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Dear Neighbors,
At the last Council Meeting, one of my colleagues proposed an amendment to the Minneapolis City Charter that would require the Chief of Police to report to both the City Council and the mayor, rather than directly report to the mayor as it is currently written. This change has been proposed under the idea that the Council has either zero or very limited oversight or control of MPD. I find serious flaws in that argument. In my five years on City Council I have led several changes in policing and public safety and have used my platform to lobby for changes at the state level. I agree that we need to increase transparency and accountability and that is why I have been so active on this issue. However, I do not see how diluting the reporting structure of the police chief among fourteen different bosses improves either of these goals.
Following my statement last week, the full City Council met on Friday July 20th where the next steps were discussed. I say next steps, because as much as I tried to push the conversation I was not able to extract from any Council Member in support of the amendment any detail as to what the specifics of the proposed change would entail. This is deeply concerning to me. I am not opposed to discussing changes to police oversight. In fact I encourage them and have done so through my position as a Council Member. I am, however, opposed to making steps towards something that is very serious and final, like altering our cities constitution, without a firm understanding of what is it we want for an outcome. When public trust in government is at an all time low, how can we move forward with such a drastic change without a full and detailed proposal? There is no plan. There are no specifics. This charter change would simply turn police accountability into a system based on who has 7 votes on any given day. Or even worse, in the hands of whoever the swing vote is.
Next Wednesday, August 1st there is a joint meeting of the Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) Committee and the Public Safety and Emergency Management (PSEM) Committee. As a part of that joint committee meeting, there will be a public hearing to receive input from concerned parties starting at 2:30pm in the Minneapolis City Council Chambers (City Hall 3rd Floor- 350 South 5th Street).
The committees will both vote on recommended action.
Should the proposed amendment move forward, it’s next stop is the Minneapolis Charter Commission. The Charter Commission has three options to take
official action to either:
- Approve
proposal and submit that recommendation to Council;
- Reject
proposal and submit that recommendation to Council; or
- Approve a
substitute proposal and submit that recommendation to Council.
I urge you, if you are able to attend to voice your opinion on this unnecessary distraction from the real work we can be doing as a Council to enable Chief Arradondo to lead.
Together, I know we can move forward with real solutions in police reform with the level of transparency that the people of Minneapolis expect and deserve in not only this matter, but all important issues facing our great city.
Yours in Service,
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