Minneapolis Votes on Whether to End Its Police Department

Elections|In the metropolis wherever George Floyd was killed, voters determine the Police Department’s fate.

MINNEAPOLIS — Voters successful Minneapolis connected Tuesday weighed whether to support oregon regenerate a long-troubled Police Department that became nationally infamous past twelvemonth aft the execution of George Floyd by an officer, which triggered worldwide outrage and protests.

While disgust implicit Mr. Floyd’s execution is wide shared successful Minneapolis, a heavy Democratic city, residents person been divided connected a ballot question: whether to regenerate the section with a caller bureau focused connected nationalist health. Progressive Democrats person pushed for the measure, which would spell beyond what different cities person done to overhaul policing, portion mean Democrats and Republicans person expressed alarm astir a emergence successful convulsive transgression and called alternatively for improving the existent system.

“They request to beryllium restructured, but don’t get escaped of them,” said Carman Mahone, a customer-service idiosyncratic who opposes the amendment, calling it the astir important contented connected her ballot. “We request them. Have you seen each this shooting and everything going around?”

But patience with the presumption quo has worn bladed successful Minneapolis. Many residents stock stories of unpleasant encounters with constabulary officers, oregon of the fearfulness they felt during the civilian unrest that overwhelmed the metropolis past year.

If the amendment passes, the Minneapolis Police Department would cease to exist, and the City Council would person much oversight of a replacement agency. That caller section would astir surely inactive employment equipped officers to respond to immoderate emergencies, but determination would nary longer beryllium a required minimum fig of officers.

Jason Chavez, a City Council campaigner whose ward includes the tract of Mr. Floyd’s murder, said helium supported the ballot point and a nationalist information attack that focused much connected addressing the basal causes of crime.

“People oftentimes are like, ‘Look, I don’t consciousness harmless erstwhile a bull is adjacent me, but I besides don’t consciousness harmless walking outside,’” Mr. Chavez said arsenic helium and run workers held signs astatine a engaged intersection connected Tuesday morning. “We should not person a strategy that does that.”