The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved an ordinance that would amend the city charter and make changes to how policing is done in the city.
A review of the ordinance will be conducted by the city’s Charter Commission after a 12-0 vote by City Council members on Friday.
“Vote: 12-0, Minneapolis City Council approves ordinance to send to charter commission possible change to how policing is done in the city,” tweeted KSTP reporter Eric Chaloux. “Next steps, Charter Commission must review and hold public meeting in July. These are steps ahead of it possibly appearing on Nov ballot.”
Vote: 12-0, Minneapolis City Council approves ordinance to send to charter commission possible change to how policing is done in the city. Next steps, Charter Commission must review and hold public meeting in July. These are steps ahead of it possibly appearing on Nov ballot.
— Eric Chaloux (@EChalouxKSTP) June 26, 2020
The charter would amend language that mandates a police department. The proposed changes to the city’s charter would replace it with “a department of community safety and violence prevention” that would take “a holistic, public-health-oriented approach.”
“Of course, we still have to have emergency response for those situations that are difficult to deescalate, but I think that it’s important for us to keep in perspective that most of what police do is not respond to violent situations,” Councilor Jeremiah Ellison said.
Protests have broken out across the United States in the wake of George Floyd’s death in the custody of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died on Memorial Day after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. The officer who pressed a knee to Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, was fired from the department and has been charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. The three other officers who were involved in detaining Floyd, who was suspected of using a fake $20 bill, were also fired and charged with aiding and abetting murder.
Ellison argued that it should be left up to city residents to vote on what is to be done with the Police Department.
“It’s undemocratic for nine people to go and decide what a new system of public safety is going to look like in a back room,” Ellison said. “I think it’s really going to require the voices of every single resident in our city.”
