Minneapolis police ranks begin to rebound
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While the Minneapolis Police Department endured a historic exodus of officers in the years following George Floyd's murder by officer Derek Chauvin, city officials say they are seeing signs of recovery.
The big picture: The city's police force has shrunk by more than a third in recent years, from 920 officers as of March 2019 to 583 officers this past March, according to police data provided to Axios.
- Minneapolis' charter requires at least 713 officers on the force, and the city has failed to hit that mark since 2021, MPD data shows.
- Last year saw "the lowest staffing level in over four decades," police chief Brian O'Hara told Axios in March, with data showing 560 cops on the rolls as of March 2024.
Yes, but: The force increased by 28 from March 2024 to mid-May, to 588 officers, the first increase since 2019 and a trend that Mayor Jacob Frey said he expects to continue.
- "We netted positive last year, and we're going to net substantially positive this year," Frey told Axios this spring.
State of play: The city has made efforts to rebuild the ranks in recent years, including the Minneapolis City Council approving a historic pay raise under a new union contract last year.
- While post-2020 workers' comp claims and lessening interest in the job played roles in the force's current size, MPD faces more mundane staffing realities as well.
- Roughly one-quarter of the force is slated to reach retirement age within three years, O'Hara told Axios in July.
What they're saying: Homicide investigators like Sgt. Andrew Schroeder told Axios during a ride-along last year that the smaller staff has had to shoulder big workloads and increased public scrutiny.
- "I heard a really senior cop tell me the other day, 'I'm just sick of being the bad guy,'" he said.
The fifth anniversary of Floyd's murder on Sunday comes after the Justice Department announced this week that it will seek to dismiss a federal police reform agreement pending in Minneapolis. MPD will continue to remain under a state reform agreement.
- After Wednesday's announcement, O'Hara said the path toward "real, lasting change" for residents and officers will nonetheless continue.
- "The members of this police department have been through an unbelievable amount of change and of trauma, just like the residents of this community, and I think they know things needed to change here," he said.
Axios reporter Torey Van Oot contributed to this report.