Let’s say that Ballot Question #2 is approved by the voters in November

Now that we know that the proposed charter change to create a new Department of Public Safety will be on the ballot, more people are going to be wondering, writing and talking about what it would look like in Minneapolis. Naturally, and wisely I think, many of the details have not been worked out. Before investing in the careful, inclusive, transparent, democratic and thoughtful process such promising and serious work will require, I believe the first step is to see if the will of the people is to change the framework and create the department in the first place. Still, much of what will follow is predictable and will be built from what has come before. So, let’s say that Ballot Question #2 is approved by the voters in November. Here are some of my thoughts about what might happen next. The first action that would likely occur would be the appointment of a new Commissioner of Public Safety and likely her or his first priority would be to take the lead in developing a timeline and plan for studying, engaging stakeholders and considering options for the new department. The Council and Mayor may even choose to appoint an interim commission prior to January in order to allow the newly elected group to do a more extensive search and choose the appointee. That, and updated our documents to reflect the new charter language, would likely be the only formal action taken during the 30 days following election day. The other formal action that would follow, would be the drafting of amendments to the appropriate ordinances, including the Police Department Ordinance, and the creation of a new ordinance governing the new department. The shape of that would be up to the newly elected Council and Mayor. I think that the most obvious first things we might bring into the new department would be all of our Police Department, 911 Emergency Communications and our Office of Emergency Management staff and resources. We might also consider including Traffic Control, Fire Inspections, Animal Care and Control, our new Behavioral Crisis Response division and the Office of Violence Prevention. To get a better understanding about what a Department of Public Safety might look like, you might want to look at how some other cities, counties and states have organized their Public Safety Departments. You can look at our state Department of Public Safety here https://dps.mn.gov/pages/default.aspx#. You can get a feel for the general national picture of Departments of Public Safety, (according to Wikipedia) at - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_public_safety You can find two examples of other larger cities with Departments of Public Safety at the following. First for Denver, Colorado at https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Departments/Department-of-Public-Safety/About-Us. Second for St Louis, Missouri at https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/public-safety/index.cfm I suspect any reorganization and additional City functions would first be agreed to in a new ordinance and then take months, and likely years to accomplish and I know that there is a big interest right now at exploring how to better prevent crime and violence and looking at safety from a Public Health perspective as well as a Criminal Justice perspective. In Minneapolis, through our Health Department and with a lot of work being done under the leadership of former Mayors Rybak and Hodges, we have been taking a look at using a public health approach for many years. You can learn a little about the history of Violence prevention in Minneapolis at https://www.womenspress.com/a-public-health-approach-to-violence/. You can learn more about Violence Prevention and the Public Health Approach generally at these 2 links with information from two well-known and credible organizations, the World Health Organization, and the United States Center for Disease Control: https://www.who.int/violenceprevention/approach/en/ https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/about/publichealthapproach.html You can also find some excellent resources at https://citiesunited.org/#resources To get an idea of what this Council, in particular, might be interested in, in terms of some of the safety initiatives in addition or instead of policing, you can also look back at the Safety for All Budget Amendment that the Council passed last year: https://www.aclu-mn.org/en/news/step-toward-safety-all-minneapolis. At the same meeting where this was approved, we also approved funding to support the training and hiring of 3 new classes of new licensed law enforcement peace officers and a mental health professional to be part of 911 to help identify calls that could be assigned to the new crisis response teams. I also encourage people to see what one expert in the field has offered as a possible framework for consideration of what a new department might include. This was written several months ago by Michael Friedman. Michael is the former executive director of the Legal Rights Center and served for 3 years as chair of the Minneapolis Civilian Police Review Authority. https://minnesotareformer.com/2020/07/17/what-happens-when-we-dismantle-the-police-department-heres-a-plan/ Finally, If this measure passes I am confident that there will be many people standing up and coming forward to help ---- including community members, professionals who work or study safety and health from academia, other nonprofit organizations, and governmental entities from throughout the country and even internationally. Hundreds, and likely thousands, of people are ready and willing to offer their input, insights, best ideas and guidance to help us develop, implement and evaluate our new Department of Public Safety. We will make history and we will become a model for others to follow. I am excited about the work to come. I hope you are too. Together, we will make our city safer for everyone.