We Need Courage in Leadership to Make Our City Safe.
Since filing my candidacy on August 9, I have learned that there is widespread confusion about who has responsibility regarding the police. Many are surprised to learn our City Charter gives the mayor “complete power over the establishment, maintenance, and command of the police department.” This includes day-to-day supervision and the responsibility to “make all rules and regulations” and “enforce general and special orders necessary to operating the police department.”
On Monday, KARE 11 noted an almost unbelievable statistic – according to MPD data, 48 young people have been shot by bullets in Minneapolis so far this year. Our mayor has had four years at his job and has failed, plain and simple.
I have heard some people say the increase in violent crime is not limited to Minneapolis. Few places have experienced the spike in violent crime and the brazen lawlessness we see here. Look next door. Our neighbor St. Paul is roughly three-quarters the size of Minneapolis and yet its homicide rate this year (29) is less than half of Minneapolis’s rate (72).
Many people think that Minneapolis has a weak mayoral system. That is absolutely not true regarding policing. The Charter uses the term “complete power” only once to characterize the mayor’s responsibility for police department operations.
I am running for mayor because we need bold leadership. We need a buck-stops-here mayor who will acknowledge and fully exercise their responsibility and authority to keep Minneapolis safe. I am the father of three, and I want them to be safe here in our city.
If I am elected mayor, together, we will change the narrative immediately. We will inspire our good police officers to remain with us. We will build an unprecedented level of community-centered programs and relationships to build trust. We will implement a service-first mentality across the department. And we will recruit the next generation of diversity-minded people who want to be a part of our city.
We need our good police to keep us safe. I disagree with our current mayor, who favors removing the minimum police requirement in our Charter. Uncertainty about future numbers harms our ability to recruit and retain.
At the same time, I commit to using the skills I honed as a litigator for 17 years to aggressively investigate the problems within the police department and fix what is broken. Those who stand in the way of evolving the department into a bias-free environment will be brought to light. Additionally, I commit to hiring mental health professionals and social workers to work with our police in all appropriate circumstances.
If you want safe streets in Minneapolis, vote for Clint Conner as your first-choice vote.
In solidarity,
Clint