In another big Tuesday night victory for Americans, Minneapolis voters rejected a proposal that would have seen their police department replaced with a Department of Public Safety.
If accepted, the measure would have removed minimum funding requirements, as well as minimum officer requirements, and given the mayor and City Council 50/50 control of public safety.
The vote needed at least 51% approval, but was voted against 57% to 44%.
Opponents of the measure pointed to the fact that the city has recorded the most homicides since the mid-90s.
Following the death of George Floyd last year, there has been a radical push by far leftists to remove the Minneapolis police department altogether.
Fox News has more on the results of the voting:
Voters in Minnesota's largest city have rejected what would have been an unprecedented move to dismantle the police department on Tuesday after calls for reform following the death of George Floyd.
The measure asked voters if they favored amending the city's charter to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety. The initiative would have removed language from the charter related to the agency, including minimum funding requirements, and would have divided control of public safety between the mayor and City Council.
The question failed 57% to 44%, according to the results released by the Minnesota Secretary of State's office with 133 of 136 precincts reporting. It needed 51% of voter approval to pass.
"I kind of trembled a little bit in the voting booth today because I live in one of the neighborhoods most impacted by crime and violence… and knew the correlation between the lack of policing and good policing," Sondra Samuels, a Minneapolis resident who sued over the measure, told Fox News. "We can have reform and we can have enough police to keep our children, our elderly safe. So this was a win tonight."
Samuels said she's lost four neighbors to gun violence and several others are putting homes up for sale.
NBC News has more on voters' rejection of replacing the police department:
Minneapolis voters on Tuesday rejected a proposal to replace the city's police department with a Department of Public Safety, The Associated Press projected. The result is a blow to the nationwide movement to overhaul policing spurred by the police killing of George Floyd a year and a half ago.
The ballot initiative would have amended the city's charter to remove a requirement that the police department maintain a minimum of officers.
It asked residents whether the police department should be replaced with a Department of Public Safety "that employs a comprehensive public health approach to the delivery of functions," the specifics of which would be determined by the mayor and City Council.
Supporters said the measure would reduce the role of armed police officers in calls involving homeless people, mental health issues and substance use, though they would still be part of the new department and would respond to violent crime.
Opponents of the measure criticized the ballot language for saying that the new department "could include" licensed police officers, if necessary, to fulfill its public safety responsibilities at a time when the city has recorded the most homicides since the mid-1990s. Many also took issue with the vague wording of the measure and its newness.
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