The tragic death of George Floyd took place in Minneapolis last year. And ever since, Progressive Far-Left politicians in that city and others have waged an assault on their local police departments through defunding and public statements condemning police conduct within their communities. Minnesota was the first city to “defund” their police. Now, they are attempting to abolish it altogether.
Minneapolis Ballot Measure to Eliminate Police Department
On July 23rd, the Minneapolis City Council voted to approve a petition which called for the replacement of the city’s police department with a “Department of Public Safety,” according to Ballotpedia.
The petition was the work of local activist organization, Yes 4 Minneapolis, acquiring 11,906 valid signatures, the site reported.
The ballot measure, if approved, would achieve the following:
- remove language on the city’s police department from the city charter, including provisions requiring minimum funding for the department and giving the mayor control over the police department;
- create a department of public safety; and
- allow the new department to include “licensed peace officers if necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of the department.”
- Under the initiative, the mayor would nominate and the city council would appoint the commissioner of the public safety department.
Bring Me The News reports the full text of the ballot question:
Shall the Minneapolis City Charter be amended to strike and replace the Police Department with a Department of Public Safety that employs a comprehensive public health approach, and which would include licensed peace officers (police officers) if necessary, to fulfill its responsibilities for public safety, with the general nature of the amendments being briefly indicated in the explanatory note below, which is made a part of this ballot?
So, what does this ballot measure tell us?
For one, Far Left politicians and activists are now taking their war on policing to its logical conclusion: the destruction of police forces, starting in major cities, and likely expanding beyond should they prove successful.
Objective: Eliminate Police
But the language of the ballot measure also tips their hand. These politicians know that these decisions will likely be destructive to their cities, so they include a clause which allows the city to keep professional law enforcement officers employed within this new department should it be necessary.
For Minneapolis in particular, if this scheme should be anything like their defund movement, it will likely be a disaster for the city’s citizens.
Yahoo News reported on July 28th that:
Overall violent crime in Minnesota rose 16.6% in 2020, which is more than the 3% increase nationwide, according to preliminary FBI numbers for the U.S.
- Nationally, murders were up 25% in 2020, according to that preliminary data. In Minnesota, they were up 58% overall, per BCA numbers.
Make no mistake, the objective is to eliminate local police from our streets, why else would activist group Yes 4 object to the inclusion of police in the hypothetical Department of Public Safety otherwise?
In an online statement, the group said the following on the potential inclusion of police:
The unnecessary addition of an explanatory note to the ballot question represents an underhanded attempt to override the will of the people.
Of course, 11,000 signatures on a petition hardly represents the will of all the people who will be voting on the measure. Groups like Yes 4 simply want to eliminate police and dictate the terms of public safety to the rest of us.
This measure is dangerous to the people of Minneapolis, but the implications of its success would be far more catastrophic at the national level.
This measure is hoping to set a precedent to eliminate police in all major cities and to bring about the Progressive Utopia of public safety being dictated by bureaucrats, politicians, and their lackeys.
For those concerned with Law Enforcement in the United States, this ballot measure is one which must be defeated in Minneapolis at all costs.
One of the foundational pillars of attempt to “reimagine policing” is legislative action being designed by progressive politicians and groups to bend law enforcement to the will of their political agendas. The most sweeping piece of legislation offered by the government thus far is The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, introduced by Democrats in the House of Representatives last year.
