Tag: Minneapolis City Council

Minneapolis City Council Frustrated over Slow Review of 2020 Unrest Response

Hayley Tschetter
Minneapolis Police Department

The Minneapolis City Council is frustrated over the slow review of the city’s response to the unrest in 2020. Minneapolis was plagued by riots as well as peaceful protests after the death of Goerge Floyd on May 25, 2020. Due to the massive amounts of damage and the repercussions of the violence, the city contracted a third party consulting group to assess the city’s response to the situation. As reported on FOX 9, “A final report and its recommendations aren’t due until January of next year but some city council members say that’s too long to wait.”

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Minneapolis Contracts Year-Old Mental Health Group to Replace Police

Hayley Tschetter

The city of Minneapolis has agreed to a contract with a mental health group that has only existed for one year, according to screenshots obtained from city websites. This group, Canopy Mental Health & Consulting, will be assisting with the city’s plan to replace and restructure the police. They are contracted to pay the group $6 million to provide 24/7 mental health services in “crisis response teams” for the next two years. According to WCCO, there is an option to extend the services for a third year if the cost does not exceed $3 million.

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Minneapolis Council President: Critical Race Theory Should Be ‘Baked into Our Systems’

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Minneapolis City Council Member Lisa Bender

Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender said at a recent meeting that employees of color in Minneapolis have “been carrying the burden of white supremacy.”

In a May 28 meeting, Bender referred to an open letter which all city employees are invited to sign — anyone who signs the letter is acknowledging racism as a public health crisis, accepting responsibility for the “pain” they have caused as “stewards of the City of Minneapolis’s policies,” and recognizing that Minneapolis has been and continues to be harmful to the BIPOC community.

The letter was filed into the official city record and will be published on June 11 with the signatures of all who choose to sign, making it easy to know which employees decide not to sign the letter.

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Gunfire Mars Festival at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis on Anniversary of His Death

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George Floyd memorial

An apparent drive-by shooting at George Floyd Square in Minneapolis was caught live by news cameras Tuesday morning, as Black Lives Matter supporters gathered to observe the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death in police hands.

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Politicians Who Want to Defund the Police Hire Bodyguards to Visit Minneapolis

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Back of Police officers uniform

Politicians who want to defund the police won’t step foot in Minneapolis without their own personal security details.

U.S. Reps. Ilhan Omar and Maxine Waters are both progressives who vocally support measures to defund the police. However, both of them used private security or an actual police escort when visiting Minnesota, the center of the defund movement.

Omar spent $3,103 on security in her home state in the first financial quarter of 2021, which spans from the beginning of the year through March, per Federal Election Commission records. One of the companies she hired, Aegis Logistics, provides armed and unarmed bodyguards. The other, Lloyd Security Services, provides video surveillance and intrusion detection — a vital service in a city that has experienced about 6,000 cases of theft so far this year after huge cuts to the the law enforcement budget.

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As Chauvin Trial Nears End, Minneapolis Passes Resolution Opposing Use of Non-Lethal Weapons

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In a near-unanimous vote, the Minneapolis City Council passed a last-minute resolution Friday to condemn the use of non-lethal weapons such as tear gas and rubber bullets.

This comes as former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s trial in the death of George Floyd nears a verdict.

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Minneapolis to Pay Record $27 Million in George Floyd’s Wrongful Death Settlement

The Center Square

The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to settle George Floyd’s wrongful death lawsuit for a record $27 million. 

The settlement was announced on Friday.

In a viral May 2020 video, former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, causing police brutality protests worldwide. Floyd died later that night. By the end of the week, the three officers involved were fired. 

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Minneapolis to Pay ‘Influencers’ for City-Approved Social Media Propaganda During Chauvin Trial

Peter D'Abrosca

The Minneapolis City Council Friday approved a plan to pay social media “influencers” cash to spread city-approved messages during the trial of former Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) officer Derek Chauvin. 

“The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously Friday to approve a $1 million communications and de-escalation plan that involves partnering with community leaders, local media and social media influencers during Chauvin’s trial set to begin in March, as well the August trial of three other former officers charged in [George] Floyd’s death,” Fox News reported. 

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Minneapolis to Spend Millions Bolstering Depleted Police Force

Peter D'Abrosca

The city of Minneapolis will spend nearly more than six million dollars recruiting new police officers, after beginning 2021 with 200 fewer officers than one year prior. 

“Minneapolis will hire dozens more police officers after the City Council on Friday agreed to release $6.4 million to bring on additional recruits,” The Star-Tribune reported. 

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Minneapolis City Council Votes to Ban Facial Recognition for Police Use

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On Friday, the Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to ban facial recognition technology for police use.

The determination prohibits every city department from acquiring, obtaining, or using facial recognition technology or information derived from the technology.

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Councilmember Cancels Meetings with Community Amid Attempt to Gut MPD

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Minneapolis City Councilmember Phillipe Cunningham once claimed that “community engagement” is key to defunding the police. Now, Cunningham has canceled his “Community Office Hours” after facing backlash due to the council’s efforts to defund law enforcement.

Cunningham has served on the council since 2017, when he became the second female-to-male transgender person elected to public office in the U.S. Cunningham also took a key role in the push to amend the City Charter to defund the police in June, and presently heads up the continued action towards this goal.

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Minneapolis Leaders Propose New Department to ‘Supervise’ Police Officers

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Minneapolis City Council members officially introduced a draft amendment to the city charter that would create a new Department of Public Safety and eliminate the Minneapolis police force as its own department.

After giving a notice of intent to change the charter’s current mandate — which requires funds for the MPD as a sole entity — to fund more general “public safety services,” City Council Members Phillipe Cunningham, Steve Fletcher, and Jeremy Schroeder introduced the draft of the amendment Friday. Their objective is to put the amendment up for a public vote during the next municipal election.

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Minneapolis City Council Member Wants Facial Recognition Banned, Says It ‘Exacerbates Bias’

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Minneapolis City Council member Steve Fletcher wrote an amendment to the city’s code of ordinances that would ban facial recognition technology in the police department and all city departments.

The basis for the ban is that facial recognition technology “has been shown to be less accurate in identifying people of color and women,” according to the amendment.

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Minneapolis and Hennepin County Absentee Ballot Boards Ignore Party Balance Law

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It was not enough to allow the city to burn. Then it wasn’t enough to emasculate city law enforcement. Now the Minneapolis City Council is corrupting the absentee ballot count by stacking ballot boards with handpicked staff rather than following state law that requires regular ballot boards to include people from the major political parties. Hennepin County, the most populous in the state, is doing it, too.

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Minneapolis Citizens Desensitized to Crime: Uber Driver Footage Inside Look at Metro’s Reality

Corinne Murdock

Two Minneapolis citizens appear desensitized to their city’s worsening crime in a viral video of a downtown shootout early Sunday morning. The Uber driver’s dash cam recorded the incident.
The interaction between the female passenger and Uber driver is calm despite the violence occurring in front of them.

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Minneapolis Business Owners Left to Foot Demolition Bills After Riots

Corinne Murdock

Minneapolis business owners are left to foot demolition bills after the latest round of riots terrorized the city.

For most business owners, insurance only covers 8 to 25 percent of quoted demolition costs, according to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. 

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Minneapolis City Council Reinvests in Police Department: $1.2 Million for New Precinct

Corinne Murdock

Minneapolis City Council has approved the reinvestment of $1.2 million into a new department for Third Precinct police. The investment will be pledged annually for the next three years.
The decision took place in the council’s Policy & Government Oversight Committee meeting on Thursday afternoon.

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Minneapolis Residents Sue the City and Mayor Jacob Frey Over Defunding Police

Corinne Murdock

Eight Minneapolis residents filed a lawsuit Monday against the City of Minneapolis and Mayor Jacob Frey for the negative repercussions of defunding the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). The plaintiffs allege that city officials’ words and actions concerning law enforcement caused a severe uptick in Metro’s crime rates.

The plaintiffs are represented by the Upper Midwest Law Center (UMWLC), who issued a press release the day after the suit was filed.

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Proposal to Disband the Minneapolis Police Blocked

Ben Kolodny
Minneapolis Police Department

The Minneapolis Charter Council on Wednesday blocked the controversial ballot proposal to disband the police. 

In a 10-5 vote, the city’s Charter Council opted to take an extra 90 days to review the proposal. This means that voters will not have the opportunity to vote on the proposal in November. In an online meeting, the Charter Commission members complained that the new measure was vague, might run afoul of state law, and put the council in charge of the proposed department, according to Forbes.

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Commentary: The Quality of Life for Citizens in the Democratic-Run City of Minneapolis Is Diminishing

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If you want a look at the dystopian Hell that Democrats will create in your city or town should they win the 2020 election look no further than what has happened in Minneapolis since the city council and Mayor gave the city over to the Far Left BLM revolutionaries.

After the city leaders allowed days of violent insurrection, that burned over three miles of city storefronts, the Minneapolis City Council voted 12-0 to abolish the city police department.

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Police Tell Minnesota Citizens to ‘Be Prepared’ as Two Prisons Close

Ben Kolodny

Citing financial woes The Minnesota Department of Corrections (MNDOC) will be closing two prisons.

Prisoners from the Togo and Willow River prisons will be transferred to other facilities and  100 employees will be laid off as a result of the move. These cuts come only a few weeks after 48 Department of Corrections Employees were let go in response to budget concerns resulting from the coronavirus. 

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Minneapolis City Planning Commission Votes to Add Commemorative Sign for George Floyd

Corinne Murdock

The Minneapolis City Planning Commission voted unanimously Monday evening to add a commemorative sign reading “George Perry Floyd Jr. Place”, dedicating two blocks of Chicago Avenue to memorialize the May 25th killing. If fully approved by the city council, the sign will be placed between 37th Street East and 39th Street East. Along with the recent grant to preserve current George Floyd memorials throughout metro, many other memorial measures are occurring throughout the nation.
Guest speaker Matt Hanan with Minneapolis Public Works Transportation Engineering and Design introduced the proposal, along with its original applicant: Public Works’ Director Robin Hutcheson. Despite some news coverage that the two blocks along Chicago Avenue would be renamed “George Perry Floyd Jr. Place”, the application only proposes to add a secondary, distinctive sign for Floyd alongside the current street signage.

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Minneapolis City Council Votes to Cut the Police Department’s Communications Division

Corinne Murdock
Minneapolis Police Department

The Minneapolis City Council voted to cut the Minneapolis Police Department’s communications division during its Budget Committee discussion Wednesday. The ultimate goal is to have the city’s communications department handle all emergency calls.

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Minneapolis Council Members Who Want to Abolish Police Have Received $63,000 in Private Security

Anthony Gockowski

Minneapolis has spent $63,000 on private security for three council members who want to abolish the city’s police department.

Council Member Phillipe Cunningham confirmed the report in a statement released on Twitter Friday night.

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Council Unanimously Approves Plan to Dismantle Minneapolis Police

The Associated Press

The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously approved a proposal to change the city charter to allow the police department to be dismantled, following widespread criticism of law enforcement over the killing of George Floyd.

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Trump Mocks ‘Stone-Cold Crazy’ Minneapolis Officials, Predicts ‘Big Victory’ in Minnesota: ‘They’ve Had It’

Anthony Gockowski

President Donald Trump described Minneapolis officials as “stone-cold crazy” during his return to the campaign trail Saturday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The lawlessness of the “radical left” was a recurring theme of the president’s speech, and Minneapolis was a prime target.

“Our incredible success in rebuilding America stands in stark contrast to the extremism and destruction and violence of the radical left,” the president said early in his 90-minute address.

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Rep. Ilhan Omar Calls Minneapolis Police ‘Rotten,’ Can’t Explain Who Will Respond to Violent Crimes Without Them

Anthony Gockowski

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) was unable to provide details on who will respond to violent crimes in her city without a police force, but said the Minneapolis Police Department is “rotten to the root” during a Sunday interview.

“What takes its place?” CNN host Jake Tapper asked the congresswoman. “Who investigates crimes? Who arrests criminals? What happens?”

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Truck Drivers Say They Won’t Deliver to Cities That Defund Police Departments

Anthony Gockowski
Tennessee Star

As Minneapolis prepares to “abolish” its police force, a recent survey found that most truck drivers won’t deliver to cities with defunded or disbanded police departments.

According to a survey from CDLLife, a resource site for the trucking industry, 79 percent of truck drivers said they will refuse to deliver freight to cities with defunded police departments.

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Minneapolis Council President Struggles to Explain Who Will Respond to Violent Crimes Without Police

Anthony Gockowski

Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender made several appearances on cable news programs Monday and was unable to articulate who would respond to violent crimes if her city’s police department is actually abolished.

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Anoka Sheriff Says ‘Many Agencies’ Have ‘No Appetite’ for Helping Minneapolis If It Abolishes Police Department

Anthony Gockowski

Anoka County Sheriff James Stuart said “many agencies” have “no appetite” for helping Minneapolis in the future if its leaders follow through on a plan to abolish the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD).

“The members of the Minneapolis City Council should be mindful that numerous other law enforcement agencies have responded to support them, to restore order, to protect their citizens and to return peace to their city during recent tragic days. We did this while joining our communities in disgust over the way in which George Floyd lost his life and in hopes of a stronger, unified future,” Stuart said in a statement released on Facebook Sunday night.

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Growing Support to ‘Abolish Police’ Among Minneapolis Progressives

Anthony Gockowski

George Floyd’s death has given new life to a leftist movement to abolish the police, an idea with broad support among the Minneapolis City Council and the progressive wing of the DFL Party.

Just a day after Floyd’s death, state Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL-Minneapolis) released a nearly 500-word statement on “why we talk about police abolition.”

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Minneapolis Bans Police Chokeholds, Neck Restraints in Wake of George Floyd Death

The Associated Press

Minneapolis agreed Friday to ban chokeholds by police and to require officers to try to stop any other officers they see using improper force, in the first concrete steps to remake the city’s police department since George Floyd’s death.

The changes are part of a stipulation between the city and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which launched a civil rights investigation this week in response to the death of Floyd. The City Council approved the agreement 12-0.

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U of M, Minneapolis Schools and Others Cut Ties with Police Department

Anthony Gockowski
Minneapolis Police Department

Several institutions plan to cut ties with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) in response to the alleged murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died while in police custody on Memorial Day.

University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel informed students last week that the school will no longer contract with the MPD for large events, like football games and concerts, or specialized law enforcement services, such as K-9 explosive detection units.

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Minneapolis Council Member Says City Council Looking Into ‘Disbanding’ Police, Making Modern ‘Policing a Thing of the Past’

Anthony Gockowski

Minneapolis Council Member Steve Fletcher said Tuesday that he and his colleagues are looking into “what it would take to disband” the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and “start fresh.”

In a lengthy statement posted to Twitter, Fletcher said the behavior of Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis President Bob Kroll demonstrates that “the department is irredeemably beyond reform.” Kroll was widely condemned this week after a letter to his fellow officers was leaked to the press. In the letter, Kroll said the officers involved in the death of George Floyd were fired “without due process.”

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Keith Ellison’s Son, a Minneapolis Council Member, Pledges Support for Antifa

Anthony Gockowski

Minneapolis Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, the son of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, “officially” declared his support for Antifa Sunday.

Ellison’s declaration of support for the extremist group came in response to President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would be declaring Antifa a domestic terrorist organization.

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CLAIM: Ilhan Omar Could Face Primary Challenge in Transgender Minneapolis City Council Member

Anthony Gockowski

Rumor has it that Minneapolis City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins is being lobbied to run against Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) in the 2020 primary for Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District. “Breaking: I have heard a rumor that Andrea Jenkins of the Minneapolis City Council is being lobbied to run against…

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