As Minneapolis prepares to “abolish” its police force, a recent survey found that most truck drivers won’t deliver to cities with defunded or disbanded police departments.
According to a survey from CDLLife, a resource site for the trucking industry, 79 percent of truck drivers said they will refuse to deliver freight to cities with defunded police departments.
The organization took an informal poll of drivers who use its “CDLLife App” and presented them with the question: “Would you pick up/deliver to cities with defunded police departments? Why or why not?”
As of June 13, the organization had received 1,283 responses and 79 percent of participants said they would refuse to deliver loads to cities with disbanded or defunded police departments.
“I will not deliver to an area with a disbanded police department. My life matters and I do this for my family. We are already at the mercy of these towns and cities with laws and hate against us for parking, getting a meal or even using a restroom,” said one truck driver who participated in the poll.
Another said he has already informed his dispatcher that he “will refuse all loads to cities that have defunded police departments.”
A report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics ranked driving a truck the deadliest job in America in 2018.
“Driver/sales workers and truck drivers had the most fatalities of any broad occupation group at 966. Among all detailed occupations, heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers had the most fatalities at 831,” said the report.
The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a resolution Friday declaring its intent to create a “transformative new model for cultivating safety in Minneapolis.”
“The murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, by Minneapolis police officers, is a tragedy that shows that no amount of reforms will prevent lethal violence and abuse by some members of the Police Department against members of our community, especially Black people and people of color,” states the resolution.
The council established a “Future of Community Safety Work Group” to create a preliminary set of recommendations for replacing the police department.
“American democracy is an experiment, each generation has an opportunity to move this experiment forward, toward living out the true meaning of its creed,” City Council Vice President Andrea Jenkins said in a press release. “This resolution represents our moment to contribute to the progression of equality and freedom of every resident of the City of Minneapolis.”
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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].
