A ballot proposal has Minnesota's largest city on edge.
Voters will decide today whether or not to scrap the Minneapolis Police Department in favor of a new Department of Public Safety. The police replacement measure comes amid a crime surge. Since 2020, the city has suffered through its most violent years in a generation.
Back then it earned the nickname “Murderapolis.”
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As many as three-quarters of Minneapolis' black residents fear the consequences of abolishing the police force. Unfortunately, they represent a minority of the city's residents. Most are younger, white and liberal.
Fox News reports:
Supporters say the move would overhaul how policing is conducted in the city. The goal is for the replacement law enforcement agency to employ an appropriate response depending on the type of call received. In other words, a counselor or social worker could respond to mental health calls instead of police officers.
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“I was raised to understand that when you get in trouble, you call 911 and someone on the other end is going to help. Most of the time, unless it's fire, the helper is going to be a police officer,” Erica Mauter, a Minneapolis resident who supports the measure, told Fox News. “I've come to understand as I've lived more of my life that sometimes the right helper for the problem is not a police officer with a gun.”
On the flip side, opponents have voiced concerns over the measure's vague language and how such a transition would be implemented and its impact on policing in Minnesota's largest city.Â
“They can't just take the largest city in the state and take the police away and put in some social workers,” Kevin Rofidal, a retired police officer from the Minneapolis suburb of Edina, told Fox News. “The police aren't the problem here. The problem is going to be who is going to show up at the polling place.”
Fifty-one percent of voters will need to vote for the measure in order for it to pass.
Every city needs the police. I think the big reason of so much violence is the prosecutors and judges turn the criminals free to do the same thing over and over. If these mostly dope heads and gangs break the law they should be put in jail or prison . If they are set free they just laugh and do it again. Get strict on these type people.