Yes 4 Minneapolis and those who signed on to its petition want voters to eliminate the police department from the city charter and put in its stead a Department of Public Safety meant to perform a “comprehensive public health approach to safety.”
“You have worked during a very difficult period, through a pandemic and everything else happening in the city of Minneapolis, to get all of these petitions, so congratulations to all of you,” City Clerk Casey Carl told the group as he received the signatures.
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Yes 4 Minneapolis defines itself as a “Black-led campaign composed of a growing coalition of grassroots, community organizations and individuals who believe a people’s petition is the best path forward for implementing a new Department of Public Safety in Minneapolis.”
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“Following the murder of George Floyd last summer, we witnessed the movement for Black Lives spark a global uprising against state sanctioned violence — and it all started in Minneapolis,” the group states on its website. “We marched. We organized. And, most importantly, we learned that the majority of Minneapolis is ready for a new approach to community safety.”
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Members of the campaign talked about their efforts in a press conference after they submitted the signatures.
“Residents of Minneapolis have experienced brutality, injustice, and indifference from a department that’s supposed to promote safety ... this is about more than changing the charter, it’s about building community,” Antonio Williams of Yes 4 Minneapolis member group The People’s Canvass stated.
The campaign presented the petition ahead of the city’s Charter Commission May 5 meeting. City staff will have 10 days to examine signatures and verify that Yes 4 Minneapolis got at least 11,906 from registered voters in Minneapolis, or 5% of votes cast in the last state general election, according to the Star Tribune.
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The clerk's office will then report to the city council on May 17. If the clerk approves the signatures, the question, on whose language the council and Mayor Jacob Frey will be allowed to give input, will appear on the Nov. 2 ballot. If the petition has too few signatures, the group has 10 days to get more.
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In June, the Minneapolis City Council unanimously passed a resolution after the death of George Floyd to start the push to replace the city’s police department. The council subsequently passed $6.4 million in funding in February to hire police officers amid a 20% year-over-year increase in violent crime in the city.
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Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty this month of all the charges he faced in the killing of Floyd.
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