Minneapolis city officials are working overtime to uphold the status quo. They have manipulated the charter amendment process and skated around both long-standing city rules and state law in an effort to keep our Police Insurance Amendment off the November ballot. And they’re hoping you don’t notice.
The City Charter is the “Constitution” of Minneapolis. It guides our city’s governance and policymaking. Under state law, the City Charter may be amended by a citizen petition. This is no easy task: Our campaign had to collect at least 6,869 signatures from Minneapolis registered voters to secure a spot on the Nov. 8 ballot. Our grassroots campaign collected over 15,000 petition signatures.
Our Police Insurance Amendment would require police officers to carry professional liability insurance to reduce police misconduct and brutality. This would give rogue officers a financial consequence for their actions, making our city safer from police violence.
The city can cover the base rate of the insurance for all officers, but any premium increases due to a history of misconduct must be paid for by the officer. That means good cops aren’t punished, but instead receive a new benefit—guaranteed insurance coverage (the city occasionally refuses to cover officers when they are sued).
Even though we have collected the required number of signatures, our Police Insurance Amendment must be “approved” by the City Council by Aug. 26 to be placed on the ballot. The City Council [has] stalled this vote until its Aug. 5 meeting. Why? If they block the Police Insurance Amendment from the ballot, we would have just three weeks for any needed legal action to protect the voting rights of the community in court. This is an intentional effort to keep us off the ballot and to undermine the power of the courts.
On July 28, Minneapolis City Attorney Susan Segal formally advised the City Council to block our Police Insurance Amendment from the ballot. She said state law requires employers to cover their employees when they are acting within the scope of their employment. No one is disputing that. But Segal strongly implied that committing misconduct is part of an officer’s job—and because of that, concluded that taxpayers must bail out officers when they commit misconduct. Seriously? Because our amendment expressly forbids the city from issuing these taxpayer-funded misconduct bailouts, Segal falsely claimed it was illegal.
Unfortunately, if the City Council refuses to put our petition on the ballot, that will leave us no choice but to go to court to protect our voting rights and to ensure a fair process for future charter amendment proposals.
For more information about the Committee for Professional Policing visit our website at insurethepolice.org and “like” us at facebook.com/insurethepolice. The city may have the fancy lawyers and the money, but we’ve got the people—and the law—on our side.
Cole Yates
Committee for Professional Policing
