MINNEAPOLIS — Hundreds of people addressed the city council on Wednesday during a lengthy budget hearing, highlighting the deep divisions across Minneapolis about how to fund the police department in 2021.
With the council set to vote on the final budget at a meeting next week, the Wednesday evening hearing provided the public a final opportunity to relay their thoughts to council members and Mayor Jacob Frey. The city already published 499 pages of written comments about the budget, which included the word “crime” 346 times, “defund” 149 times, and “reform” 111 times.
The meeting ran until around 1:30 a.m. Thursday.
Citing a well-documented rise in homicides and other violent crimes, some residents blasted calls for police cuts and asked for additional officers on the streets. I just really want something to be done about it, because it’s insane. I feel like we live in the Wild West, one person said.
Daniel Mendez said a friend of his “had to leave his home because of a number of drive-bys that occurred every day ... As a Mexican-American, I am not about defunding the police. But I am in favor of reforming police reform relations and holding police officers accountable.”
Other speakers said they backed city council leaders, who have previously called for the dismantling of Minneapolis Police in favor of a new public safety department. They favor shifting law enforcement funding to social services like mental health and violence prevention.
Comments included: “I ask you today to stand by this commitment. Police do not, and have not, prevented crime … We need funding to address the root causes of marginalization.”
And another added: "It's unfair that you all think that increasing the police budget is going to bring safety, when my life is on the line … and I'm traumatized every time I see the police."
The full council will discuss final 2021 budget points later this week, ahead of the planned Dec. 9 vote that would need a simple majority for approval. Mayor Frey could veto that, although the council has override power.
The two sides have disagreements to work out.
Frey’s budget proposal calls for a $12.5 million cut to the police budget ($14 million in total savings), although he preserves $5 million in overtime funding to help a department reeling from retirements and leaves of absence. Three city council members, however, released a plan late last week that would eliminate that overtime funding, part of a proposed $7.9 million in additional reductions to the MPD budget. The “Safety for All” plan, backed by Council President Lisa Bender and colleagues Steve Fletcher and Phillipe Cunningham, would use the extra money to establish a new mental health crisis response and invest in violence prevention, among many other measures.
The “Safety for All” plan also calls for a 15 % reduction in the authorized sworn force in “future years,” asking for a drop from 888 officers to 750. Mayor Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo harshly criticized that proposal this week.