Community, city and police at odds over policing; response times in North Minneapolis
Residents sue city and department over lack of protection
By Harry Colbert, Jr., Editor-in-Chief
Is it a crime problem or a crime enforcement problem … or both?
Marchers chanted “Guns down, love up” as they walked up North Girard Avenue in a march to end gun violence. Photo by David Pierini
Crime in the city is up substantially since last year and in particular, in North Minneapolis. But the spike is most noticed since the May 25 police killing of George Floyd and the ensuing unrest. Since the killing, which highlighted negative interactions between community and police – in particular members of the Black community – there have been calls from those within community and within government for police reform and accountability. But while reform is agreed upon, what reform means is muddy at best.
It is that muddiness that has led to one group filing suit against the city and the Minneapolis Police Department, saying the entities are leaving residents vulnerable. The suit alleges the city is violating its charter by not having the requisite amount of active police on the force. That number is 753. The number staffed in Minneapolis is unknown, as revealed during an initial hearing of the case.
Regardless of the number of officers, many residents say they feel hostage to the violence … and to police apathy.
“We understand the need for police to be transformed from the bottom up and we also need enough police (patrolling the streets) at the height of this violence,” said Sondra Samuels, president and CEO of the Northside Achievement Zone and one of the eight residents who filed suit against the city and police.
Samuels said it is a regular occurrence to hear gunfire in her neighborhood and it is also a regular occurrence to be on hold seven or more minutes with 911 waiting for help.
“The police are short staffed,” said Samuels, who said the reasons stem from the backlash following the killing of Floyd. “Morale is low. The city is offering early retirement and hundreds of officers are filing for it.”
The low morale is being attributed by Samuels to the Minneapolis City Council’s unanimous vote to defund the department in wake of the Floyd killing and unrest. Though the vote to defund made headlines nationwide, it was ultimately symbolic because to do so the city’s charter would have to be amended and the Charter Commission voted this past summer not to bring forth the proposed change to voters.
Samuels said officers are not carrying out their duties as a result of the City Council vote and residents are being made to suffer.
“There’s this battle going on with police and city officials and the guy on the street is saying, ‘I got beef with this guy right here and I know the police aren’t going to do anything’ so they are out committing crime,” Samuels theorized. “It’s so bad that people don’t even think about stopping at a stop sign. This is third world type stuff.”
City Councilman Jeremiah Ellison (Ward 5) agrees that officers are not carrying out their duties, but he said it is not his fault nor that of the other councilmembers who voted to defund.
“If police are requiring you to kiss their (rear ends) for them to provide services; well that’s a scary world,” said Ellison. “We should expect police to do the jobs they were hired to do, period.”
Ellison said the problem is police are being asked to do too much and need more well-defined roles.
“Right now we have given way too much assignment to police,” said Ellison. “We’re asking them to deal with mental health crises, minor traffic stops … we’re asking them to do everything and to do it without proper training. You look at Travis Jordan who had a knife (he was killed by Minneapolis Police in 2018), his family called for help for a mental episode. Who does that serve? What public safety was served there? The current model of policing subjects both first responders and the community to trauma.”
A look at the numbers
Homicides and violent crime are up throughout the city and in North Minneapolis particularly. The rise is especially evident when looking at May 26 (the day following Floyd’s killing and the start of the uprising) through October as compared to this year and last year.
According to the City of Minneapolis online dashboard, in the Fourth Precinct – the precinct that encompasses North Minneapolis – for the same time period from 2019 to 2020 homicides are up from 12 to 22. Auto thefts are up from 212 to 307. Overall violent crime in the Fourth rose from 746 from May 26 to Oct. 14 of 2019 to 909 in 2020.
While crime is up, traffic stops are down dramatically, which can be seen as a double-edged sword. From May 29 – Oct. 9 of 2019 Minneapolis police made 3,577 stops where a citation was issued. Of the stops 53.2 percent were of Black motorists and just 10 percent were white. From May 28 to Oct. 8 of this year the total number of stops with a citation dropped to 1,802. Of that, 31 percent were Black and 6.5 percent white. 52.8 percent were categorized as ethnicity unknown.
Critics of the stops point to the numbers that highlight the hyper-policing of Black motorists while others believe crime is being overlooked by police.
While the exact numbers of police patrolling the streets is unclear, the loss of officers is not expected to be replenished. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo’s 2021 budget seeks to leave the vacated positions unfilled.
“In response to significant and unpredictable attrition and budget decrease due to revenue shortfall, MPD (Minneapolis Police Department) is decommissioning some non-mandated units in order to move sworn staff to priority functions,” wrote the chief in his proposed budget. “This will result in a loss of function/service in some areas in order to maintain core public safety services vital to the Community. Maintaining target staffing levels will be challenging due to significant and unpredictable attrition.”
“I want it to be clear, I trust Chief Arradondo. What I’m saying is we’re all looking for a different system, but we just don’t see it without police,” said Samuels.