The Minnesota Supreme Court denied an appeal that was seeking to overturn the ruling requiring Minneapolis to hire more police officers.
As reported by The Minnesota Sun, some city attorneys asked “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.”
According to the Star Tribune, “Chief Justice Lorie Gildea said the court was denying the city’s request for ‘accelerated review,’ a move that would have allowed the case to take the unusual step of bypassing the Minnesota Court of Appeals.”
A spokesperson for the city of Minneapolis, Casper Hill, said on Tuesday the city is “disappointed” in the decision from the Minnesota Supreme Court and it is “reviewing how best to proceed as we continue to pursue the appeal in the Court of Appeals.”
As reported by The Sun, the initial lawsuit that led to a judge requiring Minneapolis to hire more officers, was based on Minneapolis’ city charter and how it “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.”
The charter acts as the city’s constitution and has requirements about how the police department is run and staffed.
Concerned Minneapolis residents who were behind the lawsuit that provoked the court order wanted to make sure that police staffing shortages were alleviated, after discovering that the city was severely understaffed. As reported by The Sun, the Minneapolis Police Department has been staffed under the minimum requirement for large spans of time, even up to 28 days.
Some in the city are seeking to dramatically reduce the size of the police force or even replace it altogether. As reported by The Sun, some special interest groups have been pushing to add a ballot question for the November elections about removing the police department and replacing it with a Department of Public Safety.
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Hayley Tschetter is a reporter with The Minnesota Sun | Star News Network. Follow Hayley on Twitter or like her Facebook page. Send news tips to [email protected].
