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Following up on the Deena Winter/Jeffrey Anderson exchange in “Note 3” of this series, I want to add a few facts. Deena cites the current budget of the Minneapolis Police Department. Deena writes: “[F]unding has only increased every year since 2020, except in 2021. It is now at record levels.”

Deena doesn’t break down the budget. It should be noted, however, that as of 2020 the department employed around 900 officers. Events since May 2020 have prompted hundreds of departures and retirements, bringing the current number of sworn officers to around 580. See, for example, this MPR story. O’Hara himself cited the 900 number in his remarks at the consent decree press conference that I covered in “Is it something I didn’t say?”

The current force is not only below the 900 of 2020, it is also below the legal minimum the city is obligated to maintain. One can’t help but suspect that the department’s understaffing is connected with the Minneapolis homicide statistics that Jeff Anderson relates and that Deena blows off.

The departures and retirements of Minneapolis police officers since May 2020 are obviously related to the lack of political support for the department among municipal authorities. The authorities’ supplication to the charges brought by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and now to the Department of Justice reflects this supplication. It is pathetic to see Chief O’Hara go along with the charade. Who speaks for the police? Not even the chief.

The current force is not only below the 900 of 2020, it is below the legal minimum the city is obligated to maintain. One might reasonably infer that the department’s understaffing is connected with the Minneapolis homicide statistics that Jeff Anderson relates and that Deena blows off.