Bringing 3rd Precinct back into the 3rd Precinct
We were still the fools in April, so now I’m setting my hopes on getting Third Precinct brought back to the Third Precinct, within the next six months, and thereby avoid being the Thanksgiving Turkey.
Here are the current numbers: As of May 1, it will be 2,167 days where the 26 neighborhoods of the Third Precinct have not had a station within their boundaries. That’s now 252 more days than Paris took to rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral.
We’ve now taken 13% more time than Paris needed. But they have something magnificent to show for it: a rebuilt, 226-foot, 64,600 Cathedral – one that attracts visitors from all over the world. We have approximately – nothing.
Wade, I concede there are legitimate reasons to hesitate on the Barnette reappointment. Even so I think the Mayor deserves his own team on this and all other appointments, barring compelling reasons to block them; I don’t think anything in Barnette’s record reaches this threshold. But people can disagree about this.
If DSA majority blocks O’Hara reappointment that’s a different matter. Who does the council majority think can be attracted to this job who will give better leadership to Chief O’Hara? He has accomplished major police reform elsewhere and is doing so here. He has rebuilt the culture. Most of the thumpers are gone, and those who are left know they can’t thump and keep their jobs. And indeed, they don’t thump. That’s a huge victory compared to the state of policing in 202.
Who will take on this leadership role with a city council majority that will oppose reform, oppose anything involving policing, as indeed they must to support the platform of their political party?
As to the relative positions of your tongue and your cheek, that was not so clear.
While we’re at it, you might offer your comment about my actual argument: that it should not take longer to build a little ol’ police precinct facility than to rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral. Do you really think it is okay to leave 25 neighborhoods without local police presence for going on six years???
Quite unfortunate that there are still the DSA ers out there in Mpls wanting to eliminate the MPD, AND, of course, the Chugleys, the DSA voting block on the Council, who are hard at “work,” as managed by Wonley and Payne, the group who would much prefer the 3rd Precinct never moved into the new location at 2633 Minnehaha Ave.
Because of their ANTI police stance, whether about the MPD, or really ANY police dept in ANY city, they are never going to support Mayor Frey, the MPD, Police Chief O’Hara, Commissioner Barnette, and especially our staff and employees under Inspector Gomez, at this quite awful, temporarily location for the 3rd in downtown, and almost 6 years now, in this substandard, unworkable setting.
* I have been at the 3rd Downtown a number of times, and I am truly embarrassed, ( well, mortified) for our City every time I visit.
But, for the Wonsley/ DSA voting block on the Council, it is ALL part of the greater plan..
Abolition Working Group – Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)
https://www.dsausa.org/working-groups/abolition-working-group/
Excerpt…
Our demands:
Defund the police by rejecting any expansion to police budgets or scope of enforcement while cutting budgets annually towards zero
End the criminalization of working-class survival
Freedom for all incarcerated people
This voting block on the Council is happy, ( maybe even joyful) that the 3rd Precinct, 6 years later now, never got back into any of the 26 neighborhoods it served…( = unserved. )
https://unicornriot.ninja/2023/we-won-the-move-minneapolis-council-member-celebrates-after-community-thwarts-plans-for-old-3rd-precinct-site/
*This was how CM Wonsley spent her time before getting onto the Council. She pretty much does the SAME thing now, but is paid for by us?!
Excerpt, below.
“Before running for city council, Wonsley was a community organizer who co-founded the Seward Police Abolitionist Group, made up of neighbors who opposed rebuilding the 3rd Precinct and supported defunding the Minneapolis Police Department. ”
https://minneapolistimes.com/mpd-staffing-crisis-takes-a-toll-slowed-911-response-and-plunging-clearance-rates/
*Note that while most in our City think the # of MPD officers should be closer to 1 K, Council President Payne, with his high level of critical thinking skills, has concluded that the # should be less than 300?!
Excerpt, below.
“The unmet charter requirement of 770 is not enough. In Terry White’s Better Minneapolis podcast, I heard Council President Elliot Payne opine that he had studied the police calls for service, type and quantity, and he believed 275 officers would be sufficient. “
3rd Precinct Police Station Plans – City of Minneapolis
https://www.minneapolismn.gov/government/programs-initiatives/community-safety-centers/south-mpls-community-safety-center/3rd-precinct-station-plans/
Excerpt…..( note the words…” DO NOT HAVE…” )
The need for a 3rd Precinct building
Officers from the 3rd Precinct are now operating out of a downtown building. Because of this, people within the precinct’s geographic area do not have the same level of access to community safety services compared to those in other areas of Minneapolis.
See past work and background
What a police precinct provides
24-hour walk-in access to get community safety aid and referrals for other services
Community use of the building space for a variety of needs
A police building based within the community helps to build a connection and community partnership. It also makes it easier for people to access City services.
Having a precinct building in the area improves:
Police presence
Partnerships
Connection to the community
Glad to oblige, Wade. And here’s my judgment: that you should think before you post.
Presence or absence of Third Precinct has no impact on whether crime goes up or down. It does have an impact, for the worse, on response times, for whatever crime does occur. Thus, harm is greater, and the chances of catching the bad guys are lower.
Here is what does and indeed has had an impact on crime rates: public safety leadership. So naturally our city council majority is aiming to take out the top two levels of leadership. Using the same logic as, when police recruitment began to show real success, they cut the recruitment budget.
Gotta think these things through, Wade.
Oh David. If you can’t read sarcasm on the internet, maybe this isn’t the best place for you. I was clearly being tongue in cheek.
But I’ll bite. I promise to really think through my replies if you promise to actually read the Council’s real criticisms of Barnette instead of taking what Frey says about them uncritically.
Crimes gone down in the city without a 3rd precinct building? Connection?! You be the judge!
Car break-in sprees continue in Minneapolis…
https://replica.startribune.com/infinity/article_popover_share.aspx?guid=b5700a75-88a3-4895-887f-252613a79803&share=true
Excerpt….
“In recent years, city residents have been frustrated by the repeated sprees that include both car thefts, and what’s informally known as “smash and grabs.” In each of these vandalism sprees, young men or children are typically seen walking down a street while breaking car windows and either stealing items inside or simply moving on to the next car.
There have been about 2,000 reported car thefts in Minneapolis so far this year — a roughly 25% increase from this time last year.
Vandalism and property damage cases, including vehicle damage, is up about 6% this year.”