The aftermath of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who was killed while in police custody, was a worldwide tumultuous introspection into police policies regarding minorities.
Police the nation over were put under a microscope, and cities’ allegiance to their boys in blue was put to the test. No place was more tumultuous than the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, the place where Floyd’s death occurred.
According to a report in The Daily Wire, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to approve $6.4 million in funding for its police department in an effort to recruit new officers for the city that is sadly lacking in protection.
Their move is just a few short months after the same city council blamed the police for the city’s ills and denigrated them to the point that it prompted a mass exodus.
“The department says it only has 638 officers available to work — roughly 200 fewer than usual. An unprecedented number of officers quit or went on extended medical leave after Floyd’s death and the unrest that followed, which included the burning of a police precinct,” ABC News reported.
“An unprecedented number of officers quit or went on an extended medical leave — many for PTSD claims — after Floyd’s death, rioting that led to the burning of a police precinct, and calls to end the city’s Police Department,” the Star Tribune pointed out.
“In the months since then, some residents have begged city leaders to hire additional officers, saying they’re waiting longer for responses to emergency calls amid a dramatic uptick in violent crime. Others have encouraged elected officials to dismantle the department, saying police haven’t proven effective at reducing crime.”
These measures may all be too little too late after the incredible outrage against all police officers was sparked by the actions of just a few.
CMs Fletcher, Schroeder, and I are introducing the Transforming Public Safety Charter Amendment, which would establish a new Dept of Public Safety similar to the State’s. It will be responsible for integrating various City of Mpls public safety functions. https://t.co/EAbU4P5ji2
— Phillipe Cunningham (@CunninghamMPLS) January 28, 2021
Case in point; in June of 2020, just weeks after the death of George Floyd the president of the Minneapolis City Council spoke to CNN’s Alisyn Camerota saying they intended to “dismantle” the city’s police department.
When asked what citizens should do if intruders broke into their homes in the middle of the night, she suggested that the opportunity to call the police “comes from a place of privilege,” adding that those citizens should “step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm.”
“We have a state action against our police department, which gives us legal mechanisms in the very short term, you know, there is (sic) lessons from all over the country, all over the world that we’re looking to take immediate steps while we work toward building the systems that we would need to imagine that future,” Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender said to Camerota.
“Do you understand that the word ‘dismantle’ or ‘police-free’ make some people nervous?” Camerota asked. “For instance, what if in the middle of the night, my home is broken into? Who do I call?”
Bender answered, “Yes, I mean, I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors, and I know, and myself too, and I know that that comes from a place of privilege because for those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm is done.”
At this point, however, reinstating the same (if not harsher) police measures will not result in anyone admitting they were wrong, it will at best go quietly into the night, and at worst usher in an opportunity for harsher regulatory measures on those who aren’t guilty of wrongdoing.
