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Crime, Law and Justice
Peter Cox

Report: Minneapolis denied funds to fight addiction due to council’s support of ‘defund the police’ movement

Demonstrators hold a sign.
Demonstrators calling to defund the Minneapolis Police Department march on University Avenue on June 6, 2020, in Minneapolis. The march, organized by the Black Visions Collective, commemorated the life of George Floyd.
Stephen Maturen | Getty Images

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An audit by the Department of Justice’s Inspector General found that Minneapolis was denied federal funds to fight opioid addiction because some members of the city council showed support for the “defund the police” movement.

The Inspector General’s office released its report on the Bureau of Justice Assistance Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP).

The report looks at grants given out between fiscal years 2017 and 2021, most of which was during the Trump administration.

It found that Minneapolis applied for a COSSAP grant in 2020. Early that year, Minneapolis made international headlines when George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis officer, which led to massive protests and calls for police reform, and some calls for defunding the police.

The Inspector General’s report says the BJA was not consistent in the preference it used to evaluate COSSAP applications.

“Specifically, in September 2020, BJA awarded over $147 million in COSSAP funds to 110 applicants,” the report says. “However, an application by the City of Minneapolis was denied funding despite meeting all the basic eligibility requirements, receiving a low-risk rating, and scoring second highest among 212 prospective applicants. We found the application was denied because of a concern that the ‘defund the police’ movement advocated by some Minneapolis council members during the summer of 2020 would prevent the proper administration of the COSSAP grant.”

The report concluded that the bureau’s justification for denying Minneapolis’ application contained “critical errors and omissions that we believe rendered the justification inadequate, and that BJA did not evaluate other COSSAP applicants based on similar circumstances.”