Accept the Third Precinct decision for now. But locate police where they're needed.

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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It's worth asking if politics will get in the way of the best long-term solution for public safety when it comes to decisions regarding the Third Precinct police station in Minneapolis.

Last month the City Council voted unanimously to move ahead with a new temporary location for officers whose precinct building was ransacked and burned in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder in May 2020. The Third Precinct will operate from Century Plaza, a city-owned building on the southern outskirts of downtown.

The city was already preparing to move downtown's First Precinct officers to Century Plaza around July 2024; now both precincts will be based there, operating on separate floors.

It took too long to make the decision on the Third Precinct because it got caught up in the larger debate over the role of policing in Minneapolis. City leaders should have made a choice earlier — both to get the officers into an appropriate space and to start work on the blighted site. More than three years is too long to leave the building standing behind fencing and razor wire.

Still, the Century Plaza move is a reasonable short-term solution given the political realities. It also allows city officials to delay a final decision on a Third Precinct site before this year's council elections, in which several of Mayor Jacob Frey's closest allies are in tough races.

Frey told an editorial writer that division on the council made the Century Plaza plan the only option that could get enough votes to proceed. He pointed out his administration had a good potential site lined up within the district in late 2020 but that the landowner pulled out of the deal after being harassed by protesters — some of whom don't want any police in the south Minneapolis neighborhood.

Frey emphasized that Century Plaza will be used temporarily. In the future, he said a permanent precinct might be part of a series of "community safety hubs" around the city that would include more than just police services, as outlined in a recent report.

Several council members have said the city should bar the former precinct site from ever again housing police operations. That will likely be the case. Opinions are mixed about that emotional decision — both in the neighborhood and citywide.

Earlier this year, city leaders finally asked a consulting firm to gather community input about the Third Precinct building's fate. The survey resulted in data that some council members criticized as both flawed and largely unrepresentative of the approximately 139,000 people who live in the precinct. The report, prepared by DeYoung Consulting Services, included comments from an online survey and from community meetings that revealed skepticism and mistrust of the city's engagement process.

Police Chief Brian O'Hara did not respond to several requests from the Star Tribune Editorial Board for information about response times. Going forward, residents will deserve to know if the Century Plaza alternative is effective.

Council Member Michael Rainville, who said he attends officer roll call meetings periodically, said he believes police response times have "slipped" some since officers have been relocated to downtown's First Precinct.

Rainville added that the city probably must take rebuilding on the former Third Precinct site "off the table" but said there are other constructive reuses for the location that the city should consider, including a building for the arts or a center devoted to health and wellness. We'd urge the city to move quickly on that next planning stage.

Whatever that reuse may be, the residents of the Third Precinct deserve effective public safety — and police must be in a position to deliver it. Century Plaza may be the practical alternative for now, but more work must be done on a long-term solution.