Wednesday December 2, 2015
By Kevin Doran
The Somali Federal Police Commissioner is in the Twin Cities as part of a partnership developed to help law enforcement in Minnesota and Somalia stop terrorists.
A Metro Transit Police officer is the driving force behind it all.
More Somalis live in Minnesota than any other state. Metro Transit Police Sergeant Waheid Siraach is among those who have moved to Minnesota. His family left war-torn Somalia when he was 13. Now, he's trying to stop terrorism in the two countries he loves.
"I call here my homeland and I call Somalia my motherland," he said.
Sgt. Siraach joined other local officers at a luncheon to welcome Somali Federal Police Commissioner Major General Mohamed Sheikh Hassan.
"We are interlinked with Minnesota especially because no Somalis doesn’t have family in Minnesota," Hassan said.
The seeds for Hassan's visit to Minnesota were planted a year ago when Sgt. Siraach asked Metro Transit Chief John Harrington for a leave of absence to travel to Somalia to train police officers.
"A big part of what Waheid had sold me on was the idea he was going back home to increase the public safety there. That he was going to go back to be a major asset and really help out the Somali police force."
Chief Harrington went to Somalia in August to see what Waheid had accomplished. “I found brave men and women who were doing really tough work, working in their community, really fearlessly and making an enormous difference in the lives of the people there."
"Even though we're separated by thousands of miles we have certain things in common," Sgt. Siraach said.
He said he hopes the relationship will help Somali officers stop terrorists there and help Minnesota officers stop terrorists from recruiting young people here.
"And those guys are actually doing more harm, to the people that are in Somalia. They're leaving here but they're blowing up people over there."
Siraach spent 11 months in Somalia working with law enforcement. He calls the trip the best thing he's ever done in his life. He said he has high hopes it will pay off for people on both sides of the world.
Siraach became the first Somali Sergeant in the United States in 2013. The Metro Transit Police Department now includes four Somali officers.