Court Orders Minneapolis to Hire More Police
2nd July 2021
There is a lot of judicial news today. This one is hot off the press: a judge of the Hennepin County District Court has granted a motion for a writ of mandamus against the City of Minneapolis, ordering the city to “immediately take any and all necessary action” to increase the size of the Minneapolis Police Department. The case was brought by residents of crime-ridden North Minneapolis, represented by the Upper Midwest Law Center, on whose board I serve.
The petition for a writ of mandamus was predicated on a provision of the Minneapolis City Charter that requires the city to maintain a police force of at least 0.0017 employees per resident. The petitioners argued that the City’s force has fallen below that requirement and is projected to continue falling farther behind over the next year.