Minneapolis City Council votes to replace police with “community”-led model
The Minneapolis City Council has unanimously voted to end the city’s police force and replace it with a community-led model.
Reuters reported on Friday that the city council passed a veto-proof resolution to pursue a new type of system to replace the police department, which has come under fire after George Floyd died during an arrest, in which an officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
The city’s move comes day after a majority of the council voted to disband the police department in its entirety following widespread protests and riots over Floyd’s death.
“The murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, by Minneapolis police officers is a tragedy that shows that no amount of reforms will prevent lethal violence and abuse by some members of the Police Department against members of our community, especially Black people and people of color,” wrote five members of the city council, according to Reuters.
The former police officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with 2nd degree murder but has not yet been tried in court. Three other former members of his unit were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
The vote is in line with nationwide calls to “defund the police” and “abolish the police,” that Black Lives Matter advocates say means exactly what it says, even as liberal news pundits like Joy Reid downplay it to mean police reform. Reid called the outcry an “absurdist take.”
The City Council’s measure is opposed only by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who refused to commit to abolishing the police and supports instead “massive structural reform to revise a structurally racist system.”
The resolution begins a year-long process in which Minneapolis will work with “every willing community member” to design a new system of policing, with preliminary recommendations to be delivered by July
2024 Student Journalism Conference
Applications are now open for The Democracy Fund's third annual Student Journalism Conference. This is a one-of-a-kind, all-expenses-paid opportunity for young aspiring journalists in Canada!
TDF Student Journalism Conference 2024Don't Get Censored
Big Tech is censoring us. Sign up so we can always stay in touch.
Don't Get Censored
Big Tech is censoring us. Sign up so we can always stay in touch.