The Minneapolis City Council has approved a 22% pay raise over the next three years for the city's police department, which witnessed many in uniform quit or retire in the city that began the “defund the police” movement after George Floyd’s death in 2020.
The city council voted 8-4 for the contract, which plans to give rookie officers a $90,000 starting salary, but the dissenting votes came from city leaders who are unhappy that “reforms” to the police department did not happen.
Randy Sutton, of The Wounded Blue, points out the city’s “thin blue line” has become much thinner than most.
“They have lost so many people that their ability to police is compromised,” he says. “They're down almost a third of the officers they're supposed to have by charter.”
After the 8-4 vote, Mayor Jacob Frey said the city is “turning a corner” and recognizing the need for “good, community-oriented policing in our city.”
Sutton says the Mayor’s comment is nothing but “political gobbledygook” after what the police department has endured.
“They're having a crisis and now they're trying to deal with the crisis of their own making,” he insists. “It's very, very desperate, still, for the police there.”
