Chief Medaria Arradondo announced his retirement Monday, just four years after inheriting a broken Police Department in the aftermath of the murder of Jamar Clark.
This was the chief who was supposed to transform our failed system of policing. Many who voted against City Question 2 just five weeks ago did so with the belief that the Minneapolis Police Department was in the capable hands of this police chief.
While there is nothing wrong with the chief retiring, there is something wrong with the way he was used as a prop by groups like All of Mpls, Operation Safety Now and the Downtown Council in a monthslong propaganda campaign suggesting that this single person was poised to reform a failed system that values private property and white supremacy over the lives and safety of marginalized people.
After testifying against former officer Derek Chauvin, who was caught on video executing George Floyd, Arradondo was touted as a symbol of how MPD was reforming. However, before Darnella Frazier's video surfaced, it was his department that initially reported Floyd's death as a medical incident. A year later, he stood by and did nothing when released bodycam footage showed officers hunting protesters and civilians, including Jaleel Stallings, who was wrongfully charged with attempted murder.
Whether or not Arradondo was capable of turning this department around, we will never know. But with Arradondo retiring, it is now very clear that All of Mpls, Operation Safety Now and their allies are the ones with no plan for change of any kind.
No chief. No vision. No plan. Just the same broken status quo.
Furthermore, Mayor Jacob Frey is now asking the public to pour an additional $27 million into a Police Department that has repeatedly failed and has yet to be held responsible by the city.
The only thing the mayor's office has proposed so far is a Public Safety Workgroup, another toothless commission where appointments are handed out to a few community leaders, easily outnumbered by corporate power brokers like Steve Cramer in a blatant attempt to slow progress and stifle dissent while claiming to give community a seat at the table.
In September, the mayor said he supported creating a Department of Public Safety, a department that would include, but not be run by the police. The only reason this vision was on the table in the first place was thanks to years of work by community groups outside City Hall. Now is the time for the mayor to step up and make that vision a reality, creating and investing in a Department of Public Safety that invests heavily in proven methods that reduce crime by protecting and caring for our communities.
True public safety starts with public stability. That means investing in our communities from the ground up by fully funding basic health and safety needs like housing, substance abuse services, nonviolent crisis response teams and public education. It also means an accountability and oversight structure that is public, transparent and has actual power to hold police accountable.
We invite everyone to join us in calling upon our city officials to charge forward with a new vision of public safety on Dec. 8 at 6:05 p.m. when the City Council holds a public meeting on the mayor's budget proposal.
Robin Wonsley Worlobah is a member-elect of the Minneapolis City Council.
