Minneapolis police, city officials clash over need for funding for outside forces

Minneapolis officials and the police commissioner are at odds over funding that would allow the city to enlist help from officers in other jurisdictions, while the department grapples with short-staffing, according to a recent report.

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo and members of the City Council's Policy & Government Oversight Committee sparred on Tuesday over a proposal that would bring in law enforcement from the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and Metro Transit Police.

The department is fighting an uptick in crime with a high number of officers on leave, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. 

"Resources are hemorrhaging. Our city is bleeding at this moment. I'm trying to do all I can to stop that bleeding," Arradondo reportedly said, asking council members for additional funds.

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More than 70 people have been murdered so far this year, police statistics show. According to the Tribune, about 500 have been shot since the start of 2020, and the number of shootings and murders has reached the highest it's been in 15 years, if not more. 

The committee ultimately approved the additional costs by a 7-6 vote, according to the report. But the proposal must now advance to a city council vote Friday.

Arradondo is seeking $500,000, in addition to the city’s $185 million budget, 90% of which is currently used to pay officers' salaries, according to the report.

He said in mid-October that the department was down an estimated 130 officers compared with the same time last year, and he expected more departures by year’s end. A lawyer helping officers file for disability leave said at the time he’d helped process about 175 claims since Floyd’s death, according to the Associated Press.

But council member Steve Fletcher fired back that MPD had not adequately addressed the violent crime surge or carjackings, even though the department slashed other policing measures to allocate resources to those more pressing concerns.

"We can go back and forth on the $185 million, but that is not stopping the bloodshed that is occurring every day in our city,” Arradondo reportedly said. "If you choose to say no to these victims of crime, then please stand by that.”

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Council member Jeremiah Ellison responded by saying it sounded like Arradondo was merely telling the city, “Shut up and pay us,” the outlet reported.

“What I'm hearing is that we don't have to put together a strategy,” Ellison said. “We don't have to put together a plan. We don't need to provide any budget transparency.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey later defended the police chief, according to the report, telling the council if it could not respect city leaders, “I don't think we should continue to haul them in to be belittled.”

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Minneapolis Police Department has been under a microscope in the wake of the May 25 police-involved death of George Floyd.

Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed, died after former officer Derek Chauvin, who is White, allegedly pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for several minutes. His death sparked a renewed sense of outrage over the deaths of Black people at the hands of police. Chauvin and three others were charged in Floyd’s death and are expected to stand trial in state court in March.

Floyd’s death prompted calls for overhauling or defunding police departments nationwide. In Minneapolis, a majority of city council members pledged to dismantle the department, though a city commission ultimately blocked the effort to put the issue before voters this November.

Arradondo and Frey, a Democrat who opposed abolishing the department, have continued to make incremental changes to the agency’s culture, including banning chokeholds and updating the use of force policy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.