Minneapolis City Council to scrap police force, will replace it with 'community-led public safety system'
The city of Minneapolis was seeing some unique developments on its administrative front ever since the brutal death of George Floyd at the hands of its police on Memorial Day last month. The city council has been vouching for the dismantling of its police department despite opposition from the topmost leader -- President Donald Trump. On Friday, the council came up with a major move by unanimously passing a resolution to replace the city’s police department with a community-led safety arrangement.
The council’s move comes days after its veto-proof majority voted to dismantle the police department in the wake of the protests against Floyd’s death. The 46-year-old black American died after a cop pressed his knee on his neck for several minutes after pinning him down. A video of the disturbing episode became viral, igniting massive protests and violence even as the US continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 114,000 lives. Demand for defunding and disbanding police departments across the US have soared in the wake of Floyd's death. It was posted from Minneapolis city’s official Twitter handle on Friday, June 12: “The City Council unanimously approved a resolution today declaring the intent to create a transformative new model for cultivating safety, committing to a year-long process of community engagement to the guide work.”
Community-led public safety system to replace police system?
The city council said there is no short-term plan to dismantle its police department, as per a Daily Mail report. It added that as of Friday, the council has started a year-long process to get recommendations for what will replace the police department. A community-led public safety system will replace the police system that will direct funds from the department for community services aimed at the prevention of crime. Funds will also be used for mental health services, social services, etc. Activists have also recommended setting up of a more specialized unit of "public servants" who would deal with solving violent crimes. County sheriffs with their jurisdiction including Minneapolis could be deployed as a stop-gap police force.
The council, which expressed its plan to disband the police department on June 7, wrote in its resolution: “The City Council will engage with every willing community member in Minneapolis, centering the voices of Black people, American Indian people, people of color, immigrants, victims of harm, and other stakeholders who have been historically marginalized or under-served by our present system. Together, we will identify what safety looks like for everyone.” It added that the death of Floyd was one in a “tragically long list” of people killed by the city’s cops that led to a “wave of protests and uprisings across the United States and across the world and has led to thousands of voices asking for change”.
Council President Lisa Bender welcomed the move to say: “Today’s unanimous City Council resolution advances our shared commitment to transformative change in how Minneapolis approaches public safety so that every member of our community can be truly safe. As we respond to demands for immediate action to reduce police violence and support community safety, we will invite our community to help shape long-term transformative change, centering the voices of those most impacted by community violence and police violence.”
According to the resolution, the city council will now begin a year-long process of engaging "with every willing community member in Minneapolis" to come up with a new public safety model. It added that the process would center on "the voices of Black people, American Indian people, people of color, immigrants, victims of harm, and other stakeholders who have been historically marginalized or under-served by our present system."
The council also commissioned a new group named the Future of Community Safety Work Group to give recommendations by July 24 on how to engage with community stakeholders to change the public safety system. It will comprise staff members from the Office of Violence Prevention, Department of Civil Rights and the City Coordinator's Office who will be in coordination with the Division of Race and Equity, 911 Working Group, Neighborhood and Community Relations and other departments. Minneapolis’ 38-year-old Mayor Jacob Frey has, however, not supported the idea of abolishing the police department even though he has expressed support for “massive structural reform to revise a structurally racist system."