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Refund the police! Minneapolis authorizes $500k to hire cops from OTHER forces after officers leave in wake of BLM protests and rising crime with more than 500 people shot this year

  The Minneapolis city council has authorized $500,000 in funding for the police department to hire cops from other forces, after several of...

 The Minneapolis city council has authorized $500,000 in funding for the police department to hire cops from other forces, after several officers have quit and crime has soared since the start of the year.

Council members on Friday narrowly voted 7 to 6 in favor of approving $496,800 in extra funds for Minneapolis Police Department (MPD).

The money will be used to bring in 20 to 40 cops from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department and Metropolitan Council/Metro Transit Police to help the department tackle the recent crime wave across the city.

The contracts will run from November 15 through to the end of the year.  

The extra officers are expected to be tasked with helping answer 911 calls and tackling violence in crime hotspots of the city.  

The Minneapolis city council has authorized $500,000 in funding for the police department to hire cops from other forces, after several officers have quit and crime has soared since the start of the year. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo (above) said the city is 'bleeding'

The Minneapolis city council has authorized $500,000 in funding for the police department to hire cops from other forces, after several officers have quit and crime has soared since the start of the year. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo (above) said the city is 'bleeding'

Mayor Jacob Frey put forward the proposal saying that MPD has seen a 'significant reduction' in officers which is 'resulting in difficulty in meeting the public safety needs of the City.'  

'Minneapolis, like local governments across this country, is grappling with competing crises – combating a global pandemic, weathering an economic downturn, and pursuing racial justice,' Frey said in a statement Friday. 

'And at the same time, neighborhoods across our city have endured an intolerable level of gun violence and crime.'

The decision came after a tense exchange between Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo and members of the city council in a meeting discussing the plans Tuesday where Arradondo said the force needed more resources to stop the city 'bleeding'.    


'Our resources are hemorrhaging, our city is bleeding and I am doing all I can to stop that bleeding,' Arradondo said.   

The city is being rocked by a growing crime wave with shootings and murders at their highest levels in 15 years. 

Homicides are up almost 50 percent so far this year, with 73 compared to 39 in the same period in 2019, while more than 500 people have been shot since the start of 2020. 

Violent crimes including carjackings and robberies have reached a five-year high with more than 4,600 so far this year.  

Pictured a building burning in May as protests erupted after George Floyd's death. The city is being rocked by a crime wave with shootings and murders at their highest levels in 15 years

Pictured a building burning in May as protests erupted after George Floyd's death. The city is being rocked by a crime wave with shootings and murders at their highest levels in 15 years

More than 150 cops have quit so far this year, triple the typical number, with several citing post-traumatic stress disorder from protests

More than 150 cops have quit so far this year, triple the typical number, with several citing post-traumatic stress disorder from protests

Residents have said violence in the city is now even worse than it was in the mid-1990s when it earned the nickname 'Murderapolis' and that they have been all but abandoned by police.   

'If you want to talk about pandemics, we're dealing with a pandemic of violence,' a community activist called Spann told the Washington Post

'We're under siege. You wake up and go to bed in fear, because you don't know what's going to happen next... And our city has failed to protect us.' 

Some residents told the Post the police haven't even showed up to some 911 calls.  

Officers have left the department in their droves, with more than 150 cops quitting so far this year - triple the typical number of 40 to 45 - with several citing post-traumatic stress disorder from protests. 

Last month, an attorney told the Associated Press he had helped process about 175 disability leave claims since George Floyd's death.   

Meanwhile, the Minneapolis Police Department is facing calls for its defunding and altogether abolishment after four of its officers were involved in the death of Floyd on Memorial Day.  

Meanwhile, the Minneapolis Police Department is facing calls for its defunding and abolishment after four of its cops were involved in the death of George Floyd (pictured)

Meanwhile, the Minneapolis Police Department is facing calls for its defunding and abolishment after four of its cops were involved in the death of George Floyd (pictured)

George Floyd died on Memorial Day as he was arrested by four police officers over allegedly trying to buy cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill
He was seen in a video pleading that he couldn't breathe as white officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against his neck

George Floyd died on Memorial Day as he was arrested by four police officers over allegedly trying to buy cigarettes with a counterfeit $20 bill. He was seen in a video pleading that he couldn't breathe as Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against his neck

Fired officer Derek Chauvin is charged with second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter after he knelt on Floyd's neck for almost nine minutes as the black man begged for air and said 'I can't breathe' during an arrest over a counterfeit $20 bill. 

Three other now fired Minneapolis officers Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.  

Back in June, a majority of city council members agreed to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department and replace it with a 'transformative new model of public safety' amid calls for law enforcement reform.

But a city commission then blocked the issue being put to voters in the election.

So far some reforms have been made to the police department including a ban on chokeholds and an update on the use of force policy. 

But, residents are growing frustrated with the response, saying they shouldn't have to choose between police reform or tackling violent crime.

'Why can't I have police reform? Why can't I have law and order? Why do I have to pick and choose? I should be able to have both,' Spann told the Post.    

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