Minneapolis Council Member Says City Council Looking Into ‘Disbanding’ Police, Making Modern ‘Policing a Thing of the Past’

Minneapolis Council Member Steve Fletcher said Tuesday that he and his colleagues are looking into “what it would take to disband” the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and “start fresh.”

In a lengthy statement posted to Twitter, Fletcher said the behavior of Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis President Bob Kroll demonstrates that “the department is irredeemably beyond reform.” Kroll was widely condemned this week after a letter to his fellow officers was leaked to the press. In the letter, Kroll said the officers involved in the death of George Floyd were fired “without due process.”

“What is not being told is the violent criminal history of George Floyd. The media will not air this,” said Kroll, a statement that prompted calls for his resignation.

A disgrace to the badge! This is the battle that myself and others have been fighting against. Bob Kroll turn in your badge! pic.twitter.com/SQmeNIIU3v

— Janeé Harteau (@ChiefHarteau) June 1, 2020

Fletcher called Kroll a “malignant presence in our city” and a “symptom of a much deeper problem in the MPD.”

“After watching MPD officers escalate and provoke anger all week, he asserts that if they’d only been allowed to use more violence, they could have put a stop to demonstrations. This is nonsense. MPD officers chose him as their leader,” said Fletcher.

“After we’ve spent the week expressing mourning and outrage at Derek Chauvin’s violence and his fellow ex-officers’ apathy, Kroll imagines he could sway our feelings by smearing George Floyd’s reputation. This is despicable. MPD officers chose him as their leader,” Fletcher continued.

Fletcher touted the fact that he’s been on the “front edge of the fight to give MPD less money and more accountability” and called for a “permanent, generational change to the mainstream view of policing.”

“I don’t know yet, though several of us on the council are working on finding out, what it would take to disband the MPD and start fresh with a community-oriented, non-violent public safety and outreach capacity. Our city needs a public safety capacity that doesn’t fear our residents. That doesn’t need a gun at a community meeting. That considers itself part of our community. That doesn’t resort quickly to pepper spray when people are understandably angry. That doesn’t murder black men,” Fletcher continued.

I don’t know yet, though several of us on the council are working on finding out, what it would take to disband the MPD and start fresh with a community-oriented, non-violent public safety and outreach capacity.

— Steve Fletcher – Minneapolis Ward 3 (@MplsWard3) June 2, 2020

He concluded by saying the Minneapolis City Council can “totally reimagine what public safety means” and declare “policing as we know it a thing of the past.”

The whole world is watching, and we can declare policing as we know it a thing of the past, and create a compassionate, non-violent future. It will be hard. But so is managing a dysfunctional relationship with an unaccountable armed force in our city.

— Steve Fletcher – Minneapolis Ward 3 (@MplsWard3) June 2, 2020

“We can invest in cultural competency and mental health training, de-escalation and conflict resolution. We can send a city response that makes situations better,” he said. “We can resolve confusion over a $20 grocery transaction without drawing a weapon, or pulling out handcuffs. The whole world is watching, and we can declare policing as we know it a thing of the past, and create a compassionate, non-violent future. It will be hard. But so is managing a dysfunctional relationship with an unaccountable armed force in our city.”

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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun and The Ohio Star. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Steve Fletcher” by Tony Webster. CC BY-SA 2.0.