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Crime, Law and Justice
Matt Sepic
Minneapolis

Appeals court overturns Minneapolis minimum policing ruling

Police vehicles line a street at night.
Minneapolis Police shut down Nicollet Avenue in front of IDS Center in downtown Minneapolis in August 2020.
Matt Sepic | MPR News 2020

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A state appeals court ruled Monday that Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is not required to employ a minimum number of police officers.

In August 2020, a group of Minneapolis residents, including former council member Don Samuels, sued the mayor and City Council alleging they failed to follow a charter provision that requires at least 17 officers per 10,000 residents.

Last year, Hennepin County Judge Jamie Anderson sided with the plaintiffs, ordering the city to boost staffing levels to 730 by the end of June.

But the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed Anderson's decision.

A three-judge panel says the charter requires the City Council to "continuously fund" a police force of a minimum size, but there is "no clear duty under the charter for the mayor to continuously employ" that minimum number.

Frey said Monday that he'll hire more officers anyway.

"It doesn't impact anything we're doing as far as pushing for additional officers and accounting for some of the attrition that we've seen over these last two years,” Frey said.

The public safety charter amendment that voters rejected in November 2021 would have eliminated the minimum police staffing requirement that's been in the charter for 60 years.

The plaintiffs say they'll appeal the decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court.