Months after voting to defund their city’s police department, Minneapolis City Council Members are regretting that vote.
From The New York Times:
“Councilor Andrew Johnson, one of the nine members who supported the pledge in June, said in an interview that he meant the words ‘in spirit,’ not by the letter. Another councilor, Phillipe Cunningham, said that the language in the pledge was ‘up for interpretation’ and that even among council members soon after the promise was made, ‘it was very clear that most of us had interpreted that language differently.’ Lisa Bender, the council president, paused for 16 seconds when asked if the council’s statement had led to uncertainty at a pivotal moment for the city.
‘I think our pledge created confusion in the community and in our wards,’ she said.”
Two weeks ago we reported on Minneapolis residents who were seeing and hearing street racing, carjackings in broad daylight, as well as robberies, assaults and shootings. They wanted to know what the City Council was going to do about it.
“Residents are asking, ‘Where are the police’?” said Council Member Jamal Osman at the time.
We also reported on how polling was finding defund the police initiatives to be unpopular with likely U.S. voters.
61% of respondents say they oppose calls to defund the police while only 24% support such policies, according to a recent Epoch Times poll.
It’s now being reported that the drive to defund the police department in Minneapolis is all but dead.
Photo by Jason Hargrove via Flickr