A “Yes on 2” yard sign stands in a front yard ahead of the November 2nd vote on the future of the police department in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S., October 28, 2021. REUTERS/Nicole Neri

(Reuters) - The election last Tuesday in which Minneapolis voters rejected a proposal to replace their police force with a more comprehensive public safety department has been portrayed nationally as a test of the “defund the police” movement for police reform.

Alec Karakatsanis, executive director of the reform advocacy nonprofit Civil Rights Corps, told me hours before polls closed that certain “institutional interests” would inaccurately frame a "no" vote as a “death-blow to the defund movement.”(We know by now that a co-opting of the "defund the police" slogan by conservatives after a former Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd has portrayed police reform advocates as anti-law enforcement and a variety of changes they endorse as dangerous.)

After votes were counted, the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association said the results should be a “wakeup call to politicians who want to simply abolish and defund police departments.” And the Fraternal Order of Police said the “ship has sailed” on “defund the police” proposals, according to a Nov. 4 report by Axios. Some news reports also cast the election as a blow to the movement.

But that's not the whole picture. Advocates on both sides of the question say they reject the notion that Minneapolis' election outcome was a national referendum on redirecting police funds to social services.

The measure would have removed the requirement of a police department and certain minimum funding and staff in the city charter, and allowed for cops to be hired within the new public safety department. Details of the department would have been hashed out by the mayor and city council after the vote, with authority over the new chief shifting to the council.

Police reform is a "deeply local" political issue, Karakatsanis said. “These politics are also very dynamic. A lot can change quickly, and people’s views have to do with how the issue is presented and how particular stories” on local crime and police violence are covered.

The Minneapolis election result is simply a reflection of dynamics unique to that city’s government and electorate, rather than a barometer for the future of policies seeking divestment from policing. The rejection of that specific proposal is hardly the end of the national conversation and push to transform law enforcement, which will continue to influence local policies, said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights attorney and racial justice advocate in Minneapolis. Levy Armstrong opposed the proposal.

“It’s weird to try to articulate what happened because this was all framed around a ballot question, instead of the substance of what we’re really trying to do,” she said.

She added that the public had little understanding of the concept when legislators pledged to "abolish" the current system of policing.

“We’re in the midst of mourning and calling for police accountability, and suddenly we’re forced to contend with this new notion – and now that’s being used as a basis for presumptions about what will happen nationally.”

In contrast to Minneapolis, for example, a large majority of Austin, Texas, shot down a measure on Tuesday that would have required the city to hire hundreds more officers. (Austin redirected $150 million in police funds in 2020, Reuters reported in August.).

JaNaé Bates, a spokesperson for pro-amendment organization Yes 4 Minneapolis, told me the successful drive to put the question to a vote shows there’ll be similar efforts elsewhere.

“We’ve now helped shift the conversation around public safety to the point where you can’t equate it with policing,” Bates said.

The ballot question was the result of a push that began with nine members of the Minneapolis City Council pledging to do away with the police department at a rally after Floyd’s murder. The move seemed unthinkable just two weeks prior, Reuters reported in June 2020.

In fact, the members themselves were never clear, or even on the same page, as to what exactly they were proposing. They admitted that they misunderstood their own promise, created uncertainty in their community, and said they regretted the pledge, the New York Times reported in September 2020 – a full year before the vote, and months after the pledge.

One unnamed member suggested they could fulfill their promise if they simply “rename the department," and leaked messages showed they were apparently more concerned about disruption from protests than the substance of protesters' demands, according to the Times.

“A lot of missteps happened in the weeks immediately after Floyd was killed,” Levy Armstrong said. “That includes city council members telling a majority white, so-called progressive audience that they’ll dismantle Minneapolis Police for the benefit of Black and brown people – without sufficient community outreach and input from Black and brown people.”

Two council members who joined the pledge didn't respond to requests for comment.

Residents of color were concerned about “an experiment” that would weigh most heavily on their communities, and that city leaders expected their trust on policing without having earned it, Levy Armstrong added.

Many Black residents echoed her sentiments in interviews with Reuters ahead of votes last Tuesday.

In fact, polls over the past year consistently showed that Minneapolis residents want transformational changes to policing – but remained skeptical about the council’s recent efforts.

In August 2020, a plurality opposed reducing the size of the police force, including 50% of Black residents, according to a poll by The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Still, 72% of people across racial lines supported shifting some police funding to social services.

Two months ago, 55% of likely voters said they don’t want to reduce police numbers, including 75% of Black voters; but almost half favored replacing the department with a new agency, the Star-Tribune reported September 18.

Ultimately, more than 56% voted "no" on the ballot question. A majority of North Minneapolis Wards 4 and 5 – where a large portion of the city's Black residents live – rejected the measure.

“The question we were asked to contend with was itself flawed, as was the process,” Levy Armstrong said. “A lot of people share responsibility, but I lay blame at the feet of our elected officials.”

There are certainly lessons from Minnesota's campaign, but the unique politics behind it shouldn't necessarily dim the prospects for similar efforts going forward.

Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Source: Reuters

Powered by NewsAPI.org