The Minneapolis City Council is being irresponsible with public safety

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The decision by a majority of the Minneapolis City Council to strip critical funding from the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) is not only shortsighted — it’s a huge blow to the stability and safety of our community. The MPD is but one part of an entire public safety ecosystem overseen by the Office of Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette, and includes behavioral crisis response teams and neighborhood safety teams. While Mayor Jacob Frey’s public safety team, including Commissioner Barnette and MPD Chief Brian O’Hara, is committed to public safety reform with the goal of balancing and integrating all of these public safety resources to provide the right response from the right team at the right time and place, the City Council is undermining that goal.

By slashing vital recruitment budgets, Council Members Emily Koski, Elliott Payne, Robin Wonsley, Jeremiah Ellison, Jamal Osman, Katie Cashman, Jason Chavez, Aisha Chughtai and Aurin Chowdhury have effectively reversed the modest but tangible progress the MPD was making toward restoring its ranks and reforming its operations. These council members also diverted $1.8 million from the MPD along with $1.1 million in funds from coordinated citywide beyond policing work to ward-specific projects with no proven track record in handling the urgent public safety needs of Minneapolis.

The facts are that the MPD is still drastically understaffed. It’s nearly 350 officers short of its 2020 staffing levels, which is delaying response times and impeding efforts to save and reduce crimes. For months, the MPD has worked hard to bring on new officers and these efforts have started to bear fruit, with many new candidates coming on board who’ve grown up in Minneapolis. This Imagine Yourself campaign contributed to 47% of new police hires and has been key in leading to a 45% increase in applications. Just as we were seeing results, the council slammed the brakes by cutting the entire $500,000 from the recruitment campaign for 911 operators and police officers along with $1.8 million from the MPD budget.

The argument that these council members are merely “redirecting” funds to ward-specific public safety activities might sound reasonable; however, it’s not bolstering our citywide community safety programs or fortifying proven initiatives that reduce crime. Instead, critical police funding is being siphoned away into a patchwork of politically favored projects and untested nonprofits which subvert the standard Request For Proposals (RFP) process that all organizations requesting funding from the city typically must go through in order to reduce bias. This council also moved the successful Behavioral Response Crisis Team from the Department of Neighborhood Safety to the Fire Department, which has no experience running this critical program, and has also voted to eliminate funding for our mounted patrol which has been critical in crowd control and community engagement efforts.

Mayor Frey vetoed this budget, but the council overrode the mayor’s attempt to keep up momentum on the current ecosystem of public safety efforts. Three years ago, the people of Minneapolis sent a clear message at the polls: Whey did not support “defunding” the police. Yet here we are, watching as our representatives implement policies that defy that decisive vote. Our citizens voted for “both-and” — we must both transform the MPD into a force of properly vetted, well-trained officers who are invested in community well-being, avoid racist practices, respect the sanctity of life and follow the principles of de-escalation, and give our community safe streets and timely responses to emergencies. It is radical — and reckless — to rip away the resources needed to achieve those two overriding goals. Without recruiting and training the caliber of officers who can restore trust and enact meaningful change while also delivering safe streets, the MPD cannot either meet court-mandated reforms or reduce crime.

We deserve leadership that puts both of these public safety goals first, rather than playing political games. Now is the time to remind council members that our city needs a well-staffed, well-trained police force, a vital part of our public safety ecosystem. Trust in the MPD will not be rebuilt overnight, but it cannot be rebuilt if the resources to recruit the right officers — and enact the right reforms — are methodically gutted. Minneapolis residents deserve elected representatives that prioritize public safety, responsible staffing and meaningful reform, and with city elections in 2025, they might just get that.

Latonya Reeves, John Satorius, Catherine Shreves and Julie Wicklund are Minneapolis residents. Satorius and Shreves are co-chairs of Plymouth Church’s Reimagining Community Safety Group.