The Minneapolis City Council announced Sunday during a rally at Powderhorn Park that they are planning to disband the police department. The bill will be “veto proof” according to the members.
City Council members said they will invest in community-led safety initiatives instead of the police department.
“Our commitment is to end our city’s toxic relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department, to end policing as we know it, and to re-create systems of public safety that actually keep us safe,” Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender said at Sunday’s community meeting.
Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeted that she was present at the meeting community meeting.
“I’m at the community meeting at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis, where City Council members just unveiled a mission statement for reimagining policing,” the tweet reads.
NBC11 reported that the council members who took part in the announcement included Cam Gordon, Steve Fletcher, Phillipe Cunningham, Jeremiah Ellison, Andrea Jenkins, Alondra Cano, Lisa Bender and Jeremy Schroeder.
Mayor Jacob Frey issued the following statement:
“I’ll work relentlessly with Chief Arradondo and alongside community toward deep, structural reform and addressing systemic racism in police culture. And we’re ready to dig in and enact more community-led, public safety strategies on behalf of our city. But I do not support abolishing the Minneapolis Police Department.”
On Saturday when protesters stopped outside Frey’s home and chanted for him to come outside. Frey did, and spoke to the crowd, who asked if he would commit to defunding the police.
We got @MayorFrey to come out of his house and asked him one simple question. “Will you commit to defunding the Minneapolis Police Department?” He said no…Now we prepare for tomorrow… pic.twitter.com/d71WdCqAjO
— Black Visions Collective (@BlackVisionsMN) June 7, 2020
“I am absolutely for a massive shift, a structural shift in how the police department functions I’ll say it again. Am I for abolishing the entire police department? No I’m not and I’ll be honest about that too,” he said.
After hearing his response, the crowd booed Frey as he left.
