Voters Reject Attempt To ‘Defund the Police’ in Minneapolis

Minneapolis voters rejected an attempt to replace the city’s police department with a public safety department.

According to the election results, 57% voted against the measure while 43% voted in support of it. Fox 9 KMSP reported “the proposed charter amendment would have eliminated the minimum police staffing requirement as well as the position of police chief.”

Yes 4 Minneapolis issued a statement responding to the vote. The organization is “a Black-led, multiracial campaign working with community to implement a Department of Public Safety in Minneapolis,” according to its Twitter account.

“This campaign began with working-class Black and brown residents marching together to demand a higher standard of public safety. It grew into a city-wide movement that spanned race and neighborhoods, to give us a say in our future and to advocate for the resources that they need,” the group said in the statement.

It continues, “While this is not the result that we hoped for, the story of our movement must be told.”

The group details its work organizing and collecting “over 22,000 signatures to democratically and constitutionally put public safety on the November ballot.”

Yes 4 Minneapolis also vowed to “hold the system accountable” and “heal our city and create safer streets for all our communities.”

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) voted to support the measure.

Other lawmakers have voiced their opposition to the effort, including Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

A spokesperson for the senator said over the summer Klobuchar opposes the measure, explaining she has previously pushed for police reform legislation but “has also repeatedly stated her opposition to defunding the police.”

Fox 9 KMSP noted the charter amendment was drafted following calls to “defund the police” after the murder of George Floyd. Floyd was killed in 2020 when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.