Follow-Up: Minneapolis City Council Votes 9-4 to Dissolve the Office of Community Safety in Hennepin County, Minnesota
The Minneapolis City Council voted 9-4 on October 29 to pass a government-structure ordinance dissolving the city's Office of Community Safety. A council committee had advanced the proposal 9-3 on October 27 and sent it to the full council for the October 29 vote, making this the final step in that process. The office was created in 2022 to bring police, fire, 911 emergency communications, emergency management and neighborhood safety operations under one community safety commissioner, and its creation was directly tied to the public safety reforms Minneapolis pursued after the murder of George Floyd.
The four dissenting votes were cast by Linea Palmisano, Elizabeth Shaffer, Jamison Whiting and Michael Rainville. The nine-vote majority is enough to override a mayoral veto, and Mayor Jacob Frey had publicly opposed dissolving the office. Under the ordinance, oversight of the public safety functions will shift to the mayor or the mayor's designee.
Council members who backed dissolution argued that, after more than three years, the office's results did not justify its cost and that its authority over the police chief was unclear; opponents worried that removing the body charged with coordinating public safety and police accountability would undermine stability on the front lines. Interim Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette had previously announced plans to step down by the end of the year.
(Source: Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder)
Source: Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：明尼阿波利斯市政厅（GSM 固定图库）。 / Photo: Minneapolis City Hall (GSM image library).
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