ICE surge meant thousands of extra calls, canceled time off, lots of OT for MPD officers
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The Minneapolis Police Department will update city council members Tuesday on how the federal government’s surge into Minnesota affected public safety.
The presentation from the department includes a timeline of the federal surge showing police responses to incidents, including the shooting deaths of residents Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents.
The police department says they’ve reworked their immigration policies, including adding a duty for officers to intervene if they see law enforcement using excessive force and to report any instances of excessive force to leadership within 24 hours.
Activists have questioned whether Minneapolis police and elected officials have done enough to protect residents. Communities United Against Police Brutality President Michelle Gross said last month that “community has stepped up with our whistles, with our cell phones and with our bodies to defend our neighbors” while public officials have “utterly failed us.”
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The department says they also made sure officers are aware that they should only take direction from police leadership.
During demonstrations in the streets and outside hotels where ICE agents were reportedly staying in January, Minneapolis police canceled all days off. The presentation says officers also worked to clear barricades to prevent what they called “sustained occupation tactics.”
Police fielded 50,000 calls during the surge, canceled over 1,000 days off and extended 500 shifts. The department says that more than $5 million was spent on policing between Jan. 7 and Feb. 1.
"We were already experiencing budget difficulties prior to ‘Operation Metro Surge,’ but then when you need to have $5.3 million of additional cost on MPD alone in just a few weeks,” said Mayor Jacob Frey, “that is symbolic of a greater issue, which is all this burden can't just be on cities."
The toll of the surge includes two fatal shootings, one non-fatal shooting and 12 vehicle collisions between federal agents and members of the public. Police also recovered three vehicles abandoned by federal agents after the non-fatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis on Jan. 14.
The hearing at the Minneapolis City Council’s Committee of the Whole is scheduled to take place at 9:30 a.m. in City Hall.
