‘Residents say police are nowhere to be seen’: ‘Alarmed’ Minneapolis City Council demands answers from its police chief over 15 percent rise in violent crime – two months after slashing his budget by $1m
- Councillors expressed alarm during a Council business meeting on Tuesday
- At the meeting, they questioned Minneapolis’ police Chief Medaria Arradondo
- Data shows an increase of almost 15 per cent in violent crime in 2020 from 2019
- Homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, auto theft and arson are all up
- This comes after the council voted to redirect $1 million from the MPD’s budget
- GOP congressional candidate Lacy Johnson slammed council as ‘hypocrites’
- Council voted two months ago to amend city charter to dismantle the police
By Chris Jewers For Mailonline and Ariel Zilber For Dailymail.com
Just two months after voting to dismantle the police and slashing its budget, Minneapolis City Council members pressed the department’s chief over a surge in crime, prompting a GOP candidate to slam the lawmakers as hypocrites.
‘Residents are asking, “Where are the police?”‘ Council Member Jamal Osman said on Tuesday, adding that calls to the Minneapolis Police Department from constituents have gone unanswered.
‘That is the only public safety option they have at the moment. MPD. They rely on MPD. And they are saying they are nowhere to be seen.’
Osman and other council members questioned police Chief Medaria Arradondo on Tuesday about the increase in crime, including daylight car jackings, robberies, assaults, shootings and street racing.
But others noted that the council just recently slashed the police budget by $1.1million and also voted to amend the city charter that would allow for the dismantling of the entire police department.
Pictured: Minneapolis City Council’s president Lisa Bender, pictured left centre along with vice president Andrea Jenkins (far left) and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey (far right). The council was alarmed on Tuesday at the spike in crime cases after it moved to reallocate $1.1 million of the Minneapolis Police Department’s budget two months ago
