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US police reform: The issue of two Minnesota cities | Black Life Essential Issues

Minneapolis, Minnesota, US – Last month, as the world looks at the case of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, a former judged to kill George Floyd, A Black Man, a few miles from the courthouse, at Brooklyn Center, Minnesota police officer Kim Potter shot and killed Commitment Wright, And Black Man.

Potter, who allegedly misjudged his gun with Taser in his 26 years on the job, is facing a second degree murder charge.

What happens after Wright’s death, Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott took office.

He embarked on a long career of communicating with members of the community through hearings that brought about the establishment of ideas that would improve the city’s approach to policing. Elliott, an American Liberian who immigrated to the United States at the age of 11, filed the ruling on May 8, less than a month after Wright was shot dead. The following Saturday he was welcomed by the city council with a 4-1 vote.

Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott addresses reporters at the Daunte Wright press conference in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, April 20, 2021 [Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters]

The rapid transformation of the Minneapolis police force is in stark contrast to that of a few miles to the south, where Minneapolis has been working with the public to provide support to the police department and its budget which has helped to create Mayor Jacob Frey Police Notices. ” all-and-all “.

Less than two weeks after George Floyd’s assassination, many in Minneapolis City Council called for the city’s police to be repatriated. The council has changed its mind from funding the police to changing the management of the branch from the mayor to the council.

Mayor Frey has opposed comments from the city council and other agencies planning to change the police force. The increase in crime has included a one-year increase in homicides, shootings and carjackings, several children killed or injured in the north of the city and gunfire near the commemoration of Floyd’s death on Tuesday. Speaking in the northern part of the city last week, Mr. Frey unveiled his office’s plan to turn the branch in, in response.

But some local advocates are skeptical.

“I don’t think the Minneapolis City Council really wants it [police reform]. What they want is to run the police, and that’s why I’m taking power, to be honest, “Michelle Gross, President of Communities United Against Police Brutality (CUAPB), told Al Jazeera.

On the other hand, “what the mayor of Brooklyn Center and the city council is doing is an example – a good example – for other areas to follow,” Gross said, calling it “fun”. Finally, “they realize that public safety does not start at the police station,” he said.

Moving jobs away from the police

The Dauthe Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Security and Violence Prevention Resolution program – named Wright by a 21-year-old man who was shot dead by Brooklyn Center police in 2019 – set up several city departments to reduce its involvement in the war. supervisors in areas where they are not needed.

“Relying on our armed guards as the first responders to this incident has created problems, damage, and possible damage to the occupants, including the lives of Daunte Wright and Kobe Drimock-Heisler,” the ruling said. .

“A variety of measures will contribute to public safety, address the root causes of many problems, promote ethnic justice, protect vulnerable populations in our community and distribute resources.”

The decision calls for the establishment of a Military Response Department to oversee medical, psychiatric, or other developmental activities. Fixed road crashes will also be assisted by a group of unarmed civilians, the Department of Traffic Control.

The reforms also include reducing police operations, requiring them to eliminate alternatives before using deadly force and restricting the use of lethal force in certain instances.

In the meantime, in the newly established departments, the ruling also applies to city regulations “ideas and summonses” that require officers to automatically register, prohibit arrests or searches of persons and vehicles in many fraudulent locations.

Elliott, who was elected in 2018 and is the city’s first black mayor, has paid tribute to the changes in the city’s police force to its citizens in response to calls for the departure of Wright’s mother and Dimock-Heisler’s parents.

“We have heard our team say out loud and clearly that they want more mental weapons and that they want to drive unarmed vehicles,” he told Al Jazeera. “We were able to start changing this now, which is why we went ahead and made the decision.”

These changes, by Elliott, have been happening for a long time. “I have always known that we need a change in social security anthu so that all our people are safe,” he said.

“I believe that in our community, differently, the elected leaders who have been there have what it means to be involved in following the rules,” Elliott said. He says the ruling is “a well-known public safety measure that anyone can step back from.”

Jim Mortenson, executive director of the Minnesota Law Enforcing Labor Services, explained this quickly.

“Apparently the mayor came out on his own, drafted the decision and never consulted with those working on the project,” Mortenson told CCX Media.

While Elliott said he has been working to bring about some of the police reforms that the ruling has brought to light since Floyd’s assassination last year, it is Wright’s death that brought the matter closer to home and its final settlement with the city council.

“The biggest difference was the group that encouraged and exchanged,” Elliott said of the city that staged a protest a few days after Wright’s death.

“According to the investigation, police kill every 18 months” at Brooklyn Center, Elliott said in a statement he requested from the police department when he started work.

“The time between Kobe’s death and Daunte’s murder was 19 months and one week. We really want this to happen so that we can avoid any deaths in the future. ”




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