Some Minneapolis city officials are seeking to overturn a ruling made by a judge requiring the city to hire more police officers. In a recent court case, Judge Jamie Anderson ruled that the city of Minneapolis had until the end of June 2022 to have at least 730 police officers on staff. That number is based on population levels and the ratio of residents to officers required in the city’s charter agreement with the Minneapolis Police Department.
As reported by The Minnesota Sun, “Minneapolis’s city charter mandates the city fund a police force of at least 0.0017 employees per resident, according to the lawsuit. The city, which is projected to only have a police force of 649 officers by the beginning of 2022, failed to fulfill its duties under its charter, according to the order.”
According to the Star Tribune, “Attorneys for the city argued that elected leaders fulfilled their obligations when they included funding for 770 officers in the budget and that the minimum number required is about 650, based on the 2010 census results.”
The ruling from Anderson was based on a model calculated from 2019 population data, which would have the minimum requirement of officers at about roughly 743. The city is currently projected to have about 649 officers at the beginning of 2022.
The city attorneys are now asking the state Supreme Court to step in and offer an “accelerated review” of the case ruling that ordered the city to hire more police officers. The attorneys are planning to challenge the order requiring Minneapolis to hire at least 730 police officers by next summer, saying it is “necessary to clarify the meaning of the provision” before elections are held in November.
Some activists are seeking to replace the police force in Minneapolis, or at least make major changes to the system. Yes 4 Minneapolis, an organization funded in part by George Soros, is seeking to eliminate the police department and replace it with a department of public safety.
Other avenues of change that Yes 4 Minneapolis is pursuing include removing minimum officers’ requirements within the city’s charter and control of the department going from the mayor’s office to the city council.
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Hayley Tschetter is a reporter with The Minnesota Sun | Star News Network and The College Fix. She graduated with a degree in Communications from the University of Northwestern-St. Paul. Send news tips to [email protected].
Photo “Minneapolis Police Officer” by Tony Webster. CC BY-SA 2.0.
