Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey presented a plan for government restructure that would include an Office of Community Safety on March 22. On April 26, the Minneapolis City Council voted against a directive for a Public Safety Department charter amendment.
The Office of Community Safety, which was outlined on March 22, would include emergency and non-emergency services, such as the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD), Minneapolis Fire Department (MFD), the Office of Emergency Management and other agencies in an effort to allow different services within the department to communicate and provide a clearer line of command for different city departments.
In an email to the Minnesota Daily, Tara Niebeling, communications director for the Office of the Mayor, said the Office of Community Safety would be a part of the government restructure that was approved by voters in November 2021.
“The mayor has proposed a government structure that integrates public safety departments to ensure a more collaborative and effective public safety response,” Niebeling said in the email. “This proposed structure is in alignment with Question 1 and will help the entire city enterprise be more efficient, effective and equitable.”
While a date has not been set for when the Office of Community Safety would start, it will be a part of the government restructuring that is taking place over the next year. The office will be overseen by a chief safety officer, according to Frey’s presentation at the Committee of the Whole meeting on April 26.
The government structure implementation group will be tasked with reviewing what resources will be needed to implement the new office. City councilors will be working with the mayor and different department heads to establish the new office, said Ward 1 Council Member Elliott Payne.
City Council rejects Public Safety Department
Although Minneapolis citizens voted against Question 2, which would have created a Department of Public Safety, Payne said he wanted to go through a different route by proposing a charter amendment to create a Public Safety Department.
Council members are allowed to propose charter amendments at any time and they must pass with a unanimous vote by council and the mayor.
The proposed Public Safety Department would have been similar to the Office of Community Safety as it would consolidate various agencies, such as MFD and the Office of Emergency Management, into one department.
On April 26, the Committee of the Whole voted against a directive to further research the Public Safety Department. This effectively killed the Public Safety Department proposal, Ward 2 Council Member Robin Wonsley Worlobah said. The department did not get a full vote in a City Council meeting.
Wonsley Worlobah said she wanted city staff to research Payne’s proposal to give council members more time and information to make a decision about the department.
“We wanted to have our department implementation process actually be guided by research and a plan,” Wonsley Worlobah said. “It literally gave us the opportunity to get additional information about what this new Department of Public Safety could look like.”
In February, after MPD officer Mark Hanneman killed Amir Locke, Payne announced that he would be bringing forward an ordinance that would create a Public Safety Department. When proposed, the department was going to combine different emergency and non-emergency services.
“My proposal was really about consolidating the alternatives under one department, and then exploring a way of integrating those alternatives into the police department or alongside the police department,” Payne said.
