Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • SCOTUS
  • Life
  • Religious Liberty
  • News
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Opinion

Minneapolis City Council Complains to Police Chief About Crime Spike After Vowing to Defund Police

AP Photo/John Minchillo
AP Photo/John Minchillo
Share Tweet
By CBN News
Contributor

September 17, 2020

In probably one of the most ironic moments of this year, members of the Minneapolis City Council asked the city’s police chief how his department was responding to the city’s rise in violent crime just months after the council led an effort to defund the police department.

MPR News reports even though the two-hour session was to study police reform, council members told police Chief Medaria Arradondo that their constituents were reporting street racing, brazen daylight carjackings, robberies, assaults, and shootings. Then they asked Arradondo what the department is doing about it. 

“Residents are asking, ‘Where are the police?'” said Jamal Osman, newly elected council member of Ward 6.  He said he’s already been inundated with complaints from residents that calls for police aren’t being answered.

“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 said.

The number of reported violent crimes, like assaults, robberies, and homicides is up compared to 2019, according to MPD crime data. More people have been killed in the city in the first nine months of 2020 than were slain in all of last year. Property crimes, like burglaries and auto thefts, are also up. Incidents of arson have increased 55 percent over the total at this point in 2019, according to MPR News.

Arradondo told the council the department is stepping up to the task, adding more officers to patrol problem areas, and investigating crimes. 

Council President Lisa Bender told the chief that her constituents said police officers are not arresting criminals. 

“We need to make sure that our communities know that we are going to be there,” Arradondo said. “That we’re going to be responsive. We’ve taken an oath to do that.”

The chief also said around 100 officers have left the department or taken leave since the beginning of the year – more than double the usual number.

And Councilmember Phillipe Cunningham said, “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.”

As CBN News reported in June, following the police killing of George Floyd in May, nine members of the city council vowed to disband the police department. They later voted to remove the police department from the city charter, but that action is on hold now that the Minneapolis Charter Commission voted last month to take more time to review the plan.

The council proposed replacing the police department with a Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention which would provide a “holistic, public health-oriented approach,” and a Division of Law Enforcement Services, according to the National Review. 

Latest

  • News

    ‘Just Pray’: Melissa Joan Hart Describes Helping Kindergarteners Escape Nashville School Shooting

  • Faith

    ‘Saved Countless Lives’: Nashville School Leader Reportedly ‘Ran Toward the Danger’ and Heroically ‘Gave Her Life in Defense of the Children’

  • News

    ‘God Never Changes’: Ray Comfort on What It Really Means to ‘Fear God’

  • News

    Former Teammate of Covenant School Shooter Reportedly Received Cryptic Messages Minutes Before Rampage: ‘I Tried to Comfort and Encourage’

  • News

    ‘In the Arms of Christ’: Pastor’s Daughter Among Children Killed During Christian School Shooting


Sponsored
Sponsored

Newsletter
Signup

Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • ‘Just Pray’: Melissa Joan Hart Describes Helping Kindergarteners Escape Nashville School Shooting
  • ‘Saved Countless Lives’: Nashville School Leader Reportedly ‘Ran Toward the Danger’ and Heroically ‘Gave Her Life in Defense of the Children’
  • ‘God Never Changes’: Ray Comfort on What It Really Means to ‘Fear God’
  • Former Teammate of Covenant School Shooter Reportedly Received Cryptic Messages Minutes Before Rampage: ‘I Tried to Comfort and Encourage’
  • ‘In the Arms of Christ’: Pastor’s Daughter Among Children Killed During Christian School Shooting

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016

Categories

  • Christian Persecution
  • Coronavirus
  • culture
  • Culture
  • Entertainment
  • Faith
  • Faith
  • Family
  • George Floyd
  • Go!
  • Israel
  • Life
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • Media
  • Men
  • Mission Haiti
  • News
  • News
  • Opinion
  • P.O.V
  • Politics
  • Politics
  • Roe
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Virtue
  • Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?