This archive report was first published on 8 June 2020.
Published on June 8, 2020, Minneapolis city councillors announced plans to dismantle and rebuild the city's police department after the death of George Floyd in custody sparked nationwide protests about racism in law enforcement.
According to Council President Lisa Bender, the decision was made to 'dismantle policing as we know it in the city of Minneapolis and to rebuild with our community a new model of public safety that actually keeps our community safe.'
Alondra Cano, a council member, tweeted that the decision came through a 'veto-proof majority of the MPLS City Council,' which agreed that the police department 'is not reformable and that we're going to end the current policing system.'
A white Minneapolis police officer has been charged with murder in the May 25 death of George Floyd, after bystander video showed the officer's knee pinned on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes while he pleaded for his life and called for his mother.
The decision to dismantle the police department comes after two weeks of mostly peaceful demonstrations across the country against racism in US law enforcement, with some marchers calling for the police to be defunded.
