Duluth police and the city announce to the media that they are not interested in disbanding the Duluth Police Department (DPD). They point to the recent Use of Force policy, and the process used to get to it, as a reason why we don’t need to disband police in Duluth. The city conveniently leaves out the lack of accountability and the ease of changing the Use of Force Policy, all of which were brought up before and during the public meetings on the policy (and can be found in the Duluth (In)Action Timeline entries). They also fail to mention the role the police union plays in keeping violent cops employed with the DPD. Talk of reduction in funding of the DPD due to COVID-19 shortfalls is vague at best.
IMPACT: the city and Chief Tusken have repeatedly dismissed the legitimate concerns of citizens, and refuse to entertain changes to how DPD operates (including instituting further actionable accountability measures. This demonstrates the level of control the police hold over the city. We will continue to watch and advocate for reductions in funding to police rather than reductions in community services that positively impact residents.
Photo by Alex Kormann for the Star Tribune.