Socialist Democrat blames police for crime surge in Minneapolis

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Ilhan Omar, one of the leading proponents of the “defund the police” movement in Congress, is now blaming the police for rising crime in her city of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Speaking at a town hall event on Saturday in Minneapolis, the Somali-American congresswoman had the audacity to accuse the city’s police officers for not fulfilling their oath of office and refused to acknowledge her role in contributing to the city’s marginal support for law enforcement.

“What we must also recognize is that the reduction in policing currently in our city and the lawlessness that is happening is due to two things,” Omar said, adding that “the police have chosen to not fulfill their oath of office and to provide the public safety they are owed to the citizens they serve.”

Ilhan Omar accuses police of not fulfilling their oath of office and blames them for the rise in violent crime in Minneapolis. pic.twitter.com/3LhuOuXEff

— Mike Berg (@MikeKBerg) October 25, 2021

Omar’s comments come as violent crime continues to rise in Minnesota over the last year. The state saw a total increase of 17% in crime, while setting new records for murders, according to Fox News.

The congresswoman’s efforts to reduce crime in Minneapolis includes supporting a Nov. 2 ballot to replace the entire Minneapolis Police Department with a so-called “Department of Public Safety,” which would be staffed by social workers.

The measure, if passed, would remove the city’s requirement to hire a minimum number of police officers based on the city’s population.

Omar blamed the rising crime rates on the city’s police, echoing previous remarks she made about them in which she referred to the police as a “cancer,” and said “we need to completely dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department,” as reported by the New York Post.

“What we must also recognize is that the reduction in policing currently in our city, and the lawlessness that is happening is due to two things,” Omar claimed. “One, the police have chosen to not fulfill their oath of office and to provide the public safety they are owed to the citizens they serve, right? It’s documented. But even before that, it was documented. The Minneapolis Police Department is the most dysfunctional police department in our state and probably in the country.”

“The second part is that there has to be accountability,” Omar added. “And someone that is actually taking responsibility for what the police does invest in to. And that doesn’t exist in this moment. And I do believe that the current charter that we have, that’s tied the hands of those who want to have that accountability, because we are mandated to have a specific amount of policing, we are mandated to, you know, have the kind of these union contracts that we have right now. I don’t know any other big city in the state of Minnesota that has the charter that we have, it just doesn’t exist.”

Minneapolis, which is the state’s most populous city, faces an ongoing surge in violent crime as its police department languishes from diminished staffing and morale problems following the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody. Floyd’s death was declared a murder, and the former police officer, Derek Chauvin, was charged and convicted for his death earlier this year.

On Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis invited police officers who are facing termination in cities like Minneapolis, New York City, and Seattle, to relocate to Florida and staff one of its many sheriffs’ departments.