With many calling for a change in the Minneapolis Police Department, the city's upcoming ballot will ask voters to approve a change to the charter that would take power over the police from the city's mayor and instead have multiple officials take control, among other things.
The previous language was struck down by a judge who said the amendment was not clear enough. Now, with new language, Hennepin County judge Jamie Anderson will decide whether the updated language for the Yes 4 Amendment will be on the ballot.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey joined News Talk 830 WCCO's Chad Hartman to discuss why he supports the Yes 4 Amendment being on the ballot while not supporting the amendment itself.
"I am opposed to [the Yes 4 Amendment] for a number of reasons," Frey said.
While being opposed to the amendment for what he says it will do, he still thinks that the voters should decide, being that the council was able to get it added to the ballot legally.
"The reason that I want this on the ballot is because look, I tell the truth, and we abide by the law," Frey said. "[Still] I am adamantly opposed to this particular amendment.
"I told the council repeatedly that the language that they had proposed was biased, it was hiding the ball, and it was misleading," Frey said, calling attention to the fact that he had struck down two of their proposals.
Now that the Minneapolis City Council has been able to reword their amendment, Frey shared that he only wanted the language to be as straightforward as possible to voters.
"I want the most honest language possible on that ballot, and I think the question should ultimately be on the ballot. Again I'm very much opposed to it," he said.
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Frey shared that he thinks the more people hear what is in the proposal and what it will "actually do for the city," the more people will be against it.
Frey says that Yes 4 Minneapolis, the group behind the amendment, claims that the amendment is needed to add mental health specialists and other alternative policing options to the MPD. But he says this is a lie.
"There is nothing in this ballot initiative that would allow for us to do something that we're not already allowed to do," Frey said. "Here's what the amendment does do. It would have the head of this new department report to 14 different people, 13 council members, and the mayor. It would drastically increase the city council's authority over how policing and public safety works.
"I think that's bad for accountability, and I think that's bad for safety. It would also get rid of the requirement to fund a minimum number of officers or provide a minimum amount of funding to the police department."
Frey shared that while he doesn't think there should be a minimum number of staffing for any department, he called attention to Yes 4 Minneapolis' original call to defund the police.
Frey finds it interesting that they have not been calling attention to this part of the amendment since people's opinions about abolishing the police have changed.
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When it comes to what the amendment will do, Frey wants to know what precisely will make systemic change within the police department that can't already be done? He currently doesn't see it changing anything of importance, and he says no one has been able to answer his question.
He sees the amendment giving the department a new name and adding 13 bosses.
"That's where I don't understand where the linkage is, there's nothing in this particular amendment that would provide more accountability, or that would build trust," Frey said.
While many still feel uncomfortable with the Minneapolis Police Department, Frey is calling for more of a culture change than a change in who reports to who.
"Those people are right. The people that are saying they've had bad interactions and that trust has been broken, and that we need more accountability. That is absolutely correct," he said. "We need a full-on culture shift in this police department. We need to have the ability to fire bad cops and have those decisions stick. We need to recognize the magnitude of this moment."
