Top Minneapolis official says only privileged fear being burgled as she defends abolishing police – The Sun

A TOP Minneapolis official has said that only the privileged fear being burgled as she defended the move to abolish the city's police department.

Minneapolis City Council president Lisa Bender spoke to CNN on Monday morning two days after herself and eight other council members are committed to ending the city’s relationship with the police force.

"What if, in the middle of the night, my home is broken into. Who do I call?" Alisyn Camerota asked Bender.

She replied: "Yes, I mean I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors, and myself, too, and I know that that comes from a place of privilege.

"Because for those of us for whom the system is working, I think we need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm is done."

The Council president also said that the "groundwork" to reform the police is already there.

"We are not starting from scratch we have invested in community-based safety strategies…we’ve done an analysis of all the reasons people call 911 and have looked at ways we can shift the response away from police officers into a more appropriate response for mental health calls.

"So the groundwork is laid already in Minneapolis for us to work from that."

When probed if she was scared that disbanding the cops is giving President Donald Trump a good talking point for the election, she said: "It starts with telling the truth.

"I think we’ve been afraid of those political dynamics, of what would happen in our city to have our police force hearing those type of words and that fear is what we have to work through.

"That’s the fear that we see from George Floyd’s family or the family of Jamar Clark or Justine Damond who were also killed by Minneapolis police who have told us they never want to see this again.

"Now the hard work begins for us to rebuild systems that really work to keep everyone in our community safe."

Also on Monday morning, the president tweeted his disapproval of Bender's plan.

"LAW & ORDER, NOT DEFUND AND ABOLISH THE POLICE. The Radical Left Democrats have gone Crazy!" he wrote.

Mayor Jacob Frey also reiterated that he does not support cutting the police department.

"I'll work relentlessly with Chief [Medaria] Arradondo and alongside community toward deep, structural reform and addressing systemic racism in police culture," Frey said in a statement obtained by KARE.

"We're ready to dig in and enact more community-led, public safety strategies on behalf of our city. But, I do not support abolishing the Minneapolis Police Department."

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