MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis City Council on Friday unanimously advanced a proposal to change the city charter to allow the police department to be dismantled, following widespread criticism of law enforcement over the killing of George Floyd.
The proposed amendment, which would replace the police department with a new “Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention” that has yet to be fully defined, next goes to a policy committee and to the city’s Charter Commission for a formal review, at which point citizens and city officials can weigh in.
Jeremiah Ellison, a member of the council, said after the vote that the charter is one of three major barriers to “transformative public safety,” along with the city’s police union and the Minnesota Legislature.
The charter — which requires the city to have a police department of a certain size — is the one thing the city council has a say over, he said.
The coalition wants the department under community control via a new elected civilian council with the power to hire, fire and prosecute officers.
