Proposal to Eliminate Police Department Has Minneapolis on Edge

Minneapolis residents could abolish their police department next month. Depending on the Nov. 2 vote for the proposed amendment, Republicans may find themselves laughing all the way to the ballot box in 2022.

As many as three-quarters of black residents fear the dire consequences if the city decides to do away with its police department. The problem is that the proposal’s most ardent supporters are white liberals. As of the latest census, that group makes up two-thirds of the city’s population.

The idea of replacing the police with a so-called Department of Public Safety stemmed from the death of George Floyd. Progressive activists have used the tragedy to push for reducing the size, scope and influence of law enforcement nationwide. Minneapolis happens to be ground zero.

Political Considerations Persist

Democrats hoping to hamstring the police see the ballot measure as a way to gauge the popularity of the defund the police movement in favorable precincts.

However, most national Democrats don’t want to talk about it.

President Trump lost re-election last November. As a result of his baseless claims of voter fraud, the GOP forfeited its senate majority. However, Democrats in the House nearly lost their majority thanks to progressive messaging that turned toxic.

The party saw swing districts flip across the country, especially when politicians didn’t address the kitchen table needs of their constituents. Democrats who wasted time virtue signaling to their base were liable to lose.

But liberal thought leaders and representatives of solidly blue states and districts don’t seem concerned by what moderate Democrats believe is a five-alarm fire.

Instead, the “compassion, humanity and love” offered by a new public safety agency will form the basis of Minneapolis’ new utopia, as Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) wrote in a recent op-ed.

The reality is far more bleak. Instead of a cultural renaissance, Minneapolis is on track to have its most violent year in decades, when it earned the moniker Murderapolis.

A Violent Crime Surge

The New York Post’s Rav Arora analyzes the proposal and the somber future confronting Minnesota’s largest city:

The new public safety agency would strike down the city charter’s mandate requiring the police department to maintain a minimum staffing level, which is currently deficient by more than 200 officers. Its commissioner would be appointed by the overwhelmingly progressive city council — most of whom vowed to dismantle the police force last year. The proposal also states that the new agency “could include licensed peace officers (police officers) if necessary.”

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While parts of the amendment are worth considering, such as mental health responders and social workers handling nonviolent 911 calls (in collaboration with the police), most of the proposition is horribly vague. What’s more, such a radical, abolitionist approach to the police portends disaster given the already volatile state of the city.

Parts of Minneapolis are so ravaged by violence, community members wrote a desperate letter to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, begging for the deployment of the National Guard to “stop the bleeding” in the city. 

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Over the past 18 months, the radical left’s ongoing war against the foundations of our society has become increasingly successful. The police, standardized tests, due process and free speech are all under vigorous attack — and the radical activists are winning. Meanwhile, those who are most vulnerable are frequently drawing the short straw.

Alas, it is of little comfort to Minneapolis’ black residents that the next political victims of rising crime are likely to be liberal Democrats in the 2022 midterms. Losing an election isn’t the same as losing your life.

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.