A Minneapolis police union official blasted the city council’s decision to move $8 million from the police force to mental health and violence preventions programs.
"The City Council is decimating the police department," Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis president Bob Kroll told Fox News on Thursday.
"The number of working officers is the lowest it’s been in 50 years. Murders, shootings, and other violent crimes are approaching record levels. Our officers are severely overworked, understaffed, and cannot keep the public safe with these cuts."
Members of the Minneapolis City Council praised the defunding.
"The City Council adopted a 2021 budget!!" Minneapolis City Council President Lisa Bender tweeted. "All the #SafetyForAllBudget proposals passed for 2021. Mental health, violence prevention, oversight and more."
Added Steve Fletcher, who represents Ward 3 in Minneapolis: "In 2021, our city will implement mental health emergency response, support community safety programs, add violence prevention capacity and improve police accountability."
The council — in the city where George Floyd died in police custody in May, sparking social justice protests around the country — removed a provision that would have cut the authorized number of police officers in the city from 888 to 750 after a veto threat by Mayor Jacob Frey, Fox News reported.
The $8 million cut represents just a fraction of the police department's $179 million budget, Fox News reported.
City council members backed a plan to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with unarmed professionals who would respond in situations where police officers are normally called.
But the city's charter commission opted not to put the issue to voters in the 2020 election, pushing the issue off to at least 2021, Fox News reported.
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