The City Council’s “Transforming Community Safety” survey is now available. This is the survey the council is using to collect residents’ views on the future of public safety in Minneapolis. The survey must be completed by November 20th for your views to be included in the first phase of survey results (which establishes the initial themes that shape later community engagement phases). We strongly encourage all residents to complete this survey, but to consider the following comments from the DMNA Public Safety Task Force before you do:
- Most of the downtown community’s discussion about public safety, including at the recent DMNA Town Hall Public Safety Forum, has focused on policing and on the community’s concerns about safety in our neighborhood. Please note that this survey is not directly about either of these things, but rather about the council’s pledge to create a new public safety model, as clearly stated on the first page of the survey form.
- One of the DMNA Public Safety Task Force’s guiding principles is a commitment to a continuum of safety strategies that go beyond law enforcement. But our principles also assert an undeniable role for law enforcement in our public safety system. The City’s survey gives ample opportunity to express your thoughts about what non-police programs and services might look like, but no opportunity to comment on how these programs and services should work in conjunction with law enforcement.
- If you choose to add comments about the role of law enforcement in public safety, there are a few ways to do so. The primary way is through the first two questions, which ask about your hopes and concerns for community safety in the future.
- The next question asks about specific programs, strategies, or suggestions for improving community safety. When you check the provided responses, you will get to a new page with an open-ended question for each checked category. This creates additional opportunities for you to comment on the role of policing and safety concerns.
- The next question is: The following are categories of calls that the Minneapolis Police Department responds to. Please select any that you believe should be responded to by someone other than the Minneapolis Police Department, if any. Note that this question does not let you indicate whether you think MPD officers should also respond to the listed categories, several of which are serious crimes. The only way you could express this is 1) to check the categories where you think someone else should be involved, and then 2) state very clearly in the following question that your suggestion is for responders in addition to a law enforcement officer.
Whatever your specific views, we encourage all members of the downtown community to complete the survey by November 20th. You can take the survey in English right now, and translations are available on the City website. Scroll to the bottom of the Web page to see them.