Minneapolis police chief cuts $230 million budget, raises staffing concerns

Minneapolis police officials on Thursday unveiled plans for the department’s proposed $230 million budget for next year; This was a 6 percent increase compared to the current budget.

In a presentation to the Minneapolis City Council’s budget committee, Police Chief Brian O’Hara said that although applications were up 45 percent over last year as a whole, the department’s current sworn strength of 578 officers was still well below budgeted staffing levels.

This year, more than 1,000 potential officers applied and 60 new hires were made. Council member Emily Koski announced an earlier budget presentation from the Office of Community Safety that proposed half a million dollars for MPD recruiting efforts, building on the $1 million campaign launched in the spring.

“I don’t see us really having a problem getting people to apply,” Koski said. “I would rather spend those dollars figuring out what we need internally to make sure we can move these good candidates through the process.”

Koski said the city needs to think creatively about ways to invite some of these applicants into other roles, “so if they want to be an officer that doesn’t distract them from working within our public safety ecosystem and learning about the city and then transitioning.”

O’Hara said getting “more people to the finish line” is a priority. But even then, as police officers continue to retire, some new hires take at least a year to train before they can start patrolling city streets, he said. 30 officers retired this year.

“Hiring more people for sworn positions doesn’t actually give us a benefit that we need right away on the street,” O’Hara said. “And we need to hire a lot more people to keep up with normal attrition.”

The proposed budget includes 31 more positions within the department, including two additional civilian inspectors. These are non-sworn personnel who are allowed in the new police contract to help with caseloads, potentially freeing up sworn officers for other duties.

O’Hara told the committee she would like to see one of these positions specifically related to domestic violence cases, as staffing involved in domestic violence investigations has decreased since 2020.

Council member Robin Wonsley pressed the budget to bring in more civilian investigators as the department faces a backlog of cases. He said two civilian inspectors were not enough and proposed a budget amendment to address the backlog.

“This new contract cost taxpayers approximately $9 million, and the new staffing flexibility was touted as a crucial reform that would be worth the cost,” Wonsley wrote in a recent news release. “This change will further benefit MPD from this reform by adding more civilian investigators who can help improve case closure and clearance rates.”

In his presentation to council members, O’Hara said the number of investigative staff was less than half of what it was before 2020.