Minneapolis Council Majority Backs Disbanding Police Force

A solid majority of the Minneapolis City Council pledged on Sunday to disband the local police department and replace it with a new model of public safety, The New York Times reported.

Nine of the council’s 13 members said the changes to be decided upon that will replace the police department are expected to be adopted in the coming weeks.

Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender said Sunday that the decision is necessary, because “it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe. Our efforts at incremental reform have failed. Period,” according to The Appeal.

Bender went on to say she and the eight other council members that joined the rally are committed to ending the city’s relationship with the police force and “to end policing as we know it and recreate systems that actually keep us safe.”

The pledge comes a few days after Bender and other council members raised the idea to do away with the department and two weeks after the death of George Floyd while in police custody.

Floyd, a handcuffed black man, died May 25 after a white officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck, ignoring his “I can't breathe” cries and holding it there even after Floyd stopped moving. His death sparked protests — some violent, many peaceful — that spread nationwide.

Community activists have criticized the Minneapolis department for years for what they say is a racist and brutal culture that resists change. The state of Minnesota launched a civil rights investigation of the department last week, and the first concrete changes came Friday in a stipulated agreement in which the city agreed to ban chokeholds and neck restraints.

A more complete remaking of the department is likely to unfold in coming months.