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Minneapolis’s Plan to Disband the Police Falters in First Test

City councilmembers made a radical commitment after George Floyd's death. Now they've hit a key procedural setback. 

A city charter amendment that’s required before the city council can move forward with plans to disband the police has been postponed — and likely won’t be brought to voters until November 2021. 

A city charter amendment that’s required before the city council can move forward with plans to disband the police has been postponed — and likely won’t be brought to voters until November 2021. 

Photographer: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images North America
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For a moment, Minneapolis had the most dramatic plan for police reform in the United States. In June, as the nation rose up in protest after a Minneapolis police officer killed George Floyd, the city council unanimously voted to disband the city’s police entirely and start anew.

To achieve such radical change, however, they’d first have to amend the city’s decades-old charter, which regulates how the police are governed. And to amend the charter, the council would first have to pass a ballot initiative. Momentum stalled this month when the city’s judge-appointed charter commission voted to delay approving the council’s proposed amendment, with the majority saying the legislation was rushed, ill-conceived, and could face legal challenges.