"Go home, Jacob, go home" and "shame," shouted protestors at Frey after he said he still opposes defunding the MPD. An alternative safety model, advocates say, can start with finding “non-police solutions to the problems poor people face”, such as counselors responding to mental health calls and addiction experts responding to drug abuse. We could similarly turn traffic enforcement over to cameras and, potentially, our parking enforcement staff, rather than our police department,” he wrote. Stung by outrage over the police’s repeated killing of people, particularly African Americans, many forces have brought in body-worn cameras for officers and instituted training to improve community relations. While a smaller police force may remain, it won’t be the default body interacting with the community at the time of crisis. Following days of protests and widespread accounts of police misconduct in New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday that some funding would be moved from the police to “youth initiatives and social services”. In June, as the nation rose up in protest after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, the city council unanimously voted to disband the city’s police entirely and start anew. “There’s a groundswell of support for this. “We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department. That doesn’t murder Black people.”. Some council members and others, however, have been pushing for a $1bn divestment from the NYPD. After moving to disband the Minneapolis Police Department, the city council is asking amid a surge in violent crime: 'Where are the police?' ", “We’re here because we hear you," said Bender. A new model could involve community-based policing alongside a much larger system of social services that would deal with issues before they escalate into crime. The slogan has been taken by some to mean abolishing the police, although many campaigners say it would instead involve a radical reprioritization where police budgets are slashed and money diverted to address poverty, mental health and addiction problems. A woman burns sage and offers prayers as she pays her respects at a makeshift memorial in honor of George Floyd, on June 3, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota Photo: AFP / CHANDAN KHANNA. “Civilian agencies can work on proper enforcement and that’s what we’ll do going forward,” he said. Minneapolis is yet to provide any details of what a new law enforcement system may look like, although Bender conceded there will still be a police department in the short term. The remaining three council members are broadly supportive of the effort as well, but were not ready to sign on, activists said. In Minneapolis and in cities across the United States, it is clear that our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping our communities safe. According to … The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), long accused of endemic racism in its ranks, will be disbanded. While the mayor has oversight over the police, the city council has authority over the budget and policy, and could work to dismantle the department through cuts and ordinances. Copyright © 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Yes. Many people have asked, in this visionary future with no police, "Who do you call when there's no 911?" “The details will be worked out in the budget process in the weeks ahead, but I want people to understand that we are committed to shifting resources to ensure that the focus is on our young people,” De Blasio said. For years, abolitionist groups have advocated for governments to take money away from police and prisons and reinvesting the funds in other services. here. “We had already pushed for pilot programs to dispatch county mental health professionals to mental health calls, and fire department EMTs to opioid overdose calls, without police officers. Efforts to reform the police have not been sufficient, said Lisa Bender, the Minneapolis city council president. Mayor Jacob Frey strongly opposed the move to abolish the MPD and threatened to veto it. Daily non-crisis interactions between police and the community went up, training on de-escalating situations was rolled out, and firm rules on using force as a very last resort – virtually unheard of in the US – were installed. After Minneapolis’s mayor, Jacob Frey, would not commit to abolishing the police at a demonstration on Saturday, protesters shouted, “Go home, Jacob!” and “Shame!” until he left. Ms Bender said she and the eight other council members who joined the rally were committed to ending the city’s relationship with the police force and “to end policing as we know it and recreate systems that actually keep us safe”. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder. The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously approved a proposal to eliminate the city’s police department, the first step toward a potentially monumental change … Minneapolis City Council members have a vowed to disband the police department in the wake George Floyd’s death and nationwide protests. “Defund the police” has become a rallying cry in the protests that have roiled the US following the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery. It will establish what it calls a "transformative new model of public safety" to replace the disgraced MPD. Colleges, public school systems, museums and other institutions have also increasingly announced plans to divest from police. What is ballot harvesting — and should you hand your ballot to a stranger? Key partners such as the Minneapolis Public Schools, the University of Minnesota and Minneapolis Parks and Recreation have already severed ties with the MPD over the past week. Three other officers who were at the scene have been charged with aiding and abetting both second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Available for everyone, funded by readers. The mayor of Los Angeles said he would look to cut as much as $150m from the police this week, just days after he pushed forward a city budget that was increasing it by 7%. The justice system also condemns more people to prison, too – the US has more than 2 million incarcerated people, which represents the world’s largest prison population. All rights reserved. The Minneapolis City Council approved the TRO during an emergency meeting Friday. https://t.co/FCfjoPy64k. Minneapolis city councillors are set to break up its police force following the death of George Floyd. Police in America kill more people in days than many other countries do in years. “Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period.”. What happens if the president doesn't accept the election results? And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back together. In Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, San Francisco and other cities, local policymakers have expressed support for some form of defunding or opposing police budget increases in the last week. “We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public safety and emergency response.”. The result has been stark – complaints over excessive police force in Camden have dropped 95% since 2014. Some cities have now started to move in this direction. On Sunday, the Minneapolis City Council led by President Lisa Bender voted 9 to 4 (a veto-proof majority) to disband the MPD with its 800 police officers and 300 civilian employees. Lisa Bender, the council president, said: “It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities saf. Several council members, like Jeremiah Ellison, have been outspoken in their support to disband the police department. But expanding these reforms across the US’s 18,000 police forces is a major challenge due to widespread resistance to change from pro-police legislators and powerful police unions. Are you sure you want to submit this vote? I’m really hopeful in this moment.”, Available for everyone, funded by readers. First published on June 7, 2020 / 10:38 PM. Disbanding an entire department has happened before. We have similarly experimented with unarmed, community-oriented street teams on weekend nights downtown to focus on de-escalation. On Saturday, Frey was booed by protesters after refusing to defund and abolish the MPD. In 2012, with crime rampant in Camden, New Jersey, the city disbanded its police department and replaced it with a new force that covered Camden County. Minneapolis city councillors are set to break up its police force following the death of George Floyd. The Minneapolis announcement could inspire other cities to follow, Williams said: “I do believe we are on the precipice of a major global shift. A crowd of demonstrators chanted “Go home, Jacob” and “Shame” at him. © 2020 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. There are a handful of examples of governments disbanding troubled local police agencies in the US over the years, though the authorities have had other regional law enforcement entities take over policing.