Residents suing because the police don’t have enough cops to keep them safe in officer-defunded Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – Concerned citizens in
Minneapolis are unhappy that the city leaders have allowed the
Minneapolis Police Department to reach new staffing lows.�

Now, this group of citizens filed a
lawsuit against the city, alleging that they are allowing
officer numbers to fall below city mandated levels.  And this group
just got their
day in court.

The plaintiffs in the case, from the city’s north side, are
worried that the number of officers who are currently employed by
the city is not enough to maintain public safety.  This group
points to the city charter, which requires the city to maintain a
certain percentage of officers in relation to the citizens, a
requirement that the group does not feel is being enforced.

Minneapolis residents are
suing the city of Minneapolis, saying the police are so
under-staffed right now that the residents of the city are being
endangered by rising violent crime. pic.twitter.com/yNY7EhL7bP

— Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani)
October 20, 2020

The plaintiffs are hoping that they are able to convince a judge
to order the city to abide by their charter and maintain consistent
staffing levels to ensure public safety.  Of course, this is in
stark contrast to the defunding of the police city leaders, like
City Council President Lisa Bender, had promised at one point in
time.  

Bender said:

“We’re here because we hear you.  We are here today
because George Floyd was killed by the Minneapolis Police.  In
Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that
our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping
our communities safe.â€

Or Council member Jeremiah Ellison who
tweeted:

“We are going to dismantle the Minneapolis Police
Department.  And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue
it back together.â€

We are going to dismantle the
Minneapolis Police Department.

And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back
together.

We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public
safety and emergency response.

It’s really past due. https://t.co/7WIxUL6W79

— Jeremiah Ellison (@jeremiah4north)
June 4, 2020

Statements like these in no way are seemingly acceptable to the
group that has sued the city wanting more officers.  They are upset
that the council moved to defund the agency and believe that move
caused a large amount of officers to retire, leave the agency, or
go out on disability claims, and the group no longer feels
safe.

Sondra
Samuels, one of the plaintiffs, believes that the police
department does need some type of reform, however, strongly
believes that they should still be in operation. 

She said:

“We all know we have to have reform of the police
department. Everybody wants that.  Everybody!  There’s nobody who
thinks that shouldn’t happen. But in addition – with that, we
need protection. We need adequate police protection. We have to do
both.â€

Minneapolis city officials have admitted that they have lost
roughly 100 officers in one form or another from January 1st to
October 1st.  They have also hired roughly 30 officers this year,
far short of the overall loss of officers.

Greg Sautter, the city attorney, claims that they have met all
staffing regulations of the city charter.  Sautter said since they
have done this, the plaintiffs should drop their lawsuit, or it
should be thrown out of court.

One of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, James Dickey, does not
agree.  Dickey told Judge Jamie Anderson, who is presiding over the
case, that his group had heard that hundreds of officers are
waiting to file disability claims, according to an attorney with
that knowledge. 

The attorney furnishing that information may be Ron
Meuser, who had told 5 Eyewitness news that there are currently
175 officers who have filed for disability claims and that at least
100 are planning to do so as well. 

He said:

“The 100 additional officers are doing their best to
hang in there and not leave because they want to serve their
community.  But if there is more rioting in the near future, I
would not be surprised to see the number of officers filing for
disability to reach between 250 and 300 officers.â€

To combat this claim of the attorney, the city filed a sworn
affidavit noting that they typically do not get notified in advance
when an employee is considering filing some form of disability. 
They claim that they are only aware of 33 “duty disabilityâ€
applications from officers.

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Minneapolis citizens file lawsuit against city for lack of
officers: ‘This is insanity – we didn’t ask for this’

August 31, 2020

MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The mainstream media,
Democratic leadership, Black Lives Matter, and Antifa would like
everyone to believe that all citizens demand for police departments
to be
defunded nationwide. 

However, as crime is starting to increase, specifically in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, law abiding citizens are demanding
increases in police, and are following through with lawsuits aimed
to stop the decrease of staffing levels.

Minneapolis PD is fleeing,
can’t blame them. Citizens are now suing the council and mayor
because of the drop in staffing at the agency. Watch for Law
Enforcement today for the article. https://t.co/DDTW3aNikB

— Chris Elliott (@ChrisElliott504)
August 29, 2020

The city council in
Minneapolis, not too long ago, vowed to disband the entire
Minneapolis Police Department after George Floyd died in police
custody in May. 

LET brought you the article in which City Council President Lisa
Bender announced to “end our city’s’ toxic relationship with
the Minneapolis Police Department.â€

Bender said:

“We’re here because we hear you.  We are here today
because George Floyd as killed by the Minneapolis Police.  In
Minneapolis and in cities across the United States it is clear that
our existing system of policing and public safety is not keeping
our communities safe.†

We are going to dismantle the
Minneapolis Police Department.

And when we’re done, we’re not simply gonna glue it back
together.

We are going to dramatically rethink how we approach public
safety and emergency response.

It’s really past due. https://t.co/7WIxUL6W79

— Jeremiah Ellison (@jeremiah4north)
June 4, 2020

Those words and the actions of the council has left many
Minneapolis Police
officers to either seek employment elsewhere (who could blame
them) or take medical leave in order to ensure they no longer have
to work. 

The officers who are leaving and those taking extended leave
have left staffing levels severely decreased.

Cathy Spann, a resident of the city, told Fox news:

“Every night in the Jordan neighborhood on any given
block from Emerson to Lowry, you hear gunshots every
night.†

Spann has a valid concern, she is worried that there will not be
any police officers if she ever has to call for help.  

She added:

“What do we do?  Who do we call if they city council
says we’re going to dismantle and defund your police
department?†

And she’s not alone.

Spann is one of eight citizens of the city and community leaders
who have decided they need to fight to ensure their police
department stays where it is in order to ensure public safety. 

This group has recently filed a lawsuit, suing the Mayor and
members of council under the grounds that current police staffing
are below what is required by the city charter.

The city charter requires the Minneapolis Police Department
maintain a specific number of officers based upon the population of
the city.  As of now, that amount required by charter is in the
neighborhood of 730 officers, according to Fox News. 

Current positions are showing they have 856 sworn positions on
the books, but that does not mean they have that many officers that
are working.

Currently, the union for the police officers, The Police
Officers Federation of Minneapolis, alleges their current sworn
number is at 740 since there are 66 currently out of service due to
some type of leave.  The union warns that there are several
additional officers that are trying to leave the agency.

Ron Meuser, of Meuser, Yackley, and Rowland Law Firm stated:

“Since June 1, we’ve been retained by over 175
Minneapolis police officers to pursue worker’s compensation and
PERA duty disability claims.†

“Following the George Floyd
incident, unfortunately it became too much,†Attorney Ron Meuser
said on behalf of the Minneapolis officers. https://t.co/5QpYky8FMM

— REVOLT TV (@revolttv)
July 11, 2020

Meuser says that many of the officers seeking disability are a
result of post-traumatic stress disorder, alluding that the
disorder has been caused by the riots and anti-cop sentiment.

Meuser added:

“We’ve never seen anything like what we’re seeing
today in terms of the sheer numbers of first responders seeking to
leave their careers due to physical and mental
disabilities.†

Citizens fear that the overall number of officers could be
reduced by roughly 100 more, as reported by Mayor Jacob
Frey. 

Frey announced this month that he expected at least 100 officers
to leave the agency by years end and there is no intention to hire
replacements, that would be even if someone wanted to be employed
there, which is doubtful. 

Fox News interviewed Ron
Meuser who explained that officers need to be diagnosed for

#PTSD by 2 psychiatrists before they start the application for
permanent disability. https://t.co/3wV7SgOX1l
#minneapolispolice

— Meuser, Yackley & Rowland & Rowland, P.A.
(@MeuserLawOffice)
August 6, 2020

Frey said that the city has enacted a hiring freeze which
ensures that those officers who are lost will not be replaced. 
Instead of working toward replenishing the police force, they are
using those funds to go toward areas that are designed, in their
minds, to replace police officers. 

Spann is concerned how this will effect public safety overall
with the drastic loss in police staffing.  She said, “We got to
try harder to come together because this right here we’re going
to destroy this city.â€

 

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Residents suing because the police don’t have enough cops to keep
them safe in officer-defunded Minneapolis appeared first on
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