Minneapolis City Council Seeks to Dismantle Public Safety Office Created After George Floyd's Death

Minneapolis City Council leaders have advanced a proposal to eliminate the city's Office of Community Safety, a move that signifies a potential reversal for public safety restructuring efforts initiated after the death of George Floyd. The office, established in 2022, is now facing criticism from some council members over alleged poor management and financial oversight concerns.

City Council President Elliott Payne and Council Member Robin Wonsley, who are spearheading the measure, stated that the office has not produced meaningful outcomes and has contributed to increased audit costs due to mismanagement. "It is good governance to stop investing in things that are not producing meaningful outcomes and are wasting taxpayer dollars," Wonsley said. "The Office of Community Safety has also contributed to increased audit costs due to poor management. It’s our responsibility to cut unnecessary bureaucracy that does not contribute to public safety."

Mayor Jacob Frey, who created the Office of Community Safety, has expressed strong opposition to the proposal. He warned that dismantling the office could jeopardize essential public safety programs, including mental health response, violence prevention, and police reform initiatives. "This office — one that these council members advocated for — manages services like mental health response, violence prevention and police reform. If council members want these services in jeopardy, that’s on them. This wholesale elimination without a plan, combined with other proposed cuts to MPD, is not a serious proposal when it comes to public safety in our city," Frey stated.

The Office of Community Safety, as described by the City of Minneapolis, oversees multiple departments including police, fire, 911, emergency management, and neighborhood safety. Its creation aimed to coordinate these services, enhance inter-departmental communication, and establish a unified command structure with clear accountability.

The proposal comes amidst heightened scrutiny of the city's violence prevention spending. A recent audit by the Minneapolis Auditor's Office identified significant shortcomings in the Neighborhood Safety Department's oversight of community-based violence prevention contracts. The audit highlighted inadequate documentation and financial controls, which increased the risk of fraud and misuse of public funds. The audit examined a system that had allocated over $36 million to five major violence prevention programs since 2023.

Council Member Wonsley defended the proposal, asserting that critical non-police programs, such as the Behavioral Crisis Response team, predated the Office of Community Safety and would continue to function independently. She argued that the office, with an approximate $2 million budget, had become an administrative burden and a barrier to developing a comprehensive public safety system. "The Office of Community Safety became administrative bloat that was a barrier to creating and expanding alternative responses rather than leading the development of a comprehensive public safety system," Wonsley said. She contended that the city could achieve a robust safety system and support police reform more efficiently without the perceived bureaucratic layers.

Council President Payne emphasized that the proposed structural changes aim to ensure progress on public safety and address racial disparities without being hindered by excessive costs and bureaucratic inefficiencies. "These proposed changes to the government structure ensure that progress on issues such as public safety and racial disparities is not impacted by unnecessary costs and bureaucratic bottlenecks," Payne stated. "Now more than ever, our city government must be responsive to the needs of residents, and its structure should reflect that."

The city's 2026 public safety budget allocated substantial funds to related departments, with over $16 million for the Office of Community Safety, nearly $10 million for Neighborhood Safety, and more than $225 million for the Minneapolis Police Department. The exact amount of potential savings from eliminating the office remains undetermined.