Part 2: Minneapolis mayoral candidates asked about public safety issues

Some of the Minneapolis residents who asked questions of the mayoral candidates (photo by Sarah Whiting)

A coalition of three organizations focused on the rights of immigrants, labor, and renters, hosted a mayoral forum with Minneapolis candidates on September 3. Seven questions directed to DeWayne Davis, Omar Fateh, and Jazz Hampton focused on public safety issues, housing concerns, and how to address immigrant and labor violations. Current mayor Jacob Frey declined to participate in the forum.

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos En la Lucha (aka CTUL) Action Fund, Unidos MN, and Renters for Political Transformation organized the event, which had an audience of roughly 200 people. Candidates fielded questions asked from seven residents. This second story focuses on the two public safety-related questions.

Policing: Eliminating Bias and Systemic Racism 

One questioner noted that the Minneapolis Police Department has a documented history of excessive force, racial violence, and constitutional violations that have targeted Black residents. Reports indicate that some officers have been identified with white supremacist ideologies, and a history of  unjustified force sometimes leading to the death of unarmed civilians. The questioner asked how the candidates will change MPD policies and practices to eliminate systemic racism and bias within the department.

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  DeWayne Davis (photo by Sarah Whiting)

  Davis noted that Minnesota is under a court-enforceable settlement agreement, which came after a pattern practice investigation showed MPD has problems related to bias and discrimination: “That court enforcement spells out the ways that the police department can begin to correct those things.” He pointed out that he helped facilitate community conversations with independent monitors who evaluate the progress Minneapolis has made in this settlement. Because of their experience monitoring consent decrees in other major cities — like New Orleans, Detroit, and New York — Davis asked why some city enforcement efforts failed to result in police reform; the reply he got was that consent decrees fail “when the mayor does not keep it front and center.” Davis pledged to be the mayor who will set expectations to the police department about meeting goals outlined in the Minnesota settlement to combat systemic bias, including ensuring that officers are properly trained in use-of-force.  

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  Omar Fateh (photo by Sarah Whiting)

  Fateh added that there are both federal and state consent decrees concluding what BIPOC communities have known for a long time: there is widespread systemic racism, a dangerous pattern of racial profiling, that lead to BIPOC individuals being hurt and killed. He recounted a time at the Capitol when legislators were fighting for police accountability measures and multiple local organizations shared a website that listed every complaint received about an MPD officer. One officer had 38 complaints, another had 25. “We know that there are officers that have done some pretty evil things in our community, but rather than getting properly disciplined or even terminated, what happens? They get promoted, they go on to train other officers.” [See one story here.]

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  Jazz Hampton (photo by Sarah Whiting)

  Hampton cited the generic phrase, “There’s just a few bad apples,” with a reminder to the audience of how the phrase ends: “If there’s a bad apple ‘it will spoil the whole bunch.’” He noted that he co-created the platform TurnSignal shortly after George Floyd’s murder. The app connects drivers who have been pulled over to a connection with live attorneys ready for advisory video calls. Now serving over 200,000 people across the United States, Hampton cited the company’s launch phrase: “If they’re struggling to legislate, then we’re going to innovate.”.

Downtown Worker Safety and Welfare

A restaurant worker in downtown Minneapolis asked how employees in the area can feel safe, especially working odd hours in the hospitality industry. With a lack of affordable, reliable, and safe public transportation, and encounters with people “in altered states of consciousness” — which requires training to properly respond to — the question was asked about how they would prioritize worker safety.

• Hampton cited the need for affordable wages so that workers can live in the neighborhoods they work in, rather than commute across cities late at night. There is sometimes a reluctance by residents to call 911 to respond to mental health or addiction-related crises, due to fear of excessive police force. “If you feel like calling public safety is going to make the situation less safe, we have to fix that.” Hampton further advocated for re-routing the order of operations to another call-in number – that way, people know who they’re calling and can access a safety system that utilizes individuals trained for sensitive situations like people experiencing a crisis on the street. 
• Fateh acknowledged that hospitality workers make local events and restaurants in downtown possible. He agreed that workers need to receive livable wages, which would be closer to $20 an hour, and reiterated the need to build up city-wide alternatives to policing. Fateh said Minnesota legislators brought in $19 million in public safety aid to build up policing alternatives, but much of that money went untouched because mayor Frey had disagreements with the City Council on allocating the funds. “We’re the land of 10,000 non-profits, and a city with a mayor with 10,000 excuses,” Fateh concluded.
• Davis added that his work as co-chair on the Community Safety Work Group in 2022 strongly recommended expanding behavioral crisis response, primarily recommending community violence intervention programs. “We have to invest in human needs services,” Davis said, emphasizing the need for aggressive and proactive action to allocate funds to mental health and substance abuse services. “This is the same issue that is creating encampments, because we will not invest in communities. We really have to start there[and put the resources out there. We’re going to make sure that we can deploy them all over the city.” Davis pledged to develop a comprehensive violence intervention and reduction plan that is regularly updated, in order to bulk up public safety and decrease crime throughout Minneapolis, especially in downtown. “We’re going to include all the people involved: workers, residents, neighborhood associations, county, state. We can’t do this go-along approach anymore,” Davis said.

Details About Public Safety

According to a report by NYU Law’s Policing Project, which was contracted by the city, in 2024 approximately 47 percent of 911 calls had the potential to be directed to non-police responders. The city’s Behavioral Crisis Response team responded to over 10,000 calls in 2024, about mental health, homelessness, and substance use issues. The city goal is to divert 20 percent of its emergency calls to civilian responders so that policing can be used to address crime.

In Frey’s 2023-24 budget, he recommended allocating the Behavioral Crisis Response team with $1.45 million in 2023, and $2.9 million in 2024. The police department budget was $196 million.

The 988 crisis line connects people with counselors skilled in mental health and substance use issues.

Related Reading

City leaders pleasantly surprised by independent public safety data analysis

Policing alternatives move forward in 2024 ahead of federal decree

Commentary: Police don’t stop crime

Greenlight Fund Twin Cities: leading with dignity

Canopy Roots: compassionate care

Election Details

Minneapolis has ranked-choice voting, which means that voters rank candidates in order of preference. That way if one candidate is bumped early, a vote can still go toward the next-preferred candidate, and so on. Early voting in Minneapolis begins September 19. Find details on Minneapolis voting at vote.minneapolismn.gov

The next story in this series will focus on climate issues raised.

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