, and we'll go home. Thank you for listening and watching Krabby Coc. Coffee Shop. Jay, thanks for putting together another banger.

[Jay]

Yeah, he was good. Yeah, you're welcome.

[Sheriff Bob Fletcher]

Let's see.

[Jay]

Kenny.

[Kenny]

So there were a lot of great fireworks and celebrations over the Fourth of July. The American experiment is going to keep the 250th celebration going this weekend at the state Capitol with Minnesota's block party. It's all happening on July 24th. Of course, the governor's not going to be there. He's not going to lift a finger to help Minnesota celebrate this big event. So the folks at the center of the American Experiment are stepping up with a big party. American Experiment are proud to lead our state's year long celebration of the 250th of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. You can celebrate this incredible country right on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol. Food, friends, good old fashioned farm run for the whole family. There's going to be live music, food trucks, free ice cream from cup and cone in White Bear Lake. And we'll hear speeches from John Justice, John Hinderaker and others. If you have questions, go to the events page at americanexperiment.

[Jay]

Org.