On July 18, 2024, the Minneapolis City Council approved a police contract that included a 21.7% pay raise for police officers with no provisions to increase accountability. The department that continues to fight any attempt to address police violence and racism.

Minneapolis’ new civilian review council is nearly a year-and-a-half old and it has not been allowed to review a single complaint against the MPD. Implementation of the consent decree between the DOJ and MPD is being drawn out. The new "reform" police chief is the worst police apologist the city has had in a decade. The police force that executed George Floyd goes forward with little change.

For years, the community has demanded the city council use the police contract as a way to bring some accountability to the police department. Each time there is a new contract, the city council reviews a short summary of the contract and then rubber stamps whatever the police ask for, refusing their duty to protect the citizens of Minneapolis from an out-of-control police force.

The justification for this is that Minneapolis needs to reduce crime, but crime has been going down for years. Fear-baiting about crime is a right-wing tactic to justify violent cops and steal our civil rights.

In Minneapolis, the number of cops and the crime rate have both gone down. You could make the argument that this pattern shows that more cops leads to more crime. That would be as disingenuous as the pro-police arguments, but what it does show is that more cops and crime reduction do not correlate. Other factors - such as the economy, the pandemic, the uprising, and leaders who disrespect the rule of law - are responsible for the increase in crime that occurred in 2020.

We had an opportunity to bring some accountability to the MPD. The city council shirked their duty. They licked the boot so hard they licked right through the leather, and they kept on licking. The MPD will needlessly execute more people, and there will be more unrest, which ironically, will bring an increase in crime. Along with cheif O’Hara and mayor Frey, these are the people who are responsible:

• Elliot Payne
• Michael Rainville
• LaTrisha Vetaw
• Katie Cashman
• Andrea Jenkins
• Emily Koski
• Aurin Chowdury
• Linea Palmisano

Contact Minneapolis for a Better Police Contract
Contact the city council