As you know, in preparation for your September 15, 2020, "Council Study
Session" with Chief Arradondo, Council President Bender collected questions
from you and submitted them to the Chief in advance of the meeting. One of
those questions was:
"We’ve consistently stated that we are not abolishing the police force, even if
we do envision it being smaller and more focused, which means it’s very
important as part of our process of re-envisioning public safety we restore
trust in the MPD going forward. What will it take to do that, and where do you
propose starting?"
Since none of the questioners were identified in this document, I am assuming
the "we've" was the royal "we," and didn't refer to anyone but one of the three
Council members who did not appear as part of the Powderhorn Park event on June
7, 2020. If, though, this question came not from one of those three, and the
"we've" is referring to the Council as a whole or to any of the nine Council
members who issued a joint statement on June 7, then you are taking us
residents of Minneapolis to be fools.
Here is the carefully prepared joint statement Council Members Fletcher,
Schroeder, Gordon, Cunningham, Ellison, Cano, Jenkins, Bender, and Johnson
proclaimed in a chorale reading on June 7:
"Decades of police reform efforts have proved that the Minneapolis Police
Department cannot be reformed and will never be held accountable for their
actions. We are here today to begin the process of ending the Minneapolis
Police Department and create a new transformative model for cultivating safety
in Minneapolis. We recognize that we don't have all the answers to what a
police-free future looks like, but we know that the community does. We are
committing to engaging with every willing community member in Minneapolis over
the next year to identify what safety looks like for you. We will be taking
intermediate steps towards ending the MPD through the budget process, and and
other policy and budget decisions over the coming weeks and months. All of us
on this stage support this statement, and we stand with the people of
Minneapolis in fighting for a safer community."
The question to the Chief says you have "consistently stated that...[you] are
not abolishing the police force," and your "re-envisioning [of] public safety"
includes "restoring trust in the MPD going forward." But the June 7 statement
very clearly says you are in the process "of ending the Minneapolis Police
Department" and looking to a "police-free future."
I am assuming "MPD" and the "Minneapolis Police Department" refer to the same
entity. So how on June 7 could you claim to be beginning the process of ending
that entity -- an entity that "cannot be reformed" -- and on September 15 say
you are trying to restore trust in the MPD, the very unreformable entity you
said you were in the process of ending?
You need to explain these incredibly mixed messages that are coming out of the
Council, or at least out of nine members of the Council. I would suggest
members issue another joint public statement, explaining how words about
"ending the Minneapolis Police Department" -- a "Minneapolis Police Department
that cannot be reformed" -- and "a police-free future" should not have been
taken to mean what ordinary native-speakers of English took those words to
mean.
I think a couple of the nine of you who joined that June 7 statement still
stand by those words. The other seven of you need to find the courage to
publicly explain why people -- including the people you were pandering to at
the time -- should not have taken your June 7 words seriously. That would show
some true leadership, leadership that has been sorely lacking from the entire
City Council on police issues for several years now, and especially so since
May 25, 2020.
Keep safe and stay healthy.
Yours,
Chuck Turchick
Ward 6
Chuck Turchick
Phillips