They have issue’s out there…
The George Floyd situation is over….
Responding to political protests the local government has voted to replace its police department with a public safety organiztion….
That isn’t helping things right now….
There have been a giant uptick in shootings in South Minneapolis …
And?
Stung by the anti-police protests and worried about doing anything that might get THEM arrested…And concerned that they could lose their jobs in a new reorganisation?
Things have gone from bad to worst…..
They mayor of the city is now turning to state and federal law enforcement for help….
The basic of getting rid of the police in the city has turned some parts of the city into place where there WILL BE local, state and federal law enforcement patrolling it….
Defunding the police cries seen to have allowed others to take advange of it’s citizens who HAD relied on their local cops….And who are now afraid to even call 911….
On Monday, nine people were shot in a four-hour span across the city, starting around 2:30 p.m. That came a day after gunfire struck 11 people during an early-morning gun battle along a busy stretch of bars and restaurants in Uptown Minneapolis, in what officials called one of the worst mass shootings in the city’s history.
Three other people have been killed, according to police, including one in a fatal stabbing Monday afternoon in downtown Minneapolis, just blocks from city hall. The police scanner has been jammed with reports of robberies, carjackings and other violent incidents across the city.
Mayor Jacob Frey has asked for additional law enforcement assistance from several regional and federal agencies, including the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the FBI and the Secret Service, to help investigate and stem the bloodshed. A more robust law enforcement operation featuring the additional agencies was to begin Friday.
“The violence and lawlessness that we’ve seen the last few days is not acceptable in any form,” Frey told reporters this week. “We’re going to restore order. We’re going to make sure that people throughout our city feel safe.”
Law enforcement and other city officials have been publicly reluctant to link the uptick of violence to Floyd’s death, but the incident stirred deep tensions between residents and the police department, which has long been accused of racism and use of excessive force against people of color.
After Floyd’s death in South Minneapolis, scores of residents in the surrounding neighborhood, a deeply progressive area known for its diverse population, said they would no longer call the police out of fear they might put more African Americans at risk. The declaration was echoed in other parts of the city, where the plywood put up to protect windows of businesses during the recent demonstrations has been decorated with messages including “Stop Calling the Police.”
A majority of the Minneapolis City Council announced earlier this month that they would work to defund and dismantle the police department, insisting past reform efforts had done little to change the culture and behavior of the long-troubled agency.
The council voted Friday to advance a measure that would ask voters in November to approve a change to the city charter allowing Minneapolis to replace its police department with a new agency focused on safety and violence prevention. The proposed agency would employ some officers, though it’s unclear how many and how they would operate.
Adding to the tensions are claims from some in the community that police officers have stepped back from the job amid the anti-police sentiment — a claim strongly denied by Minneapolis police officials, who say officers are working as hard as ever to protect the city amid sometimes “hostile” conditions.
Both Frey and John Elder, a police spokesperson, have described incidents in recent days in which police officers were pelted with bottles and rocks while responding to scenes, including a shooting last Friday near 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, the site where Floyd was killed.
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One South Minneapolis resident, who declined to be named out of fear of retribution, said after past police killings in the region, officers often tried to ease tensions within the community, by driving around with their windows down to encourage more interaction. “But all you see now is them with their windows up,” the person said.
Jamar B. Nelson, a longtime Minneapolis activist who co-founded the anti-violence group A Mother’s Love, said he knows several people who have chosen to stop reporting crimes because they did not want to be labeled “snitches” by neighbors or others.
He accused City Council members who have pushed to dismantle police of further eroding the “lack of respect” toward Minneapolis officers, which he said has in turn encouraged “lawless behavior” to spread across the city in recent weeks….
image…A man etches RIH, which stands for Rest In Heaven, on a Minneapolis street on June 20, a day after a shooting left several wounded and one man dead. Eight people have been fatally shot in the city since May 25. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Update….
Nearly two months after four of its officers were charged with killing George Floyd, the Minneapolis Police Department is reeling, with police officers leaving the job in large numbers, crime surging and politicians planning a top-to-bottom overhaul of the force.
Veteran officers say that morale within the department is lower than they have ever experienced. Some officers are scaling back their policing efforts, concerned that any contentious interactions on the street could land them in trouble. And many others are calling it quits altogether.
“It’s almost like a nuclear bomb hit the city, and the people who didn’t perish are standing around,” Officer Rich Walker Sr., a 16-year Minneapolis police veteran and union official, said of the mood within the department. “I’m still surprised that we’ve got cops showing up to work, to be honest.”
PORTLAND PROTESTS CONTINUET he demonstrations that have shuddered through Portland for 54 consecutive days have drawn out a complicated mix of emotions and grievances.
Many American police departments have faced challenges in retention and recruitment in recent years amid growing criticism of police abuses. But the woes in Minneapolis and elsewhere have only grown since May, when Mr. Floyd was killed after the police detained him….
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