Minneapolis Officials Vow to ‘Dismantle’ Police Department

Minneapolis, Minnesota, city officials say the city will “dismantle” the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and “replace” the agency.

On Friday, June 5, the Minneapolis City Council will vote on a measure to make significant changes to the (MPD) in the wake of George Floyd’s death, the 46-year-old who was allegedly murdered in police custody.

Though the details of those changes have yet to be finalized, City Councilman Jeremiah Ellison wrote online on Thursday that the city will “dismantle” the MPD.

“We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department,” Ellison wrote. “And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back together. We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response. It’s really past due.”

Likewise, City Council President Lisa Bender reiterated the council’s plan to “dismantle” the MPD and “replace it with a transformative new model of public safety.”

Any changes to the MPD will have to not only be approved by the Minneapolis City Council but also by a judge.

Bender told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that plans to dismantle the MPD could include reducing law enforcement’s jurisdiction over particular cases. Instead, the plan could mean law enforcement officers only intervene in violent crime cases and “community-based services,” according to the Tribune.

Other cases that do not involve violent crime would no longer be handled by law enforcement officers under such a plan, and instead, those cases would be taken over by social workers and EMTs.

The councilmembers’ statements come as the Black Lives Matter movement and elected Democrats demand that police departments around the country be defunded by their local communities.

Minneapolis already suffers from high violent crime rates. In Minneapolis, every 8.15 residents per 1,000 is a violent crime victim. Compare that to the state of Minnesota overall, where only 2.2 residents per 1,000 become a violent crime victim.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.