Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) says the Minneapolis Police Department is “rotten to the root” and should be replaced.
“You can’t really reform a department that is rotten to the root, what you can do is rebuild,” Omar said during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
She continued, “And so this is our opportunity as a city to come together and have the conversation of what public safety looks like. Who enforces the most dangerous crimes that take place in our community.”
Watch the video below:
"You can't really reform a department that is rotten to the root. What you can do is rebuild," Rep. Ilhan Omar explains her calls to defund the police departments. "No one is saying crimes will not be investigated." #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/t3q10iJv3C
— State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) June 14, 2020
The Minneapolis city council voted unanimously on Friday to disband the police department and begin the process of establishing a new public safety model.
The move to disband the department comes after George Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.
After Floyd’s death, local and federal lawmakers began to examine ways to stop police brutality and create a “transformative new model” of public safety.
Many activists have called for police departments to be defunded, however, there is not a clear policy goal. Some want to see police forces replaced with a new model, while others are calling for police department budgets to be cut to fund other social programs.
Omar clarified that the Minneapolis city council will work to create a public safety model to replace the police department, “Nobody is saying that the community is not going to be kept safe. Nobody is saying crime will not be investigated. No one is saying that we are not going to have proper response when community members are in danger.”
“What we are saying is the current infrastructure that exists as policing in our city should not exist anymore, and we can’t go about creating a different process with the same infrastructure in place,” she added.
While Omar said she believes policing needs to be reformed, she thinks the change should take place at the state and local level, “We do more damage when we say to these people that we don’t believe in their ability to govern their cities and serve their constituents.”
“We do better when we say, ‘What do you need in order for you to provide for your constituents a way forward. And we’re going to be there to support you and cheer you on as you figure out how to keep everyone safe,” she added.