A group of Minnesota Democrats want to impose new restrictions on police departments after the death of Daunte Wright – and they threaten to shut down the government to get their way.
The Minneapolis foos 9 reports that a dozen Democratic lawmakers from the People of Color and Indigenous (POCI) caucus must meet a July 1 deadline to pass the next state budget.
If a spending plan is not approved by that date, the state government will close according to the station.
State republics have already agreed to hold hearings on police responsibility in the coming weeks, but promise no changes to police policy, FOX 9 reported.
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“I do not promise that we will do more reform,” GOP Senate leader Paul Gazelka told the station. “I promise to listen to see if anything is justified.”
“I do not promise that we will do more reform. I promise to listen to whether something is fair.”
Police changes taken over in 2020, following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis by police, appear to be sufficient, Gazelka told reporters earlier this week, FOX 9 reported.
The two top Democrats of the state – Speaker Melissa Hortman and Majority Leader Ryan Winkler – did not endorse the POCI plan, saying only “our caucus will work together to determine our next steps,” according to FOX 9.
On Wednesday morning, members of POCI gathered outside the police headquarters in Brooklyn Center, the suburb of Twin Cities, where Wright was fatally shot dead by a police officer on Sunday. The officer who fired the shot, according to police, resigned and was freely on bail Wednesday night after being arrested and charged with second-degree manslaughter.
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“We do not want to find hearings about facts, we want them to pass legislation,” Senator Patricia Torres Ray, a Democrat from Minneapolis, told the news conference. She claims that Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, was ‘ready to support the POCI proposals’.
A crowd meets outside police headquarters in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, on April 12, 2021. (Associated Press)
Walz spokesman Teddy Tschann told FOX 9 that the governor supported part of the plan, including setting up a fund to support the family members of the police who shot victims and overseeing the local powers are strengthened by the community.
According to FOX 9, the POCI legislators – members of Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party – say they want to see numerous changes made to police policies and procedures in the state.
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Legislators, for example, want a ban on traffic jams due to violations of vehicle equipment, such as excessive window tint or tail lights. They also call for restrictions on the use of so-called ‘no-knock’ warrants.
The Democrats are also calling for the termination of qualified immunity, which protects police officers in many situations from civil lawsuits.
The legislators also want the police throughout the state to use standardized procedures regarding crowd control according to FOX 9.