As Minneapolis faces a crime wave and budget cuts to its police department, some citizens are criticizing the actions of the city council.
In August, the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey were the targets of a lawsuit that accused them of failing to meet the City Charter’s staffing requirements for the police force. That lawsuit is still ongoing, but the council voted last week to remove an additional $8 million from the police department’s budget.
Some Minneapolis residents involved in the lawsuit commented on the vote in an interview Thursday.
“I have two bullet holes in my house. One that was six inches from my front door, and one that was roughly a foot or so from going in my daughter’s bedroom window. So we have skin in the game here, and our city council has heard from us on this,” Minneapolis resident Jonathan Lundberg told Fox News.
“We expect a police force that is just, that treats all people with dignity and respect regardless of the color of skin, and we expect them in numbers that will prevent crime, that will allow for safety, the safety of our neighbors and children. This is an adequate expectation of any citizen of any city,” he continued.
Don Samuels, a former member of the Minneapolis City Council who is currently involved in the lawsuit, also commented on the situation.
“Both the police killing, and the violence after that, we are concerned about both, and we want to have a both-and solution. Both to get the police force corrected and fixed so that we have decent, just, fair policing, and to have enough police officers, acting right, who are going to police our communities to a level that will keep us safe,” Samuels said on Fox News. “And right now the argument has been broken up too much into an either-or situation, either defund the police or have protection.”
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Judah Torgerud
Judah Torgerud is a freelance journalist working with Alpha News to keep the people informed and bring the truth to light. Contact him at whqnu@nycunarjfza.pbz.
