Today the Minneapolis City Council, led by Council President Lisa Bender, approved by a 12-0 vote a proposal to amend the city charter to remove the language requiring a police department and replace it with a Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention. What that would look like exactly and how the transition would take place has not been worked out, but the council wants voter approval this year anyway. There will be little opportunity for debate and community input since the deadline for final language is August 21st for November's ballot. This is a classic "Ready, Fire, Aim" setup by the council and even Feckless Mayor Frey realizes how reckless it is. I suspect this serious exercise in dumbfuckery has a good chance of getting on the ballot and being passed this year, but there's also a chance that even a minimal conversation will lead the people of Minneapolis to question the dubious assumptions and outright fantasies at work here.
The details, such as they are, are these...
The Minneapolis Police Department will be replaced by the Minneapolis Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention. The mayor will nominate and the council appoint a director of that department who meets the following requirements:
"Individuals eligible to be appointed as director will have non-law enforcement experience in community safety services, including but not limited to public health and/or restorative justice approaches."
I'm pretty sure that title will be changed from "Director" to "New Age Priestess" by the time this is over.
The department would be required to prioritize "a holistic, public health-oriented approach."
The city council would also then be authorized, but not required, to maintain a Division of Law Enforcement Services within that department. The division would be composed of "licensed peace officers," aka "cops," who would report to a director who would report to the New Age Priestess Director of Community Safety and Violence Prevention. A number of local "community leaders" object to even the possibility of armed police officers in Minneapolis, but trust me, the Kenwood and Lake of the Isles crowd will not allow a total ban on cops.
So what's the problem?
To start, I think the council seriously underestimates the number of flat-out sociopaths that reside in Minneapolis and the extent of the subculture that creates and nourishes them. They also overestimate the ability of the rest of the community to reach and reason with said sociopaths.
I think the council overestimates the number of current police calls that can be redirected to unarmed first responders. They also overestimate the number of unarmed first responders who will be willing to arrive before the PD declares the area code 4. They underestimate the calming effect an armed officer can have with a sociopath who may be ruthless, but still doesn't want to spend the night in the clink.
I think the council overestimates the willingness of licensed peace officers, men and women who have invested 2 or 4 years of post-secondary education and attended a police academy, to be led by someone required to have no law enforcement experience. On top of that, licensed officers will be reserved for only the nastiest and most violent calls by design. The rest will go to the legions of social workers and councilors. Back in the day I knew a couple of thumpers on MPD who liked to fight, but even they cherished the good calls where they could help people and be the good guys. What kind of cops are you going to employ if they are only there to respond to the worst the city has to offer? What kind of person would apply for and enjoy that kind of job?
The real problem with policing in America is the sheer number of assholes who desperately need to be policed. The goddamned sociopaths we keep creating year after year because we don't have the courage to confront the self-destructive subcultures that exist in America. The ones that create these sociopaths. It's not about race or racism, it's about fuckups and assholes. Having to deal with them corrodes not just our police forces, but our society as a whole. Talking about reforming or defunding police is just a scam to avoid dealing with why the many assholes who need to policed exist in the first place.
Period.
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