Martin Kaste, NPR News, Minneapolis.Ĭopyright © 2021 NPR. For some, that uncertainty is frightening. KASTE: Neither side can say for sure what public safety will look like in Minneapolis if this passes. But I do feel like sometimes to see something different, to envision something different, it's hard for them to see. VINE ADAMS: I want to see something different. KASTE: But after the debate, a lot of the younger people dismiss McAfee's arguments as scare tactics, such as Vine Adams, who says she is voting yes. They getting shot at a lot and that ain't no could. MCAFEE: Because those of us who are waking up to the rat-a-tat-tat of the guns, we ain't got time for no if and no could. He, the veteran community leader, was skeptical of any vision that could include police officers if necessary. She, the young activist, preached a bold vision of reimagine public safety. He debated the yes spokeswoman Janae Bates in front of a mostly Black audience, and the encounter captured the generational rift on this issue. KASTE: McAfee is a prominent opponent of the ballot question. JERRY MCAFEE: I don't want to be another test case. And that's just what Minneapolis Pastor Jerry McAfee does not want to hear. The feds aren't doing this, he says, so it's up to the cities to experiment. KASTE: Ofer and others on the national level see Minneapolis as a focal point of the post-George Floyd movement to reduce the role of armed cops in minor incidents. Well, look, I mean, in general, we believe the police today - the vast majority of what police does today are things that should not involve policing in the first place. But if you ask him, does the ACLU hope Minneapolis will end up with fewer cops, this is his answer. He also rejects words such as abolish and defund. KASTE: That's Udi Ofer, deputy national political director of the ACLU, one of the top funders of the yes campaign. UDI OFER: We just sent another check for $100,000. KASTE: You get a similar analysis from the yes campaign's national backers. KASTE: Because the ballot question gets rid of current requirements that the city employ a minimum number of cops, she says it'll give the city council more freedom to hire non-police responders, such as mental health teams.īATES: I think it's a false argument to say, like, is this about less or more police when the reality is it's actually about making sure people are safe. JANAE BATES: You actually can staff the department the way that meets the needs of the people. In fact, the yes campaign's Janae Bates prefers to call this an expansion of public safety. They say it's unfair that the ballot question does not actually abolish or even defund the police - words that have become politically toxic for many voters here. KASTE: Abolish is a word that the yes campaigners reject. Right.ĪNDERSON: There is a lot of stuff there that is not mentioned when they talk about abolish. She warns him that even basic aspects of policing could disappear.ĪNDERSON: If you have a car accident, what does your insurance ask for? Police report. KASTE: Replacing the police department just goes too far, she says. One of the canvassers, Donna Anderson, jumps in to say, that's what the no campaign wants, too.ĭONNA ANDERSON: We're hoping that folks will consider let's reform it, let's fix it, let's make it what it should be versus getting rid of it.
KASTE: And yet he says he's inclined to vote yes because he wants to see the police reformed. HIBBARD: As of a couple of weeks ago, we did get a fresh bullet hole right there and another one on the other side there, so. And the person in this house, Daniel James Hibbard, would seem to be a good audience for that argument. It's the no campaign, which argues that this is a bad time to replace the police department given the city's recent surge in shootings. JACKIE: Hi, I'm Jackie, and we're here just to talk a little bit about the November 2 ballot. Instead, there'd be a department of public safety, which would take, quote, "a comprehensive public health approach." The new department could employ police officers, quote, "if necessary." And today, these canvassers are knocking on doors trying to stop it. MARTIN KASTE, BYLINE: On the face of it, the ballot question is simple - no more traditional police department directly controlled by the mayor. NPR's Martin Kaste has been listening to the debate. A ballot measure to do that is a follow-up to last year's murder of George Floyd. Voters in Minneapolis are deciding whether to replace their police department.
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