Just two months after voting to dismantle the police and slashing its budget, Minneapolis City Council members pressed the department’s chief over a surge in crime, prompting a GOP candidate to slam the lawmakers as hypocrites.
‘Residents are asking, “Where are the police?”‘ Council Member Jamal Osman said on Tuesday, adding that calls to the Minneapolis Police Department from constituents have gone unanswered.
‘That is the only public safety option they have at the moment. MPD. They rely on MPD. And they are saying they are nowhere to be seen.’
[…]
Violent crime, including domestic aggravated assault, was up almost 15 per cent in the first nine months of the year, while property crime was up almost eight per cent in the same time period.
Of all the crimes that have increased, homicide saw the largest spike of 87 per cent, rising from 30 in 2019 to 56 in 2020, while incidents of arson have increased by 82 per cent over the total at this point in 2019.
Robbery rose from 931 to 1,275 (37 percent) while incidents of aggravated assault increased from 1,750 in 2019 to 2,100 this year (20 percent). Meanwhile, rape fell by 22 percent, and domestic aggravated assault fell by 8.4 percent.
In terms of property crimes, burglary rose from 2,223 to 2,785 (25 percent), thefts from motor vehicles rose from 3,127 to 3,937 (26 percent), and auto theft rose from 1,982 to 2,766 (40 percent), while larceny fell by almost 10 percent.
[…]
As part of its several steps towards dismantling the MPD, Minneapolis City Council approved an amendment to remove $1.1 million from the department’s budget and reallocate it toward the health department in order to hire ‘violence interrupters’.
This came as part of the council’s pledge earlier in the summer to dismantle the department and replace it with a community-based system of public safety.
Insane liberals.
Nord, will you denounce this hammering of police?
Or will you for umpteenth million time fail to specifically stick up for police?
Kevin:
Are you saying it is OK for cops to slack off on the job if their budget is cut? Or will you denounce cops not doing their job?
And Randall, you have evidence that the cops are slacking off?
randall,
That was a disgusting comment, given the insane evil of Minneapolis City Council voting to destroy the police department.
If elected leaders do not have your back, you cannot do your job. So you cannot round up criminals…especially if they resist and they are black. So “purge” is what the Minneapolis city council wanted.
Your comment was toxic and reprehensible.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-53991722
The only answer the chief has to give is that due to the council’s previous vote to disband the department they are unable to make any plans for future operations. The council’s defunding votes also leave the department unable to budget any money for anything other than basic operations.
The officers? Why would they do anything extra when they know any controversial incident will put themselves and their families in danger as shown by the attack on the Wauwatosa officer’s home.
Pat,
Isn’t going to foreign sources, not in U.S.interest, the very definition of election interference?
Why are you supporting election interference?
Typical.
Always amuses me to see how certain folks start clutching their pearls ’cause other people aren’t “denouncing” and/or “supporting” something that those people themselves aren’t saying anything at all about. It’s almost as if they are more interested in petty personal arguments than having a good faith discussion about the actual issue…
Speaking of the issue – while I’ve seen & heard about many cops hammering down doors during no-knock searches, there isn’t a hammer being applied against the police in this situation. Budget cuts happen all the time in both the public & private sector, and majority of true conservatives usually cheer when a gov’t agency has their budget slashed…so why should these public service employees be absolutely immune to a lil’ belt tightening?
Kevin,
The the statistics provided were from US law enforcement agencies. Are you saying that the information is inaccurate?
I’d be more inclined to believe information coming from BBC then information coming from Trump’s mouth.
This wasn’t addressed to me, but the answer to your question is “No – that most certainly is not the very definition of election interference.”
This link may help you in learning more about election interference and how the phrase is defined.
A 1% budget cut is destroying the MPD? Really? Based on that definition Walker really destroyed Wisconsin universities.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mprnews.org/amp/story/2020/09/18/fact-check-did-minneapolis-city-council-defund-the-police