Minneapolis City Council alarmed by a surge in violent crime two months after cutting police budget

Just two months after voting to dismantle the police and slashing its budget, Minneapolis City Council members pressed the department’s chief over a surge in crime, prompting a GOP candidate to slam the lawmakers as hypocrites.

‘Residents are asking, “Where are the police?”‘ Council Member Jamal Osman said on Tuesday, adding that calls to the Minneapolis Police Department from constituents have gone unanswered.

‘That is the only public safety option they have at the moment. MPD. They rely on MPD. And they are saying they are nowhere to be seen.’ 

Osman and other council members questioned police Chief Medaria Arradondo on Tuesday about the increase in crime, including daylight car jackings, robberies, assaults, shootings and street racing. 

But others noted that the council just recently slashed the police budget by $1.1million and also voted to amend the city charter that would allow for the dismantling of the entire police department. 

‘The hypocrisy and failure that we’re seeing from this City Council is astounding and deeply troubling,’ Lacy Johnson, a GOP candidate who is running against Democratic incumbent House Rep. Ilhan Omar, told Fox News on Thursday.

Johnson said the council had been calling for the ‘dismantling or demilitarizing or the disarming of police’ all summer.

‘Now they’re turning around and blaming these brave officers for a situation that they have created,’ Johnson said.  

President of the Council Lisa Bender accused the police of knowingly not enforcing the law or making arrests.

‘This is not new,’ Bender said. ‘But it is very concerning in the current context.’

Arradondo said it was ‘troubling to hear’ Bender’s comments, and promised to raise the issue with departmental supervisors.

‘We need to make sure that our communities know that we are going to be there, that we’re going to be responsive,’ he said. 

‘We’ve taken an oath to do that.’ 

Crime data from the Minneapolis Police Department shows homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, auto theft, theft from motor vehicles and arson were all up in the city so far in 2020, when compared with 2019 up until September 15.

Violent crime, including domestic aggravated assault, was up almost 15 per cent in the first nine months of the year, while property crime was up almost eight per cent in the same time period.

Of all the crimes that have increased, homicide saw the largest spike of 87 per cent, rising from 30 in 2019 to 56 in 2020, while incidents of arson have increased by 82 per cent over the total at this point in 2019.

Robbery rose from 931 to 1,275 (37 percent) while incidents of aggravated assault increased from 1,750 in 2019 to 2,100 this year (20 percent). Meanwhile, rape fell by 22 percent, and domestic aggravated assault fell by 8.4 percent.

In terms of property crimes, burglary rose from 2,223 to 2,785 (25 percent), thefts from motor vehicles rose from 3,127 to 3,937 (26 percent), and auto theft rose from 1,982 to 2,766 (40 percent), while larceny fell by almost 10 percent.  

Johnson said the uptick in crime can be attributed to the political leadership of the city which voted to amend the city charter so that it would allow the police department to be dismantled after the May 25 death of George Floyd. 

‘All of those things have gone up and it is something that should have been expected, but it just shows you how out of touch our City Council is and our liberal government leadership here in Minnesota is,’ Johnson said. 

Arradondo said that about 100 officers have left the MPD or have taken leave of absence since the start of 2020 – more than double the number of officers who typically step down from the department or are inactive, according to Minnesota Public Radio.

On social media, the city council was ridiculed by those who say its anti-police policies have come back to haunt them.

‘Turns out seeking to abolish police has consequences,’ tweeted Byron York.

Zaid Jilani tweeted: ‘Three months ago the Minneapolis city council wanted to abolish the police department and start over, now they’re complaining that the police aren’t arresting enough people.’

Andrew Pollack, who lost his daughter in the 2018 Parkland school shooting, tweeted: ‘Folks, this is why you don’t elect Democrats.’ 

Another Twitter user wrote: ‘Nutty Democrats who defunded the Police are now complaining about spike in Crime. Please #VoteTrump2020!’

The Police Benevolent Association, a union representing New York City police officers, sarcastically tweeted: ‘Who would have guessed?’

Joe Soucheray tweeted: ‘Four months ago the Minneapolis city council wanted to dismantle the police department. 

‘Today? They are hectoring the police for the increase in crime. 

‘They are just not grounded in reality.’

Another Twitter user commented: ‘So they really didn’t see this coming huh?’ 

As part of its several steps towards dismantling the MPD, Minneapolis City Council approved an amendment to remove $1.1 million from the department’s budget and reallocate it toward the health department in order to hire ‘violence interrupters’.

This came as part of the council’s pledge earlier in the summer to dismantle the department and replace it with a community-based system of public safety.

Johnson ridiculed the idea of replacing cops with ‘violence interrupters.’

‘Violence interrupters are not interrupting violence. What we need are trained career police officers. Anyone who suggested violent interrupters or suggested we demilitarize police or defund the police do not understand what it is like out here in our community in these streets,’ Johnson said. 

Council member Phillipe Cunningham was critical of his fellow members during the meeting, and accused them of contradicting their previous statements when they called for the department to be dismantled. 

‘What I am sort of flabbergasted by right now is colleagues, who a very short time ago were calling for abolition, are now suggesting we should be putting more resources and funding into MPD,’ Cunningham said. 

Cunningham spoke in favor in July of treating violence as a public health problem, focusing resources at non-law-enforcement-based methods.

The council moved to defund the police department following the death of George Floyd on May 25, a 46-year-old black man, who died in Minneapolis after a white police officer – Derek Chauvin – knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes. 

Floyd’s death was captured in a video shared widely online sparking outrage across the U.S. and galvanizing the Black Lives Matter movement which saw protests in a number of cities – including Minneapolis – some of which turned violent.

The now-infamous incident also led to calls to defund police departments, and redirect funds to more community-focused programs. 

Officer Derek Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder, while the three other officers who were present at Floyd’s arrest and death have been charged with aiding and abetting.