Residents at Minneapolis public safety forum call for policing changes

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - At a forum on public safety in Minneapolis, members of City Council, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo met with residents. Among a number of issues, they discussed crime and ways to improve the community. 

“Safety and accountability are intrinsically linked,” said Mayor Jacob Frey.

After about 30 minutes of mild tempered discussion, the conversation took a fiery turn.
“We’re tired of lip service, we’re tired of it,” said one man in attendance.

At a time when there are calls to improve police community-relations, some residents used the platform to take aim at city leaders and a plan to hire more officers.

“You don’t need that money for more cops,” said the same man. “Shame on you because we could use that money here in the community and shame on anyone who votes that the bull crap.”

“More officers is not the answer, think long and hard on how to use $10 million,” said one woman.

As the tension in the room rose, Chief Arradondo addressed the crowd.

“We know that the trauma exists, if we don’t have enough officers enough officers engaged, we need to do something to break that cycle,” said Chief Arradondo.

At times confrontational and heated, residents say they feel now it’s up for city leaders to act. 

“There’s obviously a lot of passion around some of these issues and for very good reason there some’s changes that need to be made and it was good hearing from everyone,” said Frey.