“Minneapolis Votes To Disband Police Department.” I’m not sure exactly what that means, but apparently the plan is for more community-based policing. I’m skeptical. But this should be interesting to watch.
The New York Times reports, “Council members said in interviews on Sunday that they did not have specific plans to announce for what a new public safety system for the city would look like. They promised to develop plans by working with the community, and said they would draw on past studies, consent decrees and reforms to policing across the nation and the world.”
Update: Minneapolis councilor Phillipe Cunningham clarifies (June 8), “We did not vote to disband the police yesterday. A super majority of the City Council formally announced support for beginning the process of doing so to build new systems of public safety. That distinction matters because a plan has to be put into place first. Creating the plan to build new systems of public safety is THE critical component of getting this right. We have to work alongside our amazing Police Chief Rondo and our community to build these new systems and plan to transition to them. For me, ‘disband the police’ means ‘end policing as it current exists and build new alternative systems to public safety.’ That isn’t easy and is going to take time, but we can do it together.”
Tags: criminal justice, george floyd