Minneapolis City Council president Lisa Bender defended the City Council’s decision to dismantle the police department in the aftermath of the murder of a 46-year-old Black man in police custody.
On Sunday, nine City Council members vowed to dismantle the police force “and try something new.”
On Monday Bender spoke via Skype with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, saying the “revolutionary” movement to remove the police department is a “wake up call” that the police “is not keeping every member of our community safe.”
“What if in the middle of the night, my home is broken into?” Camerota asked Bender.
“That comes from a place of privilege,” Bender replied.
“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,” she said.
Bender said the City Council is looking to shift the response away from armed police officers to community policing by trained residents.
The City Council will face opposition from Mayor Jacob Frey, who has said he will not allow the police force to be dismantled.
“We are not starting from scratch we have invested in community-based safety strategies,” Bender said. “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,” she said.
“Now the hard work begins for us to rebuild systems that really work to keep everyone in our community safe,” Bender said.
