Thread by @WedgeLIVE

One way to look at this chart is that the police budget is 85% of the property tax portion of city revenues.

Council President Bender: had a "briefing from our finance staff about some of the risks facing us in 2021" indicating potential need for midyear cuts, "particularly depending on the outcome of lawsuits related to our police department which of course are not reflected here."

Council Member Schroeder asks staff a question, confirming that we don't have room in the budget for more programs.

Transitioning to the next agenda item...

Chief Arradondo: The ask today is for the council to provide funding for the joint enforcement team initiative. A "databased focus" way to prevent violent crime.

https://twitter.com/WedgeLIVE/status/1326250099303976960?s=19

Mayor Frey: Typical MPD attrition rate would be 40-45 officers, but in 2020 it's "well beyond 100."

"Unacceptable level of violence."

"Core function of city government is being able to call 911 and have a response."

500 shootings this year, 81% Black victims.

Cam Gordon asks if all the early retirements have created extra money in the police budget to pay for this.

Chief: "no, I do not have the dollars..." Estimates the contract would add equivalent of 20-40 full time employees.

MPD finance person chimes in to say officers on leave don't create savings until they separate permanently from city employment.

Gordon: What did the 6,7,8 hours of arrests during the recent freeway protest cost the city?

Answer: that information not available yet.

Bender: who will be legally and financially liable for misconduct?

Chief: previous contracts like this have left the other law enforcement agency responsible.

Bender: in briefings with finance staff she's been told "the single biggest financial risk to our city is the unknown expenses related to police lawsuits" due to murder of George Floyd and civil unrest. Asks is there enough money in self insurance fund or will this affect budget?

City coordinator Mark Ruff: "The short answer is we don't know what the lawsuit dollar amounts are." Potential for pluses and minuses, with change in federal administration. "The short answer is yes, we have enough money in contingency."

Bender says the numbers she's seen, which are conservative, are "alarming."

Palmisano: This kind of agreement is not unprecedented. What's unprecedented is the dramatic increase in violent crime. This is a temporary program to assist with a significant need. We need to do something right now.

Cunningham: what is also unprecedented is also the demand from the public for increased accountability for police.

Cunningham: How much does crime typically decrease seasonally in the summer to winter transition?

Chief: acknowledges decrease, but doesn't have those details.

Cunningham: Considering the contract length, what's the plan for Jan 1? Come back for $500k every month and a half?

Chief: MPD recruiting classes won't start producing officers until end of 2021. He'd like to use contracted officers from outside agencies "throughout 2021."

Cunningham asks about discipline for officers from outside agencies. Chief says Minneapolis residents would have the right to take any complaints to those agencies.

Fletcher: it's my understanding that if this was happening with funds already made available to MPD we would not need to do this authorization. Not opposed to contracting in principle.

Fletcher: what I'm concerned about is that the strategy seems to be adding to patrol... "taking a thing that has not been working very well" to address carjackings or violence, assuming 5% more patrol will solve the problem.

Fletcher: police contract seems to allow an unlimited amount of people to take unlimited amount of leave for an unlimited amount of time. The police contract is a threat to public safety.

Fletcher: MPD has highest funding it's ever had ($185m), with lowest staffing it's had in many years, but somehow spent its entire budget.

Fletcher: where has the $185 million gone?

Chief: whether it's $185 or $585 million budget, I have 74 people killed and 500 people wounded. "I'm asking the council to look within themselves... It's not like I'm sitting on a treasure chest."

Fletcher: I do think it's reasonable to ask for a basic level of budget transparency. How does this actually address the problem? Doesn't sound like the targeted strategy we've asked for, to address small number of people committing large number of crimes.

Chief: this narrative that MPD bears sole responsibility for criminal justice system is uninformed. It's false to say MPD isn't pulling it's weight. "We are part of an ecosystem."

Gordon: learned about this from media reports last night without time to prepare. This should have come through the public safety committee.

Osman: people are afraid, businesses are afraid. Crime is a problem. We need answers right now. "That's all I hear. It's a number one concern... As the chief put it, our city is bleeding."

Ellison: everybody here has a deep concern about public safety. There appears to be a framing that either you care or you don't. The conversation isn't who cares and who doesn't. That's insincere BS. The question is, what's going to work?

Ellison characterizing the attitude from MPD: "Shut up and pay us... We don't have to prove anything."

Ellison: How will this half million get the job done?

Chief: "I don't believe I've ever said shut up and pay us."

Bender: You seemed to be saying to Fletcher if you don't support this, you don't care about crime or violence. "It's really deeply offensive."

"This money is being framed as a solution to a problem it will not solve."

Bender: this is what it's like to set policy with the budget. When you ask questions, ask for data, you're told you don't care.

Chief: it's deeply offensive that you characterized my statements in the way that you did.

Goodman: "Chief Arradondo I hold you in the highest regard for speaking your truth." The community is with you.

Goodman reading from statements and experiences of carjacking victims.

Goodman: Even a handful of additional officers makes a difference with response times. "We are short staffed, it's pretty simple."

Goodman: We need to stop using words like abolish, defund, and reform. This is about both/and, not either/or. We can work on violence prevention and put more officers on the street.

Goodman: I'm sad we don't just take the chief's word for it. Many of the people watching this will be disgusted at disrespect for the chief.

Schroeder: I think we need to talk about the both/and. One part of that is missing: accountability for MPD.

Schroeder: It's been 6 months since George Floyd's murder. How are we proactively going after bad behavior? We've seen it at protests. When the police union gets mad, we've seen leadership demoted. But the public isn't seeing accountability for officers.

Schroeder: if this needs to come back again in January, it should be through regular budget process. I've tried to meet with you, chief. But the last time, you refused.

Palmisano: I understand colleagues don't want additional officers, but we don't have something better to replace them yet.

Jenkins: "I'm really dismayed by the level of division that's so apparent in our community." We're discussing this budget as if we've all had a regular year. Precinct burned, lost officers. Law enforcement will be included in any reimagining of public safety.

Frey: nobody is saying that having these 12 additional staffing positions filled will solve crime wave. Chief says it will help. He's shown willingness to engage. We have to give chief respect. "We can't Ignore the data when it doesn't support our conclusions."

Frey: chief has, at times, been "belittled" by city council.

"This is a chief that didn't particularly love to carry a gun." Who sued the city for racial discrimination and won.

Cunningham: I have done the work on public safety, even before being elected. I live in a hotspot. I do not agree or accept that I'll be lectured for challenging or holding a department head accountable.

Bender: "This work isn't going to be accomplished through campaign speeches or press conferences." It's going to take years. "The folks here leading the work are asking questions, which I think is important."

Bender suggesting that perhaps not all council members were notified because they counted up the yes votes ahead of time and left others out.

Johnson: inclined to support but we need more details. City council has limited levers to influence police policy, that's why questions are being asked today.

Committee voted to approve 7-6. Headed to council meeting this Friday, where the same 13 people will vote again.

Yes: Reich, Osman, Goodman, Cano, Johnson, Palmisano, Jenkins

No: Gordon, Fletcher, Cunningham, Bender, Schroeder, Ellison

Adding some video from today's meeting to the thread.

Ellison: "What we're asking for is if this is the half million that is going to get us over the hump when the first $184 million was not it, what's the strategy? What's the difference here? No strategy, no plan. 'Shut up and pay us.' That's all I'm hearing on this call."

From earlier in the meeting, Steve Fletcher asks: what's the strategy? "How have we not been successful in apprehending a small group of people who've been committing crime after crime after crime?"

Chief Arradondo: "Right now I'm not going to go into an exact strategy."

"This is not the platform, I don't believe, to start drilling down on a specific strategy that we... quite frankly this hasn't even been voted on."

Fletcher skeptical that doing 5% more patrol - something he says hasn't been working - will actually solve problem of carjackings and violent crime.

Fletcher: Where has the $185 million gone? With most funding it's ever had, lowest staffing in years, no recruiting class that was paid for, closing down units, MPD has somehow spent its entire budget.

Chief Arradondo: "Whether it's $185 million or $585 million" going back and forth over the budget "doesn't stop the bloodshed." 90% of the $185 million budget is salaries, wages, and benefits "so it's not like I'm sitting on a treasure chest."

Bender says it appeared Chief's intention was to "draw a line in the sand... implying or saying directly that if you don't support this you don't care about crime or violence."

Council members have begged for data that he says he's using to make decisions.

Bender: We know who the 12, 13, 14 year olds are committing the carjackings. "They have been arrested many times."

"This money is being framed as a solution to a problem it will not solve. It isn't our idea to ask these questions. We get these questions from our constituents..."

We're told "by folks who don't support giving the council more control" to use the budget to create transparency/responsiveness. "This is what that looks like... this is the kind of response we get." We hear about data being used to make decisions, but nobody has seen it.

Chief Arradondo: "With all due respect I think it's deeply offensive that you characterized my statements in the manner that you did." He's asking for resources based on the "sentiments of the majority of Minneapolitans that I've been in conversation with."

Goodman: "I'm kinda just sad that we don't take his word for it. I'm not saying that we should just let the chief do whatever he wants. I think he's made a a pretty impassioned case for what he thinks should happen right now."

It's "embarrassing" the way chief has been treated.

Mayor Frey talking about treatment of a department head by City Council: "I don't think we should continue to haul them in to be belittled, like our chief has been at times. I stand with our chief. I support him fully."

I should editorialize that nobody has been held up more by the mayor and others as a shield against criticism than Chief Arradondo. He is constantly showered with personal and professional praise. It's bizarre to suggest he's been "belittled" by anyone.

Cunningham: "I live in the middle of this. I care about this, and I spend a vast majority of my time as a council member [on this]." It's "not disrespect" to challenge or hold department heads accountable. "It's doing my job as a council member."