Members of the Minneapolis City Council announced their intention to ‘dismantle’ the police department in the city after the death of George Floyd, an African American who passed away after a police officer knelt on his neck for around nine minutes.
9 of the 12 members of the council stood before hundreds of protesters and promised to start the process of dismantling the Police Department in its current form and switch to a community policing model.
Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender said at an announcement: “We’re here because we hear you.point 382 |
We are here today because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis Police.point 64 | We are here because here in Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe.point 215 | 1
“Our efforts at incremental reform have failed. Period.”
Council member Jeremiah Ellison also vowed that the council will completely ‘dismantle’ the police department.
The members of the council said in a statement that they will invest in community-led safety initiatives. “Decades of police reform efforts have proved that the Minneapolis Police Department cannot be reformed, and will never be accountable for its action,” their statement read.
“We are here today to begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department and creating a new transformative model for cultivating safety in our city.
“We recognize that we don’t have all the answers about what a police-free future looks like, but our community does.
“We’re committing to engaging with every willing community member in the City of Minneapolis over the next year to identify what safety looks like for everyone.
“We’ll be taking intermediate steps towards ending the MPD through the budget process and other policy and budget decisions over the coming weeks and months.”
Other members who took part in the announcement included Jeremy Schroeder, Philippe Cunningham, Lisa Bender, Jeremiah Ellison, Alondra Cano, Andrea Jenkins, Steve Fletcher, and Cam Gordon.
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