Ilhan Omar says people will be safe without 'rotten' police force but fails to clarify who will replace them
Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Sunday, June 14, said communities in the US will still be "safe" without law enforcement and police departments though she could not clarify what would replace them. Demand for defunding and disbanding police departments across the country have soared in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black American, at the hands of the police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 25. Recently, the city council of Minneapolis took a brave step to vote for dismantling its police department and replace it with a community-led security arrangement.
Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, Omar said: "I think that's really where the conversation is going wrong, because no one is saying that the community is not going to be kept safe." The 37-year-old first time Congress member said crimes would still be probed and there would still be "proper response when community members are in danger". "What we are saying is, the current infrastructure that exists as policing in our city should not exist anymore. And we can't go about creating a different process with the same infrastructure in place. And so dismantling it, and then looking at what funding priorities should look like as we reimagine a new way forward is what needs to happen," the Somalian-born lawmaker who is a member of the 'Squad', said.
But when she was asked what would replace the police departments if they are defunded and dismantled, Omar did not respond directly and suggested that instead of getting rid of the world of police completely, the departments would be rebuilt. Omar added that Minneapolis (the city falls under her congressional district) would now start engaging in "a one-year process of what happens as we go through the process of dismantling the department and starting anew".
Violent protests broke out in the US, starting with Minneapolis, after Floyd's brutal death. A cop pressed his knee against Floyd's neck after pinning him to the ground. Floyd said he could not breathe but the police did not let him go as he watched the man pass out and eventually die. The cop, Derek Chauvin, is now being tried for second-degree murder. In the violence that followed, the Minneapolis Third Police Precinct was burned down by the rioters.
'A department rotten to the root'
"You can't really reform a department that is rotten to the root," Omar said of the Minneapolis police department. "What you can do is rebuild." Authorities in big cities like New York have decided to slash massive funds meant for the local police department in the wake of the countrywide protests against cops' brutality. Recently, Omar told Bustle that "it was like watching a horror movie" when she came across the video of Floyd’s death. "You just keep yelling, and you know they can’t hear you. It was like watching a public lynching."
Late last month, Omar had planned on promoting her memoir 'This Is What America Looks Like: My Journey From Refugee to Congresswoman', which includes her journey from Somalia to a Kenyan refugee and eventually to settling in Minnesota at the age of 12. She joined local protests demanding change in law enforcement. "For too long, Black and marginalized communities have faced violence from the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD)," Omar said, adding: "Our chief himself has sued the department for racism before."
Between 2009 and 2019, "Black people accounted for more than 60 percent of the victims in Minneapolis police shootings," The New York Times reported, while less than 20 percent of Minneapolis’ residents are black. According to the Democratic politician, this shows the MPD has gone beyond all levels of reform.