The president of the Minneapolis City Council Lisa Bender, who has a reputation for making controversial statements, has taken the idea of disbanding the police to the next level during an interview on CNN’s Cuomo Prime Time on June 8. The show host Chris Cuomo noted that her concept of a police-free society seems aspirational and imaginary as there would be no crimes.
Cuomo added that as long as these communities are been internally and externally exploited, there's a need for a few good men and women to take the responsibility to keep people safe. Bender responded saying a police-free future is aspirational and that she is willing to support community members who are encouraging them to set that as the goal.
During the interview, Cuomo objected to Bender's idea of getting rid of the police, something he deemed ridiculous to people. She explained that they have checked the reasons why people call 911 and why folks in Minneapolis are calling for help and they have started to pair the right response to these calls.
Bender claimed this enables the police to focus on the work they have been trained to do, while they have a better to those dealing with a physical health crisis or a mental health crisis. She explained that the policing system doesn't prove to be useful for numerous victims of crime, adding that they have numerous rape kits that have never been used for testing.
Bender said it is high time for them to improve their response to all sorts of different violations as far as public safety is concerned because the trust in the system is so weakened that the community is across the board. The same day, she made a widely-pilloried comment on CNN that suggests calling the police when your home is burglarized comes from a place of privilege.
The demands to dismantle the police force has grown rapidly in Minneapolis after the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than 9 minutes. On May 25, Floyd was handcuffed and taken into custody, but despite pleading for air, the police officer kept pressing his knee into his neck.
This incident triggered nation-wide protests in Minneapolis, some of which turned to be violent. These protests have now spread across the United States and the rest of the world as demonstrators continue demanding justice for Floyd. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is against the idea of getting rid of the city’s police force, while a veto-proof majority of members of the city council bent on taking that drastic step.