MINNEAPOLIS, MN - A report by the College Fix states that the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) has partnered with a New York University (NYU) Law group to help "reimagine" and "implement alternatives" to their current policing plan.
MPD has shelled out a whopping $1,000,000 to support this collaboration. The Minneapolis City Council recently approved the partnership with NYU Law's Reimagining Public Safety (RPS), a program that is part of its Policing Project. The entire initiative focuses on incorporating "non-police entities" into public safety.
According to their website, RPS is a project that is "designed to support strong, healthy and safe communities, and end an overreliance on police. We are an expansive effort to learn about and support jursidictions redesigning public safety systems." Their website states that they are "learning across several cities," including Denver, San Francisco, Tucson, and Chicago.
Minneapolis is the latest city to join as part of the city's "Safe and Thriving Communities plan." RPS has a goal to "end policing as a one-size-fits-all" answer to all problems and instead "foster real community health and safety."
During summer 2022, the Safe and Thriving Communities report was adopted by the city council. This report details preventative, responsive, and restorative programs that they city "should implement" as "alternatives to traditional policing." The report also includes the development of "individual response alternatives."
The College Fix reached out to RPS, asking if the group had made any recommendations regarding "policing alternatives" to the city of Minneapolis and how exactly that plan would help reduce crime. In response, the Policing Project's Director of Communications, Joshua Manson, said, "We haven't made any recommendations to the city of Minneapolis. The city is bringing us on to begin implementation of the Safe and Thriving Communities report."
He added, "The report itself doesn't include recommendations to reduce the size of the police force. The focus of our work is to find ways to incorporate non-police entities into the creation of public safety in order to give officers more time to engage with the community and focus on the investigation and deterrence of violent crime."
The College Fix said that Manson, however, did not specify the meaning of "non-police entities" and he did not answer any questions on how the proposal would lower crime rates in the city.
The Safe and Thriving Communities report recommended changes to Minneapolis' public safety system, including dispatching behaviroal crisis response teams and mental health professionals to some 911 calls as opposed to having officers respond.
The College Fix also reached out to the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey's office to see if the city has yet to implement any of the report's recommended changes. They also inquired with MPD, asking if it supports the proposal and if it expects the size of its police force to be reduced as part of the plan.
Casper Hill, a media representative for the city responded by saying, "The contract with NYU has not been executed. No deliverables have been provided." Hill also said that there would not be a reduction in police officers under the proposal, adding, "The city is actively recruiting new officers to reach the mandateed level of 731 officers."
He said that the new plan will help police officers, adding, "This plan will enable the city to utilize law enforcement resources and services where they are most needed and allows for a more tailored approach to incidents that have typically been responded to primarily or solely by sworn police officers."
He said, "In other words, this comprehensive approach should make police officer's jobs easier and simultaneously provide better outcomes for those impacted by community safety issues."
One public safety expert, according to the College Fix, says that police must be the ones at the center of crime reduction. A policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, a think tank based in Minnesota, said that public safety plans should be focused on enhancing the resources provided to officers, not reducing the reliance on police.
David Zimmer, the Center of the American Experiment's public safety policy fellow, said, "These plans should include 'enhancements' to traditional law enforcement, not 'alternatives' to law enforcement." Zimmer served 33 years with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, the county that includes Minneapolis.
He added, "The basis for any successful public safety proposal should be built upon a solid law enforcement-centric strategy. He said, "Violent interrupters, behavioral health crisis response teams, homelss outreach teams, restorative justice program, etc. all need a foundation of law enforcement to build off of, and they need to operate in relation to police, not separate from the police."
Zimmer said that law enforcement officials' "support of additional response resources" has been "taken advantage of" by those who see this as an opportunity to promote a "reduction in policing." He said, "Police leaders have long called for more investment in '2nd responder' resources, taking those duties off the shoulders of already overburdened police officers."
He added, "The difference is, today's calls for 're-imagining' public safety and policing don't view this as an opportunity to enhance policing, but instead view it as an opportuniyt to reduce the policing footprting and reduce police encounters, etc. That approach will fail, as it will not allow for a stable foundation at the base of these other programs."
Zimmer said, "Minneapolis leaders must value their police department and stop demonizing it and labeling it as a problem. The current spike in crime since 2018 has been the result of a demonization of policing in the Twin Cities and the calls to dismantle and defund policing."
Zimmer went on to say that the most successful crime reduction policies are the ones that are targeting actual crimes like carjackings and robberies. He said, "The word quickly spreads among criminals and the pay off from this strategy is significant.
MPD has shelled out a whopping $1,000,000 to support this collaboration. The Minneapolis City Council recently approved the partnership with NYU Law's Reimagining Public Safety (RPS), a program that is part of its Policing Project. The entire initiative focuses on incorporating "non-police entities" into public safety.
According to their website, RPS is a project that is "designed to support strong, healthy and safe communities, and end an overreliance on police. We are an expansive effort to learn about and support jursidictions redesigning public safety systems." Their website states that they are "learning across several cities," including Denver, San Francisco, Tucson, and Chicago.
Minneapolis is the latest city to join as part of the city's "Safe and Thriving Communities plan." RPS has a goal to "end policing as a one-size-fits-all" answer to all problems and instead "foster real community health and safety."
During summer 2022, the Safe and Thriving Communities report was adopted by the city council. This report details preventative, responsive, and restorative programs that they city "should implement" as "alternatives to traditional policing." The report also includes the development of "individual response alternatives."
The College Fix reached out to RPS, asking if the group had made any recommendations regarding "policing alternatives" to the city of Minneapolis and how exactly that plan would help reduce crime. In response, the Policing Project's Director of Communications, Joshua Manson, said, "We haven't made any recommendations to the city of Minneapolis. The city is bringing us on to begin implementation of the Safe and Thriving Communities report."
He added, "The report itself doesn't include recommendations to reduce the size of the police force. The focus of our work is to find ways to incorporate non-police entities into the creation of public safety in order to give officers more time to engage with the community and focus on the investigation and deterrence of violent crime."
The College Fix said that Manson, however, did not specify the meaning of "non-police entities" and he did not answer any questions on how the proposal would lower crime rates in the city.
The Safe and Thriving Communities report recommended changes to Minneapolis' public safety system, including dispatching behaviroal crisis response teams and mental health professionals to some 911 calls as opposed to having officers respond.
The College Fix also reached out to the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey's office to see if the city has yet to implement any of the report's recommended changes. They also inquired with MPD, asking if it supports the proposal and if it expects the size of its police force to be reduced as part of the plan.
Casper Hill, a media representative for the city responded by saying, "The contract with NYU has not been executed. No deliverables have been provided." Hill also said that there would not be a reduction in police officers under the proposal, adding, "The city is actively recruiting new officers to reach the mandateed level of 731 officers."
He said that the new plan will help police officers, adding, "This plan will enable the city to utilize law enforcement resources and services where they are most needed and allows for a more tailored approach to incidents that have typically been responded to primarily or solely by sworn police officers."
He said, "In other words, this comprehensive approach should make police officer's jobs easier and simultaneously provide better outcomes for those impacted by community safety issues."
One public safety expert, according to the College Fix, says that police must be the ones at the center of crime reduction. A policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, a think tank based in Minnesota, said that public safety plans should be focused on enhancing the resources provided to officers, not reducing the reliance on police.
David Zimmer, the Center of the American Experiment's public safety policy fellow, said, "These plans should include 'enhancements' to traditional law enforcement, not 'alternatives' to law enforcement." Zimmer served 33 years with the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, the county that includes Minneapolis.
He added, "The basis for any successful public safety proposal should be built upon a solid law enforcement-centric strategy. He said, "Violent interrupters, behavioral health crisis response teams, homelss outreach teams, restorative justice program, etc. all need a foundation of law enforcement to build off of, and they need to operate in relation to police, not separate from the police."
Zimmer said that law enforcement officials' "support of additional response resources" has been "taken advantage of" by those who see this as an opportunity to promote a "reduction in policing." He said, "Police leaders have long called for more investment in '2nd responder' resources, taking those duties off the shoulders of already overburdened police officers."
He added, "The difference is, today's calls for 're-imagining' public safety and policing don't view this as an opportunity to enhance policing, but instead view it as an opportuniyt to reduce the policing footprting and reduce police encounters, etc. That approach will fail, as it will not allow for a stable foundation at the base of these other programs."
Zimmer said, "Minneapolis leaders must value their police department and stop demonizing it and labeling it as a problem. The current spike in crime since 2018 has been the result of a demonization of policing in the Twin Cities and the calls to dismantle and defund policing."
Zimmer went on to say that the most successful crime reduction policies are the ones that are targeting actual crimes like carjackings and robberies. He said, "The word quickly spreads among criminals and the pay off from this strategy is significant.
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