Minneapolis City Council Votes to Defund the Police, But 3 Members Hire Personal Security
The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously approved a proposal to eliminate the city’s police department, marking the first step toward establishing a new “holistic” approach to public safety.
The move follows more than a month of national outrage and protests against police brutality in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died after an officer pressed his knee into his neck for more than eight minutes.
The City Council advanced a proposed ballot measure today asking voters to create a new Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention. http://news.minneapolismn.gov/2020/06/26/city-council-advances-proposed-ballot-measure-asking-voters-to-create-a-new-department-of-community-safety-and-violence-prevention/ …
City Council advances proposed ballot measure asking voters to create a new Department of Community…
The City Council voted today to advance a proposed ballot measure that would ask Minneapolis voters to amend the City Charter to create a new Department of Community Safety and…
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The police force, which is largely white and has long struggled to reflect the racial makeup of the city, has come under even greater scrutiny as public cries to defund the department have gained traction among elected officials.
“Young Black and brown people in the streets made this happen. Black organizers demanding abolition for generations made this happen,” Miski Noor of Black Visions Collective said in a statement.
“Now, on this new terrain, Minneapolis can start practicing a new vision of safety that defends Black lives.”
While Noor was critical of the shortcomings of the amendment passed Friday, she added, “We are closer than any time in history, and anywhere else in the country, to a safe, thriving city without police.”