Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo slammed calls to defund the police in an energetic press conference on Wednesday.
When asked about the Minneapolis Town Council’s statements on police funding in recent days, the Chief did not hold back, according to Fox News:
“As chief I am obligated to [ensure] the public safety of our residents,” Arradondo said. “I will not abandon that.”
He went on to note that elected officials “certainly can engage in those conversations,” but said that “until there is a robust plan that will protect” residents of Minneapolis, “I will not leave them behind.”
Instead of criticizing his officers or bowing to the insanity that defunding a police department would require, Arradondo stood firm in his beliefs. He chose to highlight positive reforms to his police department. The New York Times reports:
Faced with calls from activists and a majority of City Council members to dismantle or defund the department, Arradondo also said he would use a new system to identify problem officers early and intervene.
“We will have a police department that our communities view as legitimate, trusting and working with their best interests at heart,” he said at a news conference [Wednesday].
Arradondo delved into a closer look at those reforms during his press conference, commenting briefly on his positive changes to the Minneapolis PD and the broader problems of race. He also chose to highlight specific changes as a result of the George Floyd incident, as per Fox News:
Arradondo outlined the “significant” reforms he is working to establish within the department, including an examination of use of force, the role of supervisors and the discipline process “to include both grievances and arbitration.”
Arradondo said he would “implement new procedures so that department leaders can identify early warning signs of misconduct,” and will rely “on real-time data.”
“Race is inextricably part of the American policing system,” he said. “We will never evolve in this profession if we do not address it head on.”
Arradondo said that “communities of color have paid the heaviest cost, and that is with their lives.”
Arradondo said that he recognized that parts of the Minneapolis Police Department “were broken” when he first joined.
Arradondo recieved broad praise for his statements, which is strange in light of the current cop-hating American popular culture. What’s even stranger is that he was commended on Twitter (which isn’t a platform known for positivity) by people from both sides of the political aisle:
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