Minneapolis ‘defunds’ police in post-George Floyd death public safety reforms as crime wave grips city

Budget cut sees $8m redirected to mental health and violence prevention programmes, with force numbers maintained

Minneapolis City Council has voted to approve its 2021 proposed budget, including taking $7.7m away from the police to fund initiatives intended to prevent crime.

The nearly $8m will be spent on violence prevention programmes, mental health crisis teams, as well as training dispatchers to assess mental health calls, and have non-uniform employees handle theft and property damage reports.

These are grouped together under the “Safety For All Plan”, the latest iteration of the “Defund the Police” movement.

An initial proposal to limit force numbers to 750 was shelved, preserving a plan to hire more officers in the future. The city is currently experiencing a spike in violent crime.

Debate over the 2021 city budget comes in the shadows of the death of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers on 25 May, which sparked riots in the city and a nationwide protest movement.

City council members deliberated whether to move ahead with calls to “defund the police” by reallocating the budget to new services and even replacing the force with a new department.

The budget decision comes against the backdrop of a crime wave that has seen more than 532 shootings in the city this year – double the number in 2019; 375 carjackings, a total up 331 per cent; and a total of 5,100 violent crimes recorded, compared to 4,000 last year.

Mayor Jacob Frey had threatened to veto the $1.5bn city budget, $179m of which is allocated to the police, over the plan to limit police staffing levels, but a compromise was reached in a  narrow vote.

"My colleagues were right to leave the targeted staffing level unchanged from 888 and continue moving forward with our shared priorities," Mayor Frey said in a statement.

"The additional funding for new public safety solutions will also allow the city to continue upscaling important mental health, non-police response, and social service components in our emergency response system."

During demonstrations in the summer, Mayor Frey was booed by protesters for refusing to commit to abolish the city’s police force.

The Star Tribune reports that the council also created an additional reserve fund of $11.4m made up of funds intended to hire two police recruit classes and cuts made to funding for police overtime. Access to the funds will require approval of the council.

Police Chief Medaria Arradondo argues that funding for overtime will be needed as the force is currently down 166 officers from 874 at the beginning of the year, mostly due to resignations and officers on leave — much of the leave is related to PTSD claims after the unrest and riots of the summer.

Mr Arrandondo has warned of the potential for further unrest when the trials begin for the former officers involved in Mr Floyd’s death.

“In the first budget since George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, the City Council has adopted a budget that invests in specific, concrete actions to transform community safety starting in 2021,” said Council President Lisa Bender.

“The City Council has stepped up to lead, working together to respond to complex demands from a community reeling from police violence, community violence and the social unrest that followed George Floyd’s death. The City Council’s adopted budget invests in a mental health response, community safety and violence prevention and takes common-sense actions to move parking and report-only calls out of the police department next year.”

An earlier proposal to completely dismantle the police force and replace it with a Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention initially had the support of the council, but was not included on the ballot in November’s election.

Over 300 Minneapolis residents signed up to speak about the proposal at the council meeting on Wednesday.

Some pleaded for council members to deliver the reforms they promised after Mr Floyd’s death, while others warned it would be irresponsible to cut officers.