Manny Granroos

You can educate yourself out of that poverty level by staying in school, going to college, in order to make a better career. Your parents can’t do it for you. Your friends and peers can’t do it for you. Only you can do it.

Manny Granroos

My name is Manuel Jacob Granroos. I was born July 17, 1953. I grew up on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation. I am a police, school-resource officer from Minneapolis Police Department.

My father moved my family to Montana. He drove the large lumber trucks.  He was making a trip down one of the mountain roads and thought that the logs had shifted on his trailer. He got out to check the chains. One of the chains snapped, threw him off the trailer rig, the logs tumbled off and landed on top of him and killed him.  


We moved back to Walker, Minnesota, where my mother purchased a house in town. I convinced my mother to move us down to the Cities. 


I married at a real young age. I dropped out of school in eleventh grade and got a full time job. My mother signed a legal document for me to go into the Army when I was 15- during the Vietnam War. After two years in the Army, I came back home and passed the GED exam.

I learned through a relative of mine that the Minneapolis Police Department was looking for a community service officer. In 1976, there weren’t as many blacks or natives on the department. It was pretty much all white, very few females. The other Native officer and I earned respect by how we did our job.

While I was working for the police department, I studied at Metropolitan Community College and graduated from Metropolitan State University with a 4-year degree.  Now I have 39 years in the Minneapolis Police department.  

When you guys feel you’re in a dangerous situation, don’t be afraid to tell an adult, somebody you can trust. Don’t be afraid to go and tell a police officer. When kids are acting up, the parents often say “Quiet down or that policeman’s going to get you.” I hate that. When parents do that they don’t realize how much they’re making young people fear police officers.

I believe strongly in my culture. The eleven feathers on the staff represent the eleven reservations in Minnesota.  The eagle feathers mean the honor and respect we have for the eagle.


When you’re at a Pow-Wow and somebody tells you to quiet down, that person is the Peacemaker. Usually it’s an elder. Peacemakers are the policemen of the group. That’s how I turned out to be a cop. I’m the middle-born, so I became the peacemaker and speaker of my family.