The police chiefs for both the Minneapolis Police Department and St. Paul Police Department have asked for an increase in officers, but so far their requests have been mostly ignored.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter both delivered their annual budget addresses on August 15 to announce their proposed 2020 budgets. As The Minnesota Sun reported, Frey requested the funds for 14 additional law enforcement officers, despite Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo’s request for 400 new officers by 2025.
At a rate of 14 new officers per year, as Frey recommended for 2020, the Minneapolis Police Department would add 84 new officers by 2025, which is 316 officers shy of Arradondo’s request.
Frey is facing significant public pressure to not add any new officers and his budget address was repeatedly disrupted by anti-police protesters.
Carter, on the other hand, proposed cutting five officer positions in the St. Paul Police Department in his 2020 budget.
St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell testified before the St. Paul City Council Wednesday night and asked for more officers in his department. He said the department is struggling with its response times, noting that officers fail to meet department standards for response times about 45 times a day, MPR News reports.
Axtell said the most serious 911 calls are labeled “Priority-2,” and require a response time of 30 seconds. The department, however, fails to meet the 30-second standard “14 times a day,” Axtell revealed.
According to MPR News, just three of the seven St. Paul City Council members support adding more officers to the department.
Currently, the St. Paul Police Department has 635 officers who serve a population of more than 300,000, while the Minneapolis Police Department has 888 officers who serve a population of more than 400,000.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Chief Medaria Arradondo” by Minneapolis Police Department.
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