Photojournalists document mayoral candidate Sheila Nezhad as she walks into the Gichitwaa Kateri Catholic Church on Election Day to cast her vote on Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2021 in Minneapolis. Voters in Minneapolis are deciding whether to replace the city's police department with a new Department of Public Safety. The election comes more than a year after George Floyd's death launched a movement to defund or abolish police across the country.(AP Photo/Christian Monterrosa)
By Steve Karnowski and Mohamed IbrahimThe Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minneapolis voters on Tuesday rejected a proposal to replace the city’s police department with a new Department of Public Safety, an idea that supporters had hoped would bring radical change to policing in the city where George Floyd’s death under an officer’s knee brought calls for racial justice.
The initiative would have changed the city charter to remove a requirement that the city have a police department with a minimum number of officers. Supporters said a complete overhaul of policing was necessary to stop police violence. Opponents said the proposal had no concrete plan for how to move forward and warned it would leave some communities already affected by violence more vulnerable as crime
