Editor’s note (12/13/22): A previous editor’s note incorrectly characterized Minneapolis Police budget figures in this article. The figures used in this opinion piece related to the Minneapolis city budget are complicated. The referenced $20 million cut in 2021 does not account for $11.4 million in staffing reserves later released to the police department. The department’s 2022 budget is roughly on par with the original 2020 budget at $193 million, according to city budget staff.
There are not enough police officers in Minneapolis.
As a result, crime is rampant. But there are hopeful signs that the days of police defunding are behind us, thanks to the Minneapolis Eight.
The police defunding “movement” is responsible for the return of “Murderapolis” and the crime and death that has followed it. After the murder of George Floyd, the Minneapolis City Council made good on its pledge to defund the Minneapolis police. It cut more than $10 million from the 2020 budget and then slashed the 2021 budget by another $20 million.
Cause, meet effect: since 2020, hundreds of police officers have left the Minneapolis police force. The Minneapolis City Charter requires 731 officers on the police force as of the 2020 Census. The police force has shrunk from around 900 officers in 2020 to 560 in August 2022. A third of the police force has quit, retired, or gone on leave with few replacements.
The result? Crime like in the bad old days. Carjackings were by more than 500%, murders rose to historic levels, and in 2020, people shot more than 24,000 bullets in Minneapolis.
In the summer of 2021, over a deadly three-week period in April and May, three children under the age of 10 were shot. Two tragically died of their injuries. The third, a now 11-year-old boy, still has a long road of recovery ahead of him.
Parents are scared to let their children play in the backyard or walk down the street. Residents have sent their children to live with relatives. Others are considering, many for the first time, upending their lives and moving to a safer city. Some have already done so. Businesses are hard-pressed to get employees back downtown. Ideas have consequences, and it is the city’s most vulnerable who have suffered from them.
[image_caption]Cathy Spann[/image_caption]
After the Minneapolis Eight won in the District Court, instead of recognizing the Charter’s requirement and the effect that failing to meet it has on crime, pro-defunding activists supported a ballot measure to dismantle the police department. This measure would have replaced the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety and repealed the staffing minimum requirement for the MPD. But the voice of reason prevailed when Minneapolis voters, as a whole, and an even higher percentage of Black voters, rejected this terrible proposal.
In June 2022, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Minneapolis Eight and the Upper Midwest Law Center after two years of litigation and upheld the Charter requirement to fund and staff a minimum police force. The court ruled that Mayor Frey had to show how he planned to employ an adequate police force or explain why he cannot. The decision will have a long-lasting impact: as long as the force minimum is on the books, no Minneapolis mayor can let the MPD dwindle and atrophy.
[image_caption]Doug Seaton[/image_caption]
[image_caption]James Dickey[/image_caption]
On Thursday, City Council members narrowly voted to cut the Mayor’s budget, transferring funding critical to attracting good officers and addressing the rise in crime to other departments. This was a mistake, and, as Mayor Frey rightly said, this cut forces officers to do civilian work and will hurt the people of Minneapolis.
The eight residents who challenged their government are heroes. But without support for Mayor Frey’s full budget proposal from the City Council, the City’s duty to achieve the Charter-mandated force minimum will not have been met. The Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC) was proud to represent the Minneapolis Eight and will continue to uphold Minnesotans’ rights against government abuses such as police defunding. The UMLC will discuss this new development with our clients and consider whether renewed litigation is necessary to assure that the MPD is adequately funded and staffed.
Doug Seaton is president and founder of the Upper Midwest Law Center and James Dickey is lead attorney for plaintiffs in Spann, et al. v. Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey.
Doug Seaton is a virulently anti-worker attorney, and MinnPost would do well to not offer him any sort of platform.
I thought our own police department told us it was the bad apples who have been leaving and we should be grateful about that. But I guess I was wrong and they all left because the city council slightly reduced MPD’s budget even though MPD hasn’t been able to spend all their budget.
Why publish? The police department is fully funded. It has more money than it can spend. The lawsuit did nothing except cost taxpayers money (the department was and is hiring as fast as it can).
Moreover, the “crime is skyrocketing” world view is already badly outdated. “Crime” has been falling for some time now. Without significantly more officers (huh, who could have guessed?).
“There are not enough police officers in Minneapolis.”
On this, we agree. Then the authors get a bit sidetracked.
“Cause, meet effect: since 2020, hundreds of police officers have left the Minneapolis police force. … A third of the police force has quit, retired, or gone on leave with few replacements.”
Budget cuts did not cause these effects. You’re confusing correlation with causation. It’s more likely these cops have left the force or gone on leave because they’ve learned that MPD has lost the respect of civilians. After going unpunished for years of beating and killing civilians, it seems cops now don’t like being held to a basic standard of human decency.
Now these self-righteous types demanding more money for cops without demanding accountability are contributing to the problem.
Do we need more cops? Yes. More specifically, we need more good cops – and none that look the other way when a ‘bad apple’ steps over the line.
Becasue the whole phrase is “one bad apple spoils the barrel.”
“The court ruled that Mayor Frey had to show how he planned to employ an adequate police force or explain why he cannot.” Well, it is the same reason nobody ever has. When police are confronted with any level of accountability, they flee en masse. Unless they are allowed to commit murder and assault people openly, they seem unwilling to do the job they signed up for.
The Minneapolis Police Department has, over decades, shown they have zero ability to hold its officers accountable. By publically announcing what amounts to a “stop work” by its officers, they are knowingly working to increase crime in the city. They want people to be afraid in hopes that everyone buckles and allows them to continue to be functionally unaccountable while increasing their personal financial prospects. \
Anyone who is interested in reducing crime needs to be focused on how the budget is spent more than how big the budget is. They should be far more interested in the quality of the people being hired than simply by how many bodies are wrapped up in a uniform.
When I think about of the legacy of the MPD, I think about how after Derek Chauvin was murdered George Floyd, the MPD went on a rampage in the community by lying about the cause of death of Mr. Floyd, aimed lethal projectiles at protestors’ heads that caused permanent blindness in several, shot at people sitting on their home’s front porches with no notice, and the multiple drive-by pepper sprayings of protestors on the streets while they were comfortably in their police SUV’s driving past.
This is their legacy of how they serve the public and the same police union (which they operate under) is still in power.
You know these articles seem to be an exercise in bad parenting! Our kid the city, got a bad grade in policing, and for the rest of their natural life, some folks are never going to stop hounding them for that bad grade.
It appears impossible for folks to say OK had some bad stuff happen, lets figure out how to not let it happen again, if that’s possible, but the incidence of criminal behavior goes on 24-7-365, there is no stop and correct, there is no do over, folks can’t seem to understand that we have to fix it on the fly, and move on to a better MPD at the same time. You know chew gum and walk!
Perhaps because the “child” in question refuses to express remorse for the “bad stuff” in question, and indeed demands the right to go right on doing it without consequence. I’m no Christian, I’ll forgive folks when they deserve it, not EVER if they don’t.
Child? There you got it, all police are guilty by association! Blue shirt, got to be guilty. What a great progressive perspective.
They didn’t get a single bad grade. They have decades of history of being violent, murderous, and completely unaccountable. This isn’t about forgiving and moving on because nothing has been done that would change the abhorrent behavior. Supporting more of the same without a clear, agreed on path for correction simply encourages more of the “thin-blue-line” criminal conspiracy. It continues the failed policies that are a fundamental plank of the GOP platform. One that has resulted in areas controlled by the GOP having higher crime rates across the country.
Gee Dan, seems like we have had crime, wars, police abuse etc. since like the beginning of recorded time, you know like Cain killing Able! But some folks seem to think they have got the silver bullet answers, or will get them, so, stop the world, everyone get off, they are going to fix this once and for all, right?
The authors of this piece are advocating for more spending on police, because we don’t have enough cops. Problem is, MPD is trying to hire, but apparently can’t or not very quickly – it’s not a budget issue. In other words, their solution doesn’t actually address the problem.
Kinda like the silver bullet you mention
Perfection is often the enemy of progress, and I am not asking for perfection, just progress. The only group that has suggested anything close to a silver bullet solution are those who think that simply spending more on the current system and adding more officers to a corrupt and unaccountable force is the answer.
Making actual improvements is complex and takes a long time but the first step is acknowledging that more bad policing makes things worse, not better, in the long term. We have by far, FAR, the highest incarceration rate in the world and a high crime rate to go along with it. Implementing the policies advocated for by law enforcement and the GOP has failed consistently over the history of this country.
Police departments everywhere have made it clear that they advocate for only themselves and have no actual interest in protecting and serving the general public. At least any further than the rhetoric. This is what drives their absolute hatred of oversight or accountability of any kind along with their “thin-blue-line” advocacy for the criminals who wear a badge. Police departments in general, and the MPD specifically, have shown themselves to consistently and repeatedly be dishonest in everything they say and do. Why would anybody think they are now suddenly working as good-faith partners? Especially when they are proving my point by suing the city for PTSD only because they are afraid of being held accountable after their documented terrible behavior.
More broadly, why should anyone trust the people and organizations who are all more than happy to cover up assault, murder, and rape committed by a coworkers to represent their communities as law enforcement? Why would anyone think that departments that basically act outside the law will result in a society that respects the law? At what point do you say the whole thing is fundamentally broken, if not after decades of documented repeated failure?
“why should anyone trust the people and organizations who are all more than happy to cover up” This could apply to political parties, organizations, corporations, families, governments, churches, non profits, social groups, etc.etc.etc. could it not?
“Perfection is often the enemy of progress, and I am not asking for perfection, just progress.” We agree on the first part, but not the 2nd part, looks from here there are a lot of folks want perfection before they move on, that was precisely my first point. “criminal behavior goes on 24-7-365, there is no stop and correct, there is no do over, folks can’t seem to understand that we have to fix it on the fly, and move on to a better MPD at the same time.” (Its a Deming thing)
Our police deal with the worst of the worst in our society, seems some folks think they should do it with the demeanor of Mother Theresa no matter the situation and circumstance.
Yes, because their JOB is to uphold justice, NOT administer retribution. We get it, you want some good ol’ biblical eye for an eye crap, because that’s what you think justice is. The rest of the civilized world thinks you’re wrong, and doesn’t wanna kill criminals for sport, desperate to instill the “fear” you think will prevent crime (never minding that it’s only truly fearful to yourselves) Criminals laugh at the notion that anything you plan to dole out is worse than the life they live every day, and the rest of us just stare at you agahast at your casual barbarism.
Matt you have no idea what you are talking about, thanks for the unsupported personal attacks, if I would have said what you did, the Minnpost folks would have monitored me out! Guess they are now allowing personal character attacks!
We know how this works, don’t have a good response, no factual basis, go after the character with unsubstantiated attacks. You guys don’t know me from Adam, and there for can claim zero knowledge of what I want, or don’t want, believe, or don’t believe, so you chose to fill the space with innuendo, flat out BS, grandiose assumptions, and stereotypes.
This X1000.
I completely understand we need to fix it on the fly and that crime is ongoing. Nobody has said otherwise so you can put that strawman away. What I also understand is that to actually fix anything there needs to be an acknowledgment of the problems involved. One is that it is the responsibility of the public to only fund law enforcement when they can provide effective oversight. The police department is supposed to be, if you haven’t figured it out yet, fundamentally different than criminals. They are our responsibility as citizens and must reflect who we are and want to be. Not the current gang of unaccountable violent enforcers who are primarily worried about covering up their own crimes. Something you seem happy to ignore as long as there are more of them.
For things to improve, we must acknowledge that the current police department, its methods of holding officers accountable, the way they train and hire officers, and the system as a whole are fundamentally broken. Police officers and the leadership they select have zero credibility because they have shown nothing but contempt for the law they are supposed to uphold and be completely dishonest partners at every level. From patrol officer to chief to union head. Even something as simple as this article written by those who carry their water was written by people knowing it was a lie. No progress can be made dealing with people who are so fundamentally dishonest.
You also continually ignore the fact that the policies advocated by police departments and the GOP don’t actually reduce crime. You seem to believe that the standard GOP/police-union line that spending more on cops and heavier prosecution and penalties will make a positive impact. It doesn’t, and that has been shown over the entire country over decades of time by simply looking at where those policies are most implemented and where crime is the highest. The current thinking, your thinking, is a fundamental part of why our crime rates are high. Rhetoric that simply hiring more cops is any sort of answer is tiring, obviously false and damaging to everyone.
Well golly, my response equivalent to yours, was monitored out! Do our folks at Minnpost have a bias, it sure as “H” appears so, don’t you think Elizabeth?
Very interesting Editor’s Note at the front of the opinion piece.
May be a true statement, but how many error filled opinion pieces never get MinnPost fact checking?
Seems a little fishy…
Did the Minneapolis Foundation force you to accept this piece of fiction for publication? Did the UMLC promise a hefty donation you desperately need? I’m struggling to come up with another reason why a piece with an editor’s note like that would ever see the light of day in MinnPost.
As the editors note, the article contains a faulty premise that the police department budget has decreased, when it has in fact increased by $3 million since 2020. Voting to decrease the Mayor’s proposed budget increase is not the same as cutting the budget.
The rest of the article is mainly congratulatory self- promotion of the Upper Midwest Law Center for its role in the 2020 Spann lawsuit which is now old news. The police department is adequately funded to comply with the City Charter. While it’s true that the applicant pool is inadequate, the same is true in police departments all over the country according to the Police Executive Research Forum. No lawsuit to demand more funding can change that. It’s now a policy issue, not a legal issue.
The more urgent need than more funding is to reform the police department, including hiring, training and disciplinary actions, to comply with human rights and the upcoming state and likely federal consent decrees.
Suggestion: Rather than post an “Editor’s Note” on garbage like this, you could just not publish blatant falsehoods in the future.
I don’t often criticize Minnpost for what it chooses to publish but this is garbage, and there’s no value in publishing garbage, I’m sure they had other submissions on hand.
The police budget isn’t the only fallacy promulgated here, the whole idea that a nationwide crime wave was inspired by a failed effort to reorganize the MPD budget is simply absurd on the face of it. Clearly the officer shortage was/is not a budget problem, the reasons for that shortage have been analyzed ad nauseum and found to be based in a post Chauvin-Floyd riot collapse in morale that had nothing to do with the failed “defund” campaign. Floyd’s murder and the subsequent riots preceded the collapse of morale, AND the “defund” effort.
The collapse in MPD morale was more or less inevitable given the department’s intransigent culture of hostility towards the community it’s supposed to protect and serve. After decades of attempted “reform” we saw officers with over a dozen previous complaints murder a guy, in broad daylight, on camera, over an alleged counterfeit $20. After a decade of riots all over the country triggered by police killings this was not altogether unpredictable.
And the idea the police department, is the only government agency that “deserves” to be “fully” funded is simply reactionary/republican tripe. Every other agency or department is sooooo over-funded that budget cuts and tax cuts to impose them are the only possible “solutions” but there’s no limit to the money we should dump on a department that attacks the people it’s supposed to protect. No need to fully fund schools, or MNDOT, or the Attorney General’s office, or even the fire department… just the police please. Whatever.
We’ve already had this discussion, there really isn’t a good reason to have had it again. If we want to explore republican falsehoods let’s talk about the claim that government spending “caused” inflation, that’s the “new” grievance after all isn’t it?