Minneapolis City Council president aims to replace police department with ‘transformative new model of public safety’
by Anthony Leonardi
| June 04, 2020 10:02 PM
The Minneapolis City Council president will vote to abolish the city's police department for a "transformative new model of public safety."
On Thursday, Lisa Bender, the Minneapolis City Council president, committed to abolishing law enforcement in the city, which is home to approximately 430,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"Yes. We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with a transformative new model of public safety," Bender said in response to Jeremiah Ellison, the son of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and another member of the city council.Yes. We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with a transformative new model of public safety. https://t.co/FCfjoPy64k
— Lisa Bender (@lisabendermpls) June 4, 2020
"We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department," Ellison tweeted earlier on Thursday. "And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back together. We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response. It’s really past due."
The council members will assemble at city hall on Friday to vote on several measures in reaction to the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after a police officer pinned him by the neck for over eight minutes.
In an interview with local media, Bender said she believes it is possible for the council to vote to abolish the police department, though it would require "white people" to "show up in a different way."
“To do this kind of big work, we need a deeper, broader conversation than we’ve ever had before,” she said. “We need white people, like me and my neighbors, to show up in a different way.”
On Tuesday, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced that state authorities will investigate the conduct of the Minneapolis Police Department to determine if systemic racism is an issue among law enforcement.
"So, today, as a step toward that deconstruction of systemic racism, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights is filing a commissioner's charge of discrimination to launch a civil rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department," Walz said.
Walz also said the investigation will examine whether or not the department's practices and policies over the last 10 years have disproportionately targeted black communities, highlighting that it is the first time a civil rights investigation has been launched against Minneapolis law enforcement.
Walz said the charge is "one of many steps to come" in the state's efforts to examine if racial prejudice exists within police agencies and law enforcement broadly. He also took aim at President Trump's calls for the military to end violent protests.
"I say this as a white man who walks life with pretty much relative ease. I can't ever know the pain of the black community members. But I hear you. I'm listening," he said.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/n...-public-safety