Minneapolis, MN
Minneapolis Police Department faces stark officer shortage as it seeks to rebuild public trust
Minneapolis — On a recent Wednesday afternoon, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara is racing to a priority call.
“I try to come out to show the officers I am here to back you up,” O’Hara tells CBS News.
O’Hara says his department is short by more than 200 officers, and has lost 40% of its police force in the last four years.
“It is incredible,” O’Hara said. “It’s not just that we lost 40% of the force, they’ve been facing the highest levels of crime and violence, in some categories, that the city has ever seen.”
Minneapolis is facing a surge in assaults, and nearly three dozen shooting calls a month. Officers have been subject to some mandatory overtime.
Large-scale police staffing shortages aren’t limited to Minneapolis. They are taking place in cities big and small, from coast to coast.
The Philadelphia Police Department is short about 1,170 officers, the agency told CBS News. The Chicago Police Department is short more than 1,140 officers, the department disclosed, while the Los Angeles Police Department is short more than 470 officers.
But in Minneapolis, the hurdle is more than just manpower, it is trust too. Nearly four years after the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, the department has cleaned the house of its top brass.
O’Hara was hired as chief in late 2022 from Newark, New Jersey — where he served as deputy mayor — as the department seeks to change its culture.
But not everyone thinks there’s been enough change yet.
“I don’t think that the department has been transformed by choice,” said Nekima Levy Armstrong, a Minneapolis community activist for nearly two decades. “I think that it’s been transformed by necessity.”
Armstrong says O’Hara has not yet rid the department of all officers who are too physical or too focused on people of color.
“It’s unfortunate that they’re down 40%, but this is of their own making, right? The handwriting was on the wall in regard to the conduct of many Minneapolis police officers,” Armstrong said.
Like many other departments, Minneapolis offers signing bonuses for new recruits. But O’Hara says the problem is deeper than money. In an February editorial in the Star Tribune, he posed the question: “Do we expect too much from police officers?”
“Well, people expect perfection every time, absolutely,” O’Hara told CBS News.
As he struggles to rebuild the force, O’Hara emphasizes to his officers that summer usually means a spike in crime.
“It’s getting warmer, and staffing is definitely a concern,” he told his staff at a recent roll call.
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One person is dead and eight others are hurt in a string of weekend shootings across Minneapolis.
Police say the first shooting occurred Friday around 5 p.m. near North Humboldt and 26th avenues. A man was outside of his home when shots rang out, leaving him with multiple gunshot wounds.
Around 9:35 p.m. Friday, two men were shot outside in the area of north Lowry and Logan avenues.
Just after 12:30 a.m. Saturday, a man was found shot in an alley near Mortimer’s Bar and Restaurant off South Lyndale and Franklin avenues. He told police he was outside walking when he was hit.
Just before 12:50 a.m. Saturday, police say a man outside was shot near North Penn Avenue, just north of Highway 55, by someone driving by.
Around 1:50 a.m. Saturday, a man suffering from gunshot wounds showed up at Hennepin Healthcare, with police later determining he was shot in the area of North Lyndale and 45th avenues.
Just after 3:30 a.m. Saturday, a man showed up to Children’s Minneapolis hospital with a gunshot wound he said occurred when he was asleep inside his vehicle.
On Sunday around 1 a.m., a man was found laying on the ground near Bloomington Avenue and East 24th Street. He was brought to Hennepin Healthcare where he later died. Police say investigators “located evidence of gunfire, including a firearm recovered next to the man who died.”
On Sunday just before 1:30 a.m., a 15-year-old girl was shot in the area of Hennepin and Laurel avenues in downtown. Two boys, ages 14 and 15, were soon arrested in connection to the shooting.
And just before 1:50 a.m. Sunday, a man was found shot inside a business off Northeast Lowry Avenue and Fourth Street Northeast. Investigators believe the shooting began as an altercation in the business’s parking lot.
With the exception of the shooting of the 15-year-old girl, police say no arrests have been made in any of the cases. All surviving victims have injuries described by police as non-life threatening.
Anyone with information on any of these shootings can submit an anonymous tip online to Crime Stoppers, or call 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
A shooting in north Minneapolis injured a man near Penn Avenue.
According to the Minneapolis Police Department, officers responded to a shooting near the 700th block of Penn Avenue North, where they found a man with a gunshot wound.
Authorities said preliminary information shows that the man was outside when the shooting happened, possibly coming from a vehicle. A nearby hospital treated the man for non-life-threatening injuries.
Police are still investigating, with a forensic team collecting evidence from the scene. Officers said no arrests have been made.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
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