A veto-proof majority of nine Minneapolis City Council members said on Sunday at a “Path Forward” meeting at Powderhorn Park that they would end the police department as it now exists. The vow comes more than a week after the murder of unarmed black man George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers sparked ‘Black Lives Matter’ protests across the U.S. and in cities around the world.
Said the group:”Decades of police reform efforts have proved that the Minneapolis Police Department cannot be reformed and will never be accountable for its actions. We are here today to begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department and creating a new, transformative model for cultivating safety in Minneapolis.”
The Star Tribune reports: “While some council members have provided hints of what the changes might mean — sending mental health professionals or social workers to respond to certain emergencies, for example — the group did not present a single, unified vision for how they would replace policing in Minneapolis. Organizers with Black Visions said they too don’t have all the answers about what would replace the police department, but they said police can’t be reformed through initiatives like training and body cameras. This is the beginning of the process of putting together a ‘police-free future,’ they vowed, by investing in more community initiatives like mental health and having community members respond to public safety issues.”
