Minneapolis lays off 25 police officers

The last day of work for 25 Minneapolis police officers will come just a few days before Christmas.

The officers are being laid off due to a multi-million dollar reduction in the police budget. The majority of the soon-to-be unemployed officers are a group of 19 recruits who are graduating from the academy this week.

The new officers will work for five days before the layoffs take effect. Deputy Chief Scott Gerlicher said the department has applied for a federal grant that could provide enough money to rehire about half of all the officers who will lose their jobs.

"We're working feverishly to get that to happen before the end of the year," Gerlicher said. "That again is something that could lessen the loss of officers that. But it's completely out of our hands at this point in time. Obviously that [is] something we'll be looking towards."

The department has also issued layoff notices to 30 civilian employees.

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