Tense meeting between Minneapolis council members and @MinneapolisPD Chief Medaria Arradondo this morning about crime spikes, lack of police response.
A thread:
@MinneapolisPD Yesterday, another 17 year old was murdered in Minneapolis. There have been 55 homicides this year, which surpassed the 48 from all of 2019.
Shootings are at a five-year high, and 400 people have been shot this year, Arradondo said.
@MinneapolisPD “If we just stayed status quo right now, we will end this year with numbers that are absolutely unconscionable,” Arradondo said.
@MinneapolisPD Multiple council members said constituents are being told by police that they won’t respond to property crimes or enforce laws in certain areas of the city without more resources.
Council Member @CunninghamMPLS: “My constituents are looking at me saying, what is MPD doing?”
@MinneapolisPD@CunninghamMPLS Council Vice President @annapoetic describes lawlessness in the area around 38th and Chicago (site of George Floyd’s deadly arrest), says people have to pay extortion money to get out of their own alleys and hear from cops it's a "no-go zone" for police response.
@MinneapolisPD .@MinneapolisPD Chief Medaria Arradondo says about 100 cops have left his agency in 2020. (Normal is 40-45 in a year.)
Yet Arradondo pushes back on narrative that there aren't enough cops to respond to crime, says he's reorganized MPD to maintain patrol staff strength at 535.
@MinneapolisPD Arradondo acknowledges the number of staff separations may rise because of the number of cops making disability claims. (FOX 9 has previously reported that number at 150. It’s unclear how many of those have left the department vs returned to work.)
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Minnesota's budget surplus is now projected at $17.6 billion between now and June 2025, per @MMBCommunicates.
The projections will help #mnleg decide short-term spending plans and a two-year budget.
@MMBCommunicates Higher-than-expected tax collections and #mnleg's failure to strike deals in 2022 have contributed to another record surplus, which Democrats now have control over.
Initial story ahead of news conferences that start at 11:45 a.m.:
@mnhealth .@mnhealth assigned 35 staffers to review grant applications and recommend awards, but failed to comply with state requirements and get conflict of interest disclosures from the people, auditors found.
This left the state open to potential fraud and abuse, auditors said.
@mnhealth .@mnhealth says the people *did* file conflict disclosures, but the agency didn't retain electronic records of them. That's been fixed, health officials say in their response to the auditor's findings.
“There is enough time,” House Speaker @melissahortman says about concerns that some of the largest bills, like health and human services, won’t get done by Sunday.
“Everybody has to get realistic,” Hortman says, and no one will get 75-80% of what they want. #mnleg
I asked which issue areas are in the worst shape.
Hortman says K-12, public safety, health and human services are “tied.”
NEWS: St. Paul Police say DFL Rep. John Thompson showed up after officers pulled over his daughter Sunday afternoon, screamed and yelled at police, identified himself as a state lawmaker and handed out his business card during a "chaotic" scene.
(Thread)
Officers say they stopped Thompson's adult daughter for erratic driving and expired registration. Cops smelled marijuana. As more officers arrived, so did Thompson.
To diffuse tensions, police say they decided to charge Thompson’s daughter out of custody and let them both go.
Police are asking the St. Paul city attorney to charge Thompson's daughter with 3rd degree DWI-test refusal, a gross misdemeanor.
Thompson does not face charges, though police say the case is open.