Minneapolis is ground zero in the war over policing that has erupted across the United States. Alone among cities, to my knowledge, its City Council has actually voted unanimously to take steps intended to result in the dismantling of the city’s police force. Here as elsewhere, anti-police agitators dominate the news, but how much public support they command is questionable. Polling by my organization suggests that around 85% of Minnesotans support the police.
We have taken the lead in defending law enforcement against dishonest attacks from the Left. We have set up the web site SupportMNPolice.com, where a great deal of information is available and readers can sign a petition supporting law enforcement. We also have placed 38 pro-police billboards around the Twin Cities:
The billboards have only been up for a couple of days, but already two of them have been defaced by Leftists:
I guess we hit a nerve.
We have much else in the works, including op-eds, radio ads, etc. But in the long run, the most important element in our pro-police campaign may be an online presentation by Heather Mac Donald at noon Central time, one week from today, July 30. The presentation is titled “The Truth about Crime, Race and Policing in America,” and you can sign up for it here. But you don’t need to do that, it will be live-streamed on both Facebook and YouTube and will be archived for future viewing. We hope that this presentation will be the definitive proof of the fact that there is no “systemic bias” against blacks in policing and will be a valuable resource for years to come.
I don’t know to what extent conservative groups in other cities are standing up for law enforcement, but I trust we are not alone. I know we speak for most Americans.
