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Minneapolis City Council complains about lack of policing amid rising crime months after voting to defund dept

Jamal Osman, one of the council members, said that the Minneapolis Police Department is the'only public safety option' but yet the residents are saying 'they are nowhere to be seen'

Members of Minneapolis City Council have faced flak for putting pressure on the local police department’s chief over the rise in crime rates, months after voting to dismantle and defund the law-keepers. They have cited the city’s residents asking, “Where are the police?” and alleged that calls to the police department have not been answered. 

Jamal Osman, one of the council members, who brought the allegations against the police, also said that the Minneapolis Police Department is the “only public safety option” but yet the residents are saying “they are nowhere to be seen.” Earlier this week, Osman and other council members took on police chief Medaria Arradondo about the surge in criminal activities, including assaults, shootings, robberies, carjackings, etc. 

Council president Lisa Bender alleged that the police were not enforcing law or making arrests deliberately. “This is not new. But it is very concerning in the current context,” she said. In a tweet posted in June, Bender said the council was going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with a “transformative new model of public safety.” 

The council came up with the idea following the agonizing death of an African-American man, George Floyd, at the hands of cops in the city on May 25. The country saw massive protests breaking out in its cities in the wake of the murder, snowballing into political controversies engaging both the Republican and Democratic sides. Demand for defunding and dismantling police departments also went up in several cities although the rise in crime in many of them have now put the idea under question. 

But the council came under criticism as many said that it was the same body that voted to amend the city charter to dismantle the entire police department and slashed its budget by more than a million dollars.

Republican candidate slams city council for 'hypocrisy'

Lacy Johnson, a Republican candidate running against Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar for this year’s re-election, blasted the city council saying its “hypocrisy” was “astounding and deeply troubling.” Speaking on 'Fox & Friends' on Thursday, September 17, she said the council had been seeking for “dismantling or demilitarizing or the disarming of police” all summer but started blaming the cops for a situation it itself created. 

Arradondo said it was “troubling to hear” Bender’s remarks and vowed to raise the issue with departmental supervisors. “We need to make sure that our communities know that we are going to be there, that we're going to be responsive,” he said, according to a Daily Mail report. “We’ve taken an oath to do that,” he added.

Crime data from the police department showed crimes like homicide, robbery, burglary, car theft, arson have gone up in 2020 so far, as compared with that seen in the same period last year. While violent crime, including domestic aggravated assault, was up by almost 15 percent in the first nine months of 2020, property crime was up by almost eight percent in the same period. 

Council members feel current system not working

Jeremiah Ellison, one of the council members who backed the idea of dismantling the police department, felt the rise in crime rates only proved the idea that the current system of public safety was not working, according to the local Star Tribune. In June, Ellison, an artist, said the council would dramatically rethink the approach to public safety and emergency response. 

Jeremy Schroeder, another council member who also backed dismantling of the police department, held the cops responsible. “What people want to know is MPD’s response, they want to know what you’re doing with your $185 million budget. Right now when folks are asking why the response time takes so long, or why can’t you work that investigation, the only response that we’re getting is that we don’t have the capacity,” he said, the Tribune article added.