The Minneapolis City Council has taken the first major step in an effort to disband that city's police department in the aftermath of the in-custody death of George Floyd in May.
According to CBS News, several council members—Jeremiah Ellison, Alondra Cano, Cam Gordon, Steve Fletcher, and Lisa Bender—recently declared their intent to "end" the Minneapolis Police Department and have now authored an ordinance to make that objective a reality.
The proposed amendment states that the police department be replaced by "a department of community safety and violence prevention" that will take "a holistic, public-health-oriented approach" instead of one focused on enforcing laws.
The head of the new department would be somebody with "non-law-enforcement experience in community safety services, including but not limited to public health and/or restorative justice approaches."
The passage of the proposals is the first step toward making the issue a ballot measure voted upon in the November general election.
