Minneapolis City Council Votes To Bring In More Police Officers

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The Minneapolis City Council voted 7-6 in favor of contracting the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department and Metro Transit authorities to assist the Minneapolis Police Department in city law enforcement.

The agreement will cost the city just under $500,000. The measure seeks to reverse the effects of Minneapolis officers retiring or going on leave as the city faces a spike in violent crime.

"Resources are hemorrhaging," Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo told the city council in a meeting earlier in November. "Our city is bleeding at this moment. I’m trying to do all I can to stop that bleeding."

According to the Star Tribune, 74 people have been shot to death in Minneapolis and 500 people have been wounded so far this year, the highest total in 15 years.

Council Members Andrew Johnson, Andrea Jenkins, Kevin Reich, Jamal Osman, Linea Palmisano, Lisa Goodman and Alondra Cano voted in favor of the contract Friday morning.

Jeremiah Ellison, Lisa Bender, Cam Gordon, Phillipe Cunningham, Jeremy Schroeder, and Steve Fletcher voted against the plan.

Funding the police

The plan to provide more resources to the Minneapolis Police Department is in stark contrast to the council's proposal to dismantle it entirely, which gained momentum this summer.

Following the death of George Floyd, members unanimously passed a charter amendment in June that would remove and replace the police force with something different.

That amendment was stalled, however, by the Minneapolis Charter Commission. In August, the commission — which acts as a sort of constitutional convention — moved to take 90 more days to review the charter amendment, meaning it could not be on the November ballot as many activists had hoped.

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