Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty ImagesA protester reacts standing in front of a burning building set on fire during a riot in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on May 29, 2020. (Chandan Khanna / AFP via Getty Images)
For the past several months, the Minneapolis City Council has been working to defund and even abolish the city’s police department
After a recent surge in violent crime, some council members appear to have realized they need the police force.
During a two-hour city council meeting on police reform Tuesday, council members relayed their worries to Minneapolis Police Department Chief Medaria Arradondo.
Among the council members’ primary concerns was the fact that many of their constituents are seeing dangerous crimes — like carjackings, street racing, robberies, assaults and shootings — become more prevalent.
“Residents are asking, ‘Where are the police?’” asked newly elected council member Jamal Osman, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.
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“That is the only public safety option they have at the moment. MPD. They rely on MPD. And they are saying they are nowhere to be seen.”
The number of people who have been killed in Minneapolis so far in 2020 is higher than the number killed in all of 2019, MPR News reported, citing police data.
“Just months after leading an effort that would have defunded the police department, City Council members at Tuesday’s work session pushed chief Medaria Arradondo to tell them how the department is responding to the violence,” according to the outlet.
Arradondo pointed out to the council members that the Minneapolis police force is facing staffing issues.
Do you think think defunding the police leads to more crime?
The chief said about 100 officers have left the department or taken leave since the beginning of 2020, more than double the usual number.
The hypocrisy on the part of the city council in this case is staggering.
According to many of these very same council members only a few short months ago, defunding the police was the proper solution to Minneapolis’ problems.
In a June interview with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender defended the council’s proposal to dismantle the police by asserting that societal expectations of police protection come from a place of “privilege.”
“Do you understand that the word ‘dismantle’ or ‘police-free’ also makes some people nervous, for instance?” Camerota asked. “What if, in the middle of the night, my home is broken into? Who do I call?”
Bender’s response was nothing short of utterly ridiculous.
“I mean, I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors — and myself, too — and I know that that comes from a place of privilege,” Bender said.
“Because for those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm is done.”
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