Minneapolis City Council Members Commit to Ending Police Department in Coming Months

"This Council is going to dismantle this police department," Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, son of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, said at a Sunday meeting with Minneapolis residents in a city park. He added that this effort needed the support of the population in order to bring results.

Eight of the 13 council members presented a joint statement to Minneapolis residents on Sunday.

"Decades of police reform efforts have proved that the Minneapolis Police Department cannot be reformed, and will never be accountable for its action. We are here today to begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department [MPD] and creating a new transformative model for cultivating safety in our city," the statement says.

The council members acknowledged that they did not yet know what the new system would look like but were ready to rely on community members in shaping the new model.

"We're committing to engaging with every willing community member in the City of Minneapolis over the next year to identify what safety looks like for everyone. We'll be taking intermediate steps towards ending the MPD through the budget process and other policy and budget decisions over the coming weeks and months," the council members said.

On Saturday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said that he was against abolishing the city police department despite anti-racism protesters demanding to redirect funds to other community-led safety measures. The mayor was booed by protesters who called on him to "go home."

At the same time,Frey told demonstrators that he supported a "massive structural reform" of the police force.

Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender has expressed support for disbanding the police department.

"Today is a beginning. Minneapolis: we invite you to be part of building a system so our whole community is safe," Bender said on Twitter on Sunday.

On May 25, George Floyd, an African-American man, died after Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis white police officer, pinned him to the ground with his knee for over eight minutes. A total of four police officers involved in the arrest have been fired in connection with the incident. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree and third-degree murder and manslaughter while the other three officers have been charged with aiding and abetting murder and manslaughter.

The death of George Floyd has sparked major protests across the United States and in other countries. National Guard forces were mobilized in various US cities and police have had to use tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse demonstrators who protested in violation of curfews and clashed with law enforcement officers.