Minneapolis cops will receive $500,000 to deal with a crime explosion in the months following the City Council’s “defund the police” rhetoric and attempts to implement a “transformative new model” of law enforcement.
The Government Oversight Committee eked out a 7-6 vote on the funding, which would allow Minneapolis cops to partner with the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office and Metro Transit Police to close out the year.
“I have 74 people who are no longer alive in this city because they’ve been killed,” Police Chief Medaria Arradondo told officials. “I’ve got almost 500 people who’ve been shot and wounded in this city. We can talk about re-imagining policing. I’m talking about what is necessary today, in this city, and we need extra resources.”
“Fox & Friends” noted a few of the grim statistics for the city; officials called for defunding police after the May death of George Floyd while in police custody.
Some of the numbers include:
- Arson: 72 cases in 2019; 127 in 2020 (YTD) — increase 76%
Assault: 2,114 cases in 2019; 2,616 in 2020 (YTD) — increase 24%
Homicides: 39 cases in 2019; 73 in 2020 (YTD) — increase of 87%
“Utterly embarassing,” said “Fox & Friends” weekend co-host Pete Hegseth, a Minnesota native, Wednesday. “Utterly predictable. All you need is one brain cell to know that if you A) remove police, you’re going to create the space for crime, and then B) if you demoralize police by telling them they’re the bad guys, you’re going to create an environment where why in the world would they want to take one single risk?”
The chaos comes less than six months after the Minneapolis City Council passed a unanimous resolution for a “transformative new model” of law enforcement.
“If we just stayed status quo, right now, we will end this year with numbers that are absolutely unconscionable about what we should have in terms of community violence, and we don’t do a deep dive as a city as to what caused all of those,” the police chief warned in September as crime started to rise.
“Utterly embarrassing, utterly predictable”: @PeteHegseth slams Minneapolis mayor after a Minneapolis committee approves extra police funding after spike in crime. @foxandfriends pic.twitter.com/NXatwmI8GN
— Brian Kilmeade (@kilmeade) November 11, 2020
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.