Minneapolis City Ward Three Councilor Steve Fletcher made the revelation in a series of tweets on Tuesday.
Minneapolis, MN – Members of the Minneapolis City Council are looking into how to go about disbanding Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), according to one of the city’s council members.
Fletcher said that it has become clear that “people in the streets” have proven that a “permanent, generational change to the mainstream view of policing” is imminent.
During an interview on Wednesday, Fletcher said that the MPD is “ungovernable” and that MPD Chief Medaria Arradondo has failed to “make the culture change happen that we were hoping for an investing in,” KSTU reported.
He tweeted that he and “several” of his fellow city council members “are working on finding out what it would take to disband the MPD.”
Fletcher said they would like to replace the city’s police force by starting “fresh with a community-oriented, non-violent public safety and outreach” model.
“Our city needs a public safety capacity that doesn’t fear our residents. That doesn’t need a gun at a community meeting. That considers itself part of our community. That doesn’t resort quickly to pepper spray when people are understandably angry. That doesn’t murder black men,” Fletcher wrote.
Fletcher said that the city must “totally reimagine what public safety means,” right down to what skills they are recruiting for.
“We can invest in cultural competency and mental health training, de-escalation and conflict resolution,” he suggested. “The whole world is watching, and we can declare policing as we know it a thing of the past, and create a compassionate, non-violent future.”
“It will be hard. But so is managing a dysfunctional relationship with an unaccountable armed force in our city,” he lamented.
Minneapolis, MN – Members of the Minneapolis City Council are looking into how to go about disbanding Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), according to one of the city’s council members.
Fletcher said that it has become clear that “people in the streets” have proven that a “permanent, generational change to the mainstream view of policing” is imminent.
During an interview on Wednesday, Fletcher said that the MPD is “ungovernable” and that MPD Chief Medaria Arradondo has failed to “make the culture change happen that we were hoping for an investing in,” KSTU reported.
He tweeted that he and “several” of his fellow city council members “are working on finding out what it would take to disband the MPD.”
Fletcher said they would like to replace the city’s police force by starting “fresh with a community-oriented, non-violent public safety and outreach” model.
“Our city needs a public safety capacity that doesn’t fear our residents. That doesn’t need a gun at a community meeting. That considers itself part of our community. That doesn’t resort quickly to pepper spray when people are understandably angry. That doesn’t murder black men,” Fletcher wrote.
Fletcher said that the city must “totally reimagine what public safety means,” right down to what skills they are recruiting for.
“We can invest in cultural competency and mental health training, de-escalation and conflict resolution,” he suggested. “The whole world is watching, and we can declare policing as we know it a thing of the past, and create a compassionate, non-violent future.”
“It will be hard. But so is managing a dysfunctional relationship with an unaccountable armed force in our city,” he lamented.