Verrrrrrrrrrry interesting

The Minneapolis city council has pledged to disband the city’s police department and replace it with a new system of public safety, a historic move that comes as calls to defund law enforcement are sweeping the US.

Speaking at a community rally on Sunday, a veto-proof majority of councilmembers declared their intent to “dismantle” and “abolish” the embattled police agency responsible for George Floyd’s death – and build an alternative model of community-led safety.

[...]

“In Minneapolis and in cities across the US, it is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe,” said Lisa Bender, the Minneapolis city council president, at the event. “Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period. Our commitment is to do what’s necessary to keep every single member of our community safe and to tell the truth: that the Minneapolis police are not doing that. Our commitment is to end policing as we know it and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe.”

Nine councilmembers announced their support and represent a supermajority on the twelve-person council, meaning the mayor, who earlier this weekend opposed disbanding the department, cannot override them. The remaining three councilmembers are broadly supportive of the effort as well, but weren’t ready to sign on, activists said. While the mayor has oversight over the police, the city council has authority over the budget and policy, and could work to dismantle the department through cuts and ordinances.

[...]

MPD150 [is] a Minneapolis group whose literature on building a “police-free future” has been widely shared during the protests.

[...]

The councilmembers are expected to face opposition from law enforcement officials and the police union, though activists emphasize that the veto-proof majority has the authority to move forward regardless of opposition.

  The Guardian

Expect some serious gun-toting white protesters to take to the streets.

It’s unclear how quickly this process could move, and what the transition could look like. Supporters are pushing for the council to start with taking money away from the police budget and investing in other government departments, social services and programs, while launching a community process for creating alternative systems.

DEfinitely ease into it.

An alternative safety model, advocates say, can start with finding “non-police solutions to the problems poor people face”, such as counselors responding to mental health calls and addiction experts responding to drug abuse.

[...]

There are a handful of examples of governments disbanding troubled local police agencies in the US over the years, though the authorities have had other regional law enforcement entities take over policing.

I would think you'd need some.

While the effort in Minneapolis is the most radical, a number of other US mayors and local leaders have reversed their positions on police funding. The mayor of Los Angeles said he would look to cut as much as $150m from the police this week, just days after he pushed forward a city budget that was increasing it by 7%.

Following days of protests and widespread accounts of police misconduct in New York City, mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday that some funding would be moved from the police to “youth initiatives and social services”. Some councilmembers and others, however, have been pushing for a $1bn divestment from the NYPD.

[...]

De Blasio also announced that enforcement of regulations involving street vendors – many of whom are persons of color and, or immigrants – should not be handled by police. “Civilian agencies can work on proper enforcement and that’s what we’ll do going forward,” he said.

Too late for Eric Gardner.

For years, abolitionist groups have advocated for governments to take money away from police and prisons and reinvesting the funds in other services. The basic principle is that government budgets and “public safety” spending should prioritize housing, employment, community health, education and other vital programs, instead of police officers.

[...]

Amid the current protests, abolitionist groups have put forward concrete steps toward dismantling police and prisons, arguing that defunding police is the first move, and that cities need to remove police from schools, repeal laws that “criminalize survival” such as anti-homelessness policies, provide safe housing for people and more. Colleges, public school systems, museums and other institutions have also increasingly announced plans to divest from police.

[...]

Advocates for defunding argue that recent police reform efforts have been unsuccessful, noting that de-escalation training, body cameras and other moves have not stopped racist brutality and killings.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: