Dear Aurin,
I hope you share my delight that the City and the MPD are now making serious progress in the most important element of police reform. We are working our way back to having enough police officers – though we still have a long way to go – but importantly, we are building a culture that emphasizes fostering trust and cooperation between law enforcement and the citizens they serve.
We’re not hiring thumpers and bullies these days, we’re hiring an unprecedented mix of multiple ethnicities, of men and women; a diverse group united in the goals of improving public safety for all, and assuring respectful treatment for all. We’re hiring the kind of people we can be proud to have representing us on the streets of Minneapolis. We just graduated the largest class in years, a class that “looks like” the community it will serve.
Especially in light of the importance of building the right kind of police department, and the success we are having, it was more than ironic, and even shameful, that the City Council eliminated the police recruitment budget. But now, with the ill-planned funding of Agate now no longer needed, it should be an easy matter to restore that budget, using just a third of the funds that are newly available. With the recruitment budget restored, we can keep making rapid progress to having enough cops, and the right kind of cops. Nothing can benefit public safety more than this.
I hope you can assure me and other Ward 12 residents that you will work to accomplish this. Thanks as always for your consideration.
Regards,
Dave
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Great letter, Dave. Let’s hope Aurin listens AND takes action.
I had the privilege of attending the most recent MPD Graduation Ceremonies to a packed auditorium at the Sabathani Community Center in south Minneapolis. 20 Officers were in the graduating class. It was just great to see the diversity of the newly-minted Cops! And, the good news was that new hires – including several lateral transfers from other agencies – now exceeds departures of Officers over the past few years!
Chief O’Hara’s recent announcement that MPD applications are up by a hefty 133% is well underscored by the fact that already, there are over 40 Cadets on board for 2025! That being said – MPD has a long way to go to bring the Department up to required strength. That certain members of the City Council favored and acted to cut the MPD recruitment budget was inadvisable and just plain foolish! If there are funds now available to restore the unnecessary cut – let’s restore them immediately. Public Safety in our City is JOB#1 , and in great part, that means getting MPD re-populated at full strength.