Organizers Push For All-elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission

On Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024 in front of the charred remains of the former 3rd Police Precinct, Minneapolis for Community Control of Police (M4CCP) and Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J) organizers held a rally announcing the relaunch of a petition effort to establish an all-elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission (CPAC). The previous petition for CPAC was launched in 2021, and over the last three years community organizers collected thousands of signatures from Minneapolis residents who believe the people in Minneapolis deserve self-determination and substantial police accountability.
In May of 2024, M4CCP organizers turned in 10,208 signatures to the Minneapolis City Clerk’s office, exceeding the minimum requirement of 8,943 signatures needed to get CPAC on the November 2024 ballot. Close to 5,000 signatures were rejected by the clerk’s office, and organizers had 10 days to try to collect the needed signatures. Undeterred, organizers hit the streets for the next 10 days and spent long hours conversing with community members to collect the remaining signatures needed. Although organizers collected thousands more signatures in those 10 days, the petition was ultimately rejected by the clerk’s office. Humberto Martin, an organizer with TCC4J who spent countless hours petitioning for CPAC, said, “It's disappointing to see the city undemocratically reject a petition that thousands of Minneapolis registered voters signed on technicalities alone.”

Since then, the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor Jacob Frey approved an unprecedented 21.7% salary increase for MPD officers with no meaningful accountability measures included. This historic increase is a slap in the face to Minneapolis residents, still reeling from the murder of George Floyd four years ago, not to mention the numerous Black people who have been murdered and brutalized by MPD since then! After the first CPAC petition was rejected, M4CCP organizers took time to regroup and strengthen the language in the proposed Minneapolis City Charter amendment. Now M4CCP and TCC4J are announcing the relaunch of this initiative to create real and robust police accountability mechanisms for the residents of Minneapolis.
Minneapolis for Community Control of Police is a growing coalition of organizations and Minneapolis residents working together to amend the city charter to establish an elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission (CPAC). https://mpls4ccp.square.site/. 
Jess Sundin and Jae Yates
mpls4ccp@gmail.com