08 June 2020

Minneapolis city council chief vows ‘to end policing as we know it’

A majority of the members of the Minneapolis City Council have vowed to end policing as the city knows it.

Nine of the council’s 12 members appeared with activists at a rally in a city park Sunday afternoon when council member Jeremiah Ellison promised the council would ’dismantle’ the department.

The move follows the announcement the state has launched a civil rights investigation after George Floyd's death.

“It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe,” Lisa Bender, the council president, said. “Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period.”

Bender went on to say she and the eight other council members who joined the rally are committed to ending the city’s relationship with the police force and ’to end policing as we know it and recreate systems that actually keep us safe’.

Community activists have criticised the Minneapolis department for years for what they say is a racist and brutal culture.

The first sign of change came on Friday when it was agreed to ban chokeholds and neck restraints.

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