On Thursday the Minneapolis City Council voted 9-4 to dissolve the Office of Community Safety and move some of its responsibilities elsewhere.

Progressives on the council have pushed to cut the office, arguing it hasn’t been effective and the move would save the city money as it faces a budget shortfall of tens of millions of dollars. Council members Pearll Warren and LaTrisha Vetaw, who often align with the mayor, joined the vote to dissolve the office.

Council member Robin Wonsley, who opposed the office’s creation in 2022, has championed eliminating the office and said Thursday it “has failed to rein in” police overspending. The Minneapolis Police Department has overspent its overtime budget every year since 2019.

“It has functioned more as a public relations exercise than an institution capable of delivering meaningful reform,” Wonsley said.

The office was created by the mayor and council in 2022. It was meant to provide improved coordination of emergency services, including police, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd. The office oversees five public safety departments: fire, 911, police, emergency management and neighborhood safety.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey proposed the office after a ballot initiative — championed by progressives on the council at the time — to replace Minneapolis police with a public safety department was rejected by voters. Safety department heads report to the commissioner of the Office of Community Safety, who then reports to the mayor. Without the office, safety department heads would report directly to the mayor.

Council member Soren Stevenson argued the commissioner of the Office of Community Safety hasn’t had enough power to truly serve as a watchdog for the police.

“Our commissioner of Community Safety, while paid in total compensation $375,000 a year, does not have authority over the police chief to hire, fire, or do discipline,” Stevenson said.

“What that means is that when there's something going on and there's a tension between those two, the police chief can say… ‘I'm not going to listen to you,’” he added.

Several council members agreed that reform and budget tightening are needed but said the Office of Community Safety has served an important role. Council member Michael Rainville said it deserved more patience.

Council member Elizabeth Shaffer said there should be reductions in salary and personnel within the office and that it hasn’t always lived up to its oversight role.

“Yet has the Office of Community Safety made strides in coordinating communication between silos of public safety in our city? Absolutely. Has OCS demonstrated leadership in public safety crisis situations? Yes,” Shaffer said.

Council member Jamison Whiting cited testimony from the heads of the 911, emergency management and neighborhood safety departments given at a committee meeting Tuesday.

“The people doing the work on the ground said the exact same thing: that without the advocacy of OCS, without the sole focus on policing alternatives, this work falls away,” Whiting said.

Neighborhood Safety Director Amanda Harrington told the council Tuesday that the Office of Community Safety commissioner had made the police department work with her.

Frey has said the office has effectively coordinated safety services.

“Instead of moving us forward, the very council members who once advocated to consolidate these programs under a single umbrella now seek to silo them again,” Frey wrote in an Oct. 27 statement.

Frey also pointed to a similarly named office that was recently created in New York City, writing: “This model has since become nationally recognized.”

However, New York City’s safety office is structured differently from Minneapolis’ office. It oversees neighborhood safety, domestic violence, hate crimes and community mental health, but not police, fire or 911.

The Minneapolis ordinance to eliminate the Office of Community Safety preserves the Department of Neighborhood Safety, which helps coordinate victim support services, violence intervention programs and trauma resources among others.

The ordinance also eliminates the department of Racial Equity, Inclusion and Belonging but moves its responsibilities to the Neighborhood and Community Relations department.

Whether the city has the Office of Community Safety or not, it is still required to abide by a 2023 court-ordered agreement between the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the city that includes policing reforms like adopting stricter use-of-force practices.

The agreement also requires the city to “fund and adequately resource” a 24/7 behavioral health crisis team.

The ordinance passed with the nine votes necessary to override a mayoral veto.

Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.