From Minneapolis Fox 9: City council approves $500K for Minneapolis police to contract more officers
In another narrow vote, the Minneapolis City Council approved the proposal that will give the Minneapolis Police Department about $500,000 to make contracts with other agencies to increase the amount of officers on the streets through the end of the year.
Friday, the council voted 7-6 to allow the MPD to form contracts with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and Metro Transit. This mirrors the same one-vote margin of approval seen earlier this week during the Policy and Government Oversight Committee meeting. That meeting saw was intense debate over whether to give the department more funding on top of its annual $184 million budget. MPD Chief Medaria Arrandondo made his plea for the proposal, pointing to the increase of violent crime and homicides this year.
(Featured image is “Thin Blue Line” by Rodger_Evans and is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0)
Weren’t they going to get rid of the police? I see they were going to put that on the Nov ballot but the city council flinched at that and postponed it.Report
No one ever argued “Abolish the Police”. Anyone who used the phrase was using shorthand. They didn’t mean “Yes. Literally ‘Abolish the Police.'”
Anyone who thinks that someone did argue this is either confused or being deliberately dishonest.
Nobody ever argued Abolish the Police.
Nobody ever argued Abolish the Police.
Nobody ever argued Abolish the Police.Report
Out of 187 million budget, the 1/2 million for bringing in outside officers is a rounding error.
The mayor apparently IS proposing to cut the police budget:
Frey’s budget proposal is about $5 million less than the police budget this year after the city cut it under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic.
The proposal also calls for additional funding for the city’s Office of Violence Prevention, including an extra $2.5 million for a program aimed at stopping cycles of violence and $100,000 to establish a “more community-friendly” workspace for the office. Frey’s plan also includes an additional $7.2 million in funding for affordable housing.
Last week, a split council granted $500,000 to bring in officers from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and Metro Transit to help the department answer calls. Council members will have the chance to make their own changes to the budget early next month.
https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-residents-still-split-on-police-as-council-considers-budget-for-next-year/573096511/
Reform of the police is going to be a hard struggle, since the voters are themselves deeply divided over the issue.Report
And because the crime rate is spiking.
My impression is that’s because of the riots/protests.Report
The divide isn’t over crime, but over how to address it.
Should the police just double down on repression, and utilize more military style tactics?
Or use a more community based policing approach?Report
All of the above! Without making trade-offs!Report
You’re asking what they should do. I’m not sure what their real world options are.
Probably Minneapolis has a toxic work environment for the police. Their jobs are being phased out, their budget cut, many are quitting with PTSD, the public hates them and views them as Nazis and/or incompetent.
This is not an environment suggestive of recruiting the best and brightest.
This isn’t my field, but I wonder if “military style tactics” are cheaper and easier to do.Report
Vaguely adjacent:
Report
Another vaguely adjacent story:
Report