Wednesday Mayor Jacob Frey joined the Chad Hartman show on WCCO to shed some light on the continued unrest in Uptown and the lack of police resources within the city.
Currently, the Minneapolis Police Department, along with several others around the state and even nationally, are struggling with recruitment. That lack of officers is making it problematic for Minneapolis Police to properly control the Uptown neighborhood.
Frey told Hartman the people causing issues in South Minneapolis are not protestors.
“I think it's important to know what I said last week, and I'll say it again,” Mayor Frey began. “The people who have been present in the area over the past couple of weeks doing some of this conduct, they're not activists, they are not demonstrators, they're not exercising First Amendment rights. They're causing chaos and destruction from shooting the guns in the air to the doughnuts, to the broken windows. We shouldn't tolerate it, and we aren't. We have allocated funding and have been doing quite a bit of work to make sure that we've got peace and safety fully restored to the area.”
The Uptown area, long a popular spot for bars, restaurants and nightlife, has struggled with businesses being vandalized, guns being randomly fired in the air, cars whipping through the area, and the perception that it’s become unsafe. Frey says that perception has really become reality.
“There are timeframes when that area has been completely safe,” Frey said. “People are able to head out to dinner, hang out with some friends and have a great time with full safety. That is true. It is also true that there have been aspects and elements and time frames that have been the opposite of safe. We're strong supporters of peaceful protesting. But the activity that we've seen is not peaceful nor is it protest.”
Frey said there are other law enforcement agencies working with MPD to try and keep the area safe. The city is also getting help with desk jobs within the police department in order to get more police on the streets. But it is not enough, according the Frey, in order to fully patrol the city.
“There are times when we are massively short and I don't want to give you a specific figure, but there are days when we are significantly short, and I'll tell you there are hours in the day where it dramatically changes. We've been working with community groups on the ground, helping them to support the work that law enforcement is already doing. MPD is working with the FBI as well to receive some additional investigative support. And we're also in some close contact with a number of neighboring jurisdictions, including the state, to get additional mutual aid support in the door quickly.”
Part of the issue is money of course, something Frey says is helped by the passing of the American Rescue Act. The Act provides federal funding for pandemic recovery efforts. This includes money for state and local fiscal recovery. Minneapolis will receive $271 million total, part of which can be used for battling the increases in violent crime.
“It was about $95 million, a chunk of which is going specifically to public safety in the interim before we are able to bring on these additional (police) recruitment classes,” the mayor tells Chad Hartman. “As you know, we've seen a whole lot of attrition over this last year and we need the ability to offset some of those decreases in numbers.”
Without more police, however, the city just can’t keep up with the demands, something the mayor told WCCO on Monday will take patience which he reiterated again with Hartman.
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“The thing is, you can't order them up on Amazon, have them show up the next day. You know, you got to recruit them, you've got to train them in, you gotta swear them in. It does take time, and in getting assistance from other mutual jurisdictions, they have their own issues and occasionally shortages as well.”
There are also activists in Minneapolis, including inside the city council, that are asking to defund and reorganize the current police department, something Frey is opposed to doing. At one point, the Minneapolis City Council voted to dismantle the city’s police force, slashing $8 million from its budget and diverting it to other services.
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“(Minneapolis Police) Chief Arradondo and I have been pressing for the better part of a year plus now against very strong political headwinds that have been seeking to defund or abolish the police,” Frey says. “They've been pushing back at times on expanding our recruiting efforts which we know needs to happen. That work, it hasn't been easy as far as bringing these officers on. I support it, you know, I have never been a proponent of the defund/abolish message. My message has been very consistent there.”
There is also a new city Charter Amendment which has been put forth to the city council by citizen petition. Mayor Frey says there are parts of it that he believes will cause more issues with policing the city.
“I have a couple major issues with the charter amendment that's coming forward,” said the mayor. “The first is it permissive as to whether there will be officers at all? It is permissive. The language is pretty clear. It’s ‘may’. There may be officers, it’s may not have officers if necessary. Of course I deem them necessary.
“The second major issue is that it would have the head of the police or the head of public safety report to 14 different people. 13 council members and the mayor. And when everybody's in charge, nobody's in charge. One of the things that I've found over the last few years is that police need clarity of direction. For purposes of accountability, they need clarity of direction, for purposes of limiting police misconduct, they need clarity of direction and for safety they need clarity of direction. And if you're getting different direction from 14 people, needless to say that clarity is absent.”
2021 is an Election year in the city of Minneapolis with both Mayor and City Council races to be decided this November. Jacob Frey has announced he intends to run for reelection.
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