Minneapolis weighs dissolving public safety office
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Members of Minneapolis' unarmed "Behavioral Crisis Response" team respond to a distress call in 2023. Photo: Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via Getty Images
The Minneapolis City Council has advanced a proposal to dissolve the Office of Community Safety (OCS).
Why it matters: A series of worrisome audits and blown budgets has raised questions about OCS' ability to coordinate Minneapolis' police and fire departments with the city's many experiments with unarmed public safety workers.
Catch up quick: Mayor Jacob Frey created OCS in 2022 to unify the city after Minneapolis voters rejected a plan that would've replaced MPD with a "department of public safety."
- OCS was meant to carry forward some of the ballot measure's spirit and substance.
- MPD would remain but would join the portfolio of a new community safety commissioner, who would oversee police reforms and elevate non-police alternatives.
Driving the news: A City Council committee voted 9-3 on Tuesday to send a proposal to disband the office to a full council vote, which could come as soon as Thursday.
- Eliminating the soon-to-be-vacant commissioner position and his staff would also free up $2 million during a citywide budget crunch.
- However, the initiatives OCS oversees — such as a program sending unarmed mental health workers to answer certain 911 calls — would continue, instead reporting directly to the mayor or his designee, the legislation says.
What they're saying: Council President Elliott Payne argues that instead of elevating reform, OCS simply muddied the city's org chart.
- "Having the commissioner sandwiched in between the mayor and the [police] chief broke the chain of command," Payne tells Axios. "It lost the clarity."
Case in point: The city's charter gives the mayor direct authority over MPD. OCS' former leader, Cedric Alexander, told the Star Tribune that ex-MPD chief Brian O'Hara frequently bypassed his boss and dealt directly with the mayor.
- Payne says this explains why MPD overspent its budget in multiple areas in 2025: OCS lacked true authority to push back.
The other side: OCS' defenders on the council say the issues are reasons to bolster the office and its leaders' authority, not to abandon the experiment.
- Council Member Jamison Whiting called it a "reckless" proposal that would "increase MPD's influence over Minneapolis' public safety strategy" and sideline alternative programs.
Friction point: Neighborhood Safety Department director Amanda Harrington said OCS support was key to forcing the police department to work with her.
- "Without the commissioner literally telling [MPD] they had to work with me, we couldn't get some things started," she told the council.
By the numbers: OCS says the number of 911 calls answered by unarmed first responders has grown from 9% to 13% over the last three years.
What we're watching: Council members LaTrisha Vetaw and Pearl Warren — who usually side with the mayor on the ideologically divided council — voted to advance the proposal, despite Frey's opposition to the plan.
- Vetaw repeated that she was open to rethinking OCS' role, but she also said the legislation she voted to advance didn't seem fully "figured out."
- If the proposal passes, both Warren and Vetaw's support would likely be needed to override Frey's veto.