Full Park Board Officially Votes To Repeal 2020 Decision Limiting the Role of Minneapolis Police in Parks

5/5/2022-Written by SJ

City officials have revealed that park board commissioners voted 5-3 to repeal their 2020 decision banning Minneapolis police officers from working events alongside park police. The vote took place during Wednesday’s park board meeting. According to officials, one commissioner on the nine person board abstained from voting. Details regarding which commissioners voted in favor of the repeal have yet to be made public.

In 2020 the park board cited public safety as its reason for cutting ties with the MPD. The resolution read, “Recent actions by the Minneapolis Police Department in the alleged murder of George Floyd while in police custody have severely undermined community trust in, and sense of safety around, Minneapolis Police.”

However, last month members of the Minneapolis Park Board’s Administration and Finance Committee voted to revisit the park board’s 2020 decision limiting the Minneapolis police department's role within city parks. 

The request to repeal the 2020 decision was originally made to the Administration and Finance Committee by Al Bangoura, the park board’s superintendent. In a memo to the committee he wrote, “As nearly all park events occur within the City of Minneapolis, on-going coordination and cooperation with the Minneapolis Police Department is necessary for the interest of public safety.” 

He explained that a certain number of police must be present at park events. Before the 2020 decision, there weren’t enough park board police to meet permit requirements, but the Minneapolis police department would make up the difference. It is estimated that the MPD accounted for almost 40% of the officers at events prior to 2020.

After the decision, the MPD was no longer able to assist with events. During the pandemic, when events were few and far between, their absence didn’t affect event planning. But now, as events are coming back strong, the park board once again needs the MPD’s help to be within permitting guidelines.

Now that the full park board has repealed its earlier decision, Minneapolis parks will be far less safe for people of color. According to a report released last week by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights “the City and MPD engage in a pattern or practice of race discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.”

The MDHR reported that the Minneapolis Police Department conducted “traffic stops, searches, citations, and arrests” at a significantly higher rate when they involved people of color–specifically members of the Black community.

The report also concluded that the Minneapolis Police Department “disproportionately killed community members of color and Indigenous community members.”

If the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board is as worried about public safety as they say, it seems like the logical solution would have been to vote against the repeal. Voting for a proposal that welcomes Minneapolis police officers back into our parks is dangerous for communities of color and leaves us, once again, questioning the park board’s priorities.