‘Defund the Police’ Minneapolis Sees Most Homicides Since Mid-1990s

The cry “Defund the Police” took centerstage in the Minneapolis city council during mid-summer 2020, and by November 2020 the big story became the city experiencing the most homicides since the mid-1990s.

On June 12, 2020, Breitbart News reported the Minneapolis city council pledged unanimously to disband the city’s police department.

The decision followed a pressure campaign spearheaded by Black Lives Matter activists and far-left Democrats to defund law enforcement in the wake of protests and riots over George Floyd’s death.

On September 16, 2020, Breitbart News reported the city council that pledged to abolish the police was suddenly wondering where police had gone.

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) reported: “Just months after leading an effort that would have defunded the police department, City Council members at Tuesday’s work session pushed Chief Medaria Arradondo to tell them how the department is responding to the violence.”

New council member Jamal Osman observed, “Residents are asking, ‘Where are the police?’”

He added, “That is the only public safety option they have at the moment. MPD. They rely on MPD. And they are saying they are nowhere to be seen.”

On December 2, 2020, months after the council’s pledge to abolish the police, the Star Tribune reported homicides in the city reached their highest level since the mid-1990s. The number of homicides thus far in 2020 is 79 and the number of shooting victims in the city is over 500.

Breitbart’s John Nolte reports carjackings are up in Minneapolis as well, by about 537 percent.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.