The Minneapolis City Council is a strong contender for that title. After months of talk about disbanding the Minneapolis Police Department, and an actual vote intended to move in that direction, the City Council is now demanding to know why crime in the city has skyrocketed.
Three months after their majority pledged to end the city’s police department, the Minneapolis City Council pressed chief Medaria Arradondo for a plan to address crime in their wards in their most forceful questioning of him yet.
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As the discussion about crime continued, Council Member Phillipe Cunningham pointed out that some of his colleagues appeared to be contradicting earlier statements in favor of ending the department.
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Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins questioned the police response to ongoing “gun violence, drug dealing, intimidation, extortion” that had made the area surrounding the Floyd memorial site a “no-go zone,” even for some residents.Throughout the two-hour hearing, council members peppered Arradondo with questions ranging from slow response times and juvenile diversion services to the dissolution of specialized units like the Violent Criminal Apprehension Team.
Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, one of the chief proponents of dismantling the police department, said he felt that the recent crime surge only reinforced the idea that the current system of public safety was ineffective.
These people are incorrigible. The city’s situation won’t improve until things get bad enough that they are voted out of office.
