[content warning/trigger warning: gun violence, police violence, murder, anti-Black and anti-Native abuse, r*pe, assault]

1821
The Metropolitan Police Department, the first municipal police force in the world, is created in London. The first American police force forms in Boston 17 years later.

1867
Minneapolis incorporates and the City Council establishes the Minneapolis Police Department, which takes only 36 years to earn the title “The Shame of Minneapolis” due to its legendary corruption and racketeering.

1903
The Citizens’ Alliance, a rightwing group representing downtown business interests, forms and spends the next half-century increasingly cementing the Minneapolis Police Department as its personal militia for enforcing anti-labor interests.

1934
Minneapolis police open fire downtown during the Minneapolis General Strike and kill two workers on Bloody Friday. Downtown business interests later invent Aquatennial to overshadow the annual “Teamster Picnics” celebrating the successful strike.

1963
The first Civilian Review Board is established and fails to create meaningful structural change, the same outcome as any other reform-based approach to follow.

1968
Fed up with racist police interactions, community members form the Black Patrol, Soul Force and AIM Patrol to intervene and de-escalate potential violence. After AIM Patrol’s first six months, the percentage of the Native population in jail dropped from 70 percent to 10 percent. Community patrols predate the police and continue to this day.

1989
Minneapolis police kill Black elders Lillian Wallace and Lloyd Smalley during a botched SWAT raid, a not-uncommon occurrence that “tarnished” the city’s image. Enraged residents, including the current Minnesota Attorney General, demand reforms.

1990-1991
In response to a call, Minneapolis police shoot and kill 17-year-old Black resident Tycel Nelson as he is running away. Enraged residents demand reform. Violent crime peaks in Minneapolis and America and steadily declines for the next three decades without interruption.

1992-1993
Metro Transit police severely beat an elderly Black man for lack of fare, and furious youth later ambush and kill Minneapolis police officer Jerry Haaf. The Minneapolis Police Department begins terrorizing residents, using tactics including Rough Rides of Native residents, kidnapping, rape, extortion and opening fire at Little Earth.

2006
In response to a call, Minneapolis police shoot unarmed Black resident Dominic Felder in the back, killing him in the midst of a nervous breakdown. Later that year Minneapolis police run over 19-year-old Hmong resident Fong Lee on his bicycle and shoot him 3 times in the back, then shoot another 5 times more as his body lay on the ground. The officer involved is acquitted.

2007
Five Black Minneapolis police officers – including the current Chief of Police – sue the department for racial discrimination, settling with the city for a record $2 million. The majority of the money is earmarked for (but not required to be spent on) “reform.”

2010
In response to a call, Minneapolis police kill 28-year-old Black resident David Smith in the midst of a mental health crisis downtown, suffocating him to death under a prone restraint. Later that year Hmong resident Jason Yang dies under mysterious circumstances after encountering the Minneapolis police downtown at bar close. Violent crime in Minneapolis bottoms out and remains at historic lows throughout the decade.

2013
In response to a call, Minneapolis police corner unarmed 22-year-old Black resident Terrance Franklin in a Lyn-Lake basement, shoot and kill him. An hour later Minneapolis police run over and kill resident Ivan Romero in the intersection of 26th and Blaisdell while on the way to the scene. The then-new (lesbian) Chief of Police, who had previously sued the department for sex discrimination, says reform is coming.

2014
#Pointergate becomes the first baseless local performative law-and-order outrage in the new Black Lives Matter era. Glen Taylor, a North Mankato-based downtown Minneapolis sports billionaire, purchases the local paper of record, promising a deliberate rightward lurch over time.

2015
Minneapolis police kill 24-year-old Black resident Jamar Clark, shooting him in the face in response to an ambulance call. Residents occupy the nearby Fourth Precinct for the next 18 days to protest and build community, during which the Minneapolis police point assault weapons in the faces of current and future City Council members.

2017
In response to a call, Minneapolis police shoot and kill 40-year-old white resident and Australian national Justine Ruszczyk Damond, sparking international outrage.

2018
In response to a call, Minneapolis police shoot and kill 31-year-old Black resident Thurman Blevins as he is running away. Six months later Minneapolis police shoot and kill 36-year-old Black resident Travis Jordan in his front yard during a welfare check. Three weeks later the City Council votes down the mayor’s request to increase the police budget by $12 million annually, choosing instead to invest in upstream safety measures.

2019 (according to the Minneapolis-based Star-Tribune)

March

• Thursday, March 7, 5:52 p.m.
  Cutting police budgets is not the way toward equitable communities
  By Editorial Board
  Statistics show that cutting police budgets is likely to backfire on cities.
   
  — n.b. statistics quite clearly show the opposite
   
• Tuesday, March 12, 10:26 p.m.
  Minneapolis police chief reiterates desire for department to grow to 1,000 officers, despite resistance
  The issue of understaffing resurfaced at a public meeting in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood last week.
   
  — n.b. the article states the police can’t even fill current openings, let alone an expanded force. Where, exactly, does that extra money go?
   
• Thursday, March 21, 6:10 p.m.
  Editorial counterpoint: We must look beyond police for community safety
  By Tony Williams, Leilah Abdennabi and Sheila Nezhad
  It’s time to put more emphasis on prevention efforts. A police-first approach isn’t effective, has been marred by violence and fails to address underlying causes of crime.
   
  — tl;dr at $189 million/year the police cost more than the Health Department, Department of Civil Rights, and Community Planning and Economic Development combined

---

April

• Friday, April 12, 6:38 p.m.
  Counterpoint: Adding cops could satisfy seemingly different interests
  By Steve Cramer
  The case for a larger force lies in better, not more policing. That could help strengthen communities and police-community relations.
   
  — n.b. four months later this author, a private citizen, singlehandedly closed off a public sculpture downtown with no public input or approval, nor any penalty or recourse for doing so
   
• Thursday, April 18, 10:35 p.m.
  Minneapolis to ban ‘warrior’ training for police, Mayor Jacob Frey says
  Mayor Jacob Frey made the announcement in his State of the City address.
   
• Wednesday, April 24, 9:28 p.m.
  Minneapolis police union offers free ‘warrior’ training, in defiance of mayor’s ban
  Police federation says the Minneapolis mayor’s ban on training is illegal.
   
• Thursday, April 25, 6:07 p.m.
  Editorial counterpoint: Not well-named, maybe, but ‘Warrior Training’ is highly valuable
  By Richard Greelis
  Friendly cop-citizen contacts are the routine. This training simply instills a cautious, resolute mind-set in case the next encounter isn’t.
   
  — n.b. the goal of Bulletproof Warrior Training is literally “teaching cops how to escalate, how to see the world as their enemy and how to find the courage to kill more people, more often“

---

May

• Friday, May 10, 9:39 p.m.
  Minneapolis taxpayers will feel effect of record $20 million settlement
  Mpls. has reserves to pay Damond settlement, but property taxes might rise
    
• Wednesday, May 29, 10:01 p.m.
  Minneapolis police ‘behind the ball’ on years-old Department of Justice report
  Department was advised to alter discipline policies.
   
  — tl;dr the police continue their centurylong unreformable streak, even when the federal government gets involved 

---

July

• Friday, July 5, 5:52 p.m.
  Helping downtown Minneapolis survive and thrive
  By Editorial Board
  Minneapolis is better because of a decade of work by DID ambassadors.
   
  — tl;dr the Editorial Board disparages the city for repealing spitting and lurking laws, then extols the visible success and virtue of safety beyond policing downtown via DID, demanding the city invest more in these methods
   
• Monday, July 8, 7:34 p.m.
  Calls for more cops grow as authorities ID man fatally shot in downtown Minneapolis
  Shakopee man is third homicide victim since Memorial Day weekend in downtown Mpls.
   
  — tl;dr whomst is calling for more cops? Two white men, Steve Cramer and Joe Tamburino, whose ideas the chief public defender of Hennepin County calls “unconstitutional” in the article
   
• Wednesday, July 17, 6:44 p.m.
  Another downtown Minneapolis shooting puts spotlight on security plans
  By Editorial Board
  Gunfire at Crave underscores need for businesses to work with city and police.

May 16 police chief: happy to report a reduction in shootings and violent crime.

July 17 police chief: "never before seen rises in shootings." Please put 400 more cops in the budget. pic.twitter.com/3o7vhOekKI

— Wedge LIVE!™ (@WedgeLIVE) July 30, 2019

• Thursday, July 18, 4:55 a.m.
  Minneapolis chief wants to add 400 street cops by 2025
  Arradondo cites increased pressure and workload.
   
  — n.b. “police per capita” is self-justifying hokum. During the 1950s the entire department had well under 700 people when 100,000 more people lived in Minneapolis
   
• Friday, July 26, 12:09 p.m.
  Minneapolis needs more patrol officers, but chief’s request to add 400 is too high
  By Editorial Board
  Medaria Arradondo’s recent proposal would raise the total Police Department complement to at least 1,300 by 2025.
   
  — tl;dr the Editorial Board, none of whom live in Minneapolis, repeat the assertion that “business leaders” (Steve Cramer and Joe “unconstitutional” Tamburino) want more cops
   
• Sunday, July 28, 5:38 p.m.
  In Minneapolis, 911 nonresponses underscore needs for more cops, advocates say
  Mpls. chief sees “critical” officer shortage; others say more cops not answer.
   
  — tl;dr others include Council Member Andrew Johnson, who sensibly points out Minneapolis is one of the only cities nationwide to dispatch two officers to every single call
   
• Tuesday, July 30, 8:01 p.m.
  Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey faces off against City Council on call for more police
  Several council members have spoken out against it.
   
  — tl;dr adding 400 officers will cost at least $45 million per year
   
• Tuesday, July 30, 10:23 p.m.
  Minneapolis officials say they undercounted delayed police responses by 5,525 calls
  The mix-up was attributed to confusion about the way some of the calls were coded.
    
  — n.b. the article notes “the number of delayed-response calls decreased about 5%, from 7,188 over the previous 12 months,” despite no new sworn officers
   
• Wednesday, July 31, 5:38 p.m.
  Readers Write: Delayed 911 responses
  By Jeanne Torma
  Minneapolis’ slow 911 response rate is jaw-dropping.
   
  — tl;dr “Police officers don’t usually prevent crime; they respond to it”

---

August

• Friday, August 2, 10:40 a.m.
  Minneapolis police chief promises ‘transformational’ change as staffing debate continues
  He eyes “transformational” policies, as police staffing complicates budget talks.
  
  — n.b. 150 years of history show there is no such thing as transformational reform
   
• Friday, August 2, 6:06 p.m.
  Crime laws didn’t form in a vacuum — as I can attest
  By D.J. Tice
  Now-detested policies were a response, people seem to forget.
   
  — tl;dr amidst “bipartisan” cries against “systemic racism,” the columnist from Arden Hills – himself the victim of serious crimes 40 years ago – reminds us the era of mass incarceration happened for a reason

• Friday, August 2, 10:03 p.m.
  Minneapolis police shoot, kill man at apparent domestic call
  Officials said that the man shot a woman, who is expected to survive.
   
• Wednesday, August 7, 9:45 p.m.
  Two officers in north Minneapolis Christmas tree controversy have been fired
  The officers were put on administrative leave shortly after a photo of the tree surfaced on social media. The police union is appealing the firings.
   
  — n.b. the entire proverb is “A few bad apples spoil the barrel“
   
• Thursday, August 8, 9:00 p.m.
  Minneapolis reaches tentative $200,000 settlement with family of Jamar Clark
  Lawyer says they realized change would not come via courts; Mpls. must approve deal.
   
• Friday, August 16, 11:12 a.m.
  Minneapolis mayor requests 14 more cops in next year’s budget
  Mayor Jacob Frey’s 2020 budget includes response to police chief’s plea.
   
  — tl;dr while being shouted down by members of Jamar Clark’s family, the mayor invokes the name of Jerry Haaf before proposing new beat cops and officers to clear old sexual assault cases, none of which relate to delayed 911 responses
   
• Friday, August 16, 5:59 p.m.
  Twin Cities mayors face difficult realities of urban growth
  By Editorial Board
  Both Minneapolis and St. Paul are growing, but so are concerns about public safety and city services.
   
  — n.b. whomst’s concerns are growing? The Editorial Board doesn’t say
   
• Tuesday, August 27, 10:05 p.m.
  Minneapolis police mounted patrol mourns loss of ‘kind, gentle’ steed
  The 20-year-old buckskin gelding was put down after suffering a serious leg injury on Sunday.
   
  — tl;dr “The life of a police horse is one of hours spent entertaining children at parades, block parties and other events — punctuated by moments of intensity”

A line of Minneapolis police on horses stands between thousands of protesters and the entrance to the Target Center where Trump is speaking.https://t.co/HoLblfgAf2 pic.twitter.com/9b2E3PdB9P

— UNICORN RIOT 🦄 mastodon.social/@UnicornRiot 👈 (@UR_Ninja) October 10, 2019

---

September

• Friday, September 6, 5:38 p.m.
  Majority of Minneapolis residents back hiring more patrol officers
  By Editorial Board
  Citywide survey shows strong support for adding officers to the overburdened force.
   
  — n.b. the survey in question is a push poll paid for by the Downtown Council (Steve Cramer) and Chamber of Commerce

I’m told one Chamber of Commerce question about Minneapolis cops that NOT released to @StribOpinion was whether structural police reforms are needed BEFORE spending more money. “Yes” polled just as high as the publicly released results. Wonder why the Chamber didn’t release that?

— David Brauer (@dbrauer) September 9, 2019

• Friday, September 6, 9:29 p.m.
  Lawsuit alleges Minneapolis police shot service dogs, then tried to cover it up
  The 2017 incident went viral after owner posted a video of the encounter. The city attorney says they are reviewing the lawsuit before commenting.
   
• Thursday, September 12, 5:33 p.m.
  Editorial counterpoint: Minneapolis residents have mixed views on policing
  By Steve Fletcher
  A desire for adding officers is tempered by concerns over how the Police Department operates.
   
  — tl;dr “The department is struggling to manage the flow of retirements; parental, medical, and military leaves; suspensions; and other forms of short-term attrition. If too many of these happen in one precinct on one shift, it puts significant strain on our system, and Minneapolis residents feel it.”
   
• Thursday, September 12, 9:55 p.m.
  Minneapolis City Council warms to request for more police officers
  Mayor Jacob Frey wants 14 new officers; some council members now call for even more.
   
  — tl;dr “The new positions, among other department requests, would raise the department’s budget for next year by $8.5 million to $193.4 million — about 12% of the total city budget.”
   
• Friday, September 13, 10:06 p.m.
  How safe is downtown Minneapolis? Police stats validate perception of rising crime
  Police officials say crime statistics back up the view that safety has deteriorated in the city’s business center.
   
  — tl;dr there have been 28 shootings downtown, up from the five-year historical average of 27 over the same time period
   
• Monday, September 16, 5:38 p.m.
  Readers Write: Downtown Minneapolis crime
  By Garth Thoresen
  How safe is Minneapolis? Not very.
    
  — tl;dr the author, who lives in Eagan, bemoans “despicable acts of thugs on full display across the nation,” calling the family members of those slain by Minneapolis police “professional agitators”
   
• Tuesday, September 24, 5:47 p.m.
  City leaders must act to keep downtown Minneapolis safe
  By Lester Bagley, Matt Hoy and Ted Johnson
  We want our professional sports teams proud to welcome fans downtown.
   
  — tl;dr representatives of local sports billionaires, citing the Chamber’s push poll, have no new ideas
   
• Saturday, September 28, 9:56 p.m.
  Sack Cartoon: Welcome to the Twin Cities
  By Steve Sack
  
• Sunday, September 29, 10:48 p.m.
  Two fatal shootings over weekend in Twin Cities spark unease
  St. Paul nears record for number of slayings.
   
  — tl;dr people looking to party downtown are having second thoughts
   
• Monday, September 30, 8:50 p.m.
  Tied to Trump rally? Police union sees partisanship in ban on uniformed cops backing candidates
  Mpls. union leader says policy is aimed at the force’s Trump supporters.
   
  — n.b. over 90% of Minneapolis police officers do not live in Minneapolis

---

October

• Wednesday, October 2, 7:30 p.m.
  AP-NORC poll: Most say whites treated more fairly by police
   
  — tl;dr “About 7 in 10 black Americans, and about half of Hispanics, call police violence against the public very serious, compared with about a quarter of white Americans.”
   
• Wednesday, October 2, 9:36 p.m.
  Minneapolis Park Board votes to offer settlement to Somali teens handcuffed at a city park
   
• Wednesday, October 2, 10:04 p.m.
  FBI: Violent crime in Minnesota dropped last year, continuing decadelong trend
  The Twin Cities area remains one of the safest metros in America, according to FBI data.
   
• Thursday, October 3, 12:24 p.m.
  Business leaders call for more police in downtown Minneapolis
  City Council Member Lisa Goodman joined them and said she would like to hire more officers and rethink other policies to improve safety in the area.
  
  — tl;dr Steve Cramer held a press conference. “More than 630 violent crimes have taken place downtown so far this year, almost 100 more than the same time last year but 120 fewer than 2017, according to data from the Minneapolis Police Department.” 

Business community leads PR campaign stoking crime fears then worry the city is acquiring a bad reputation.

— Wedge LIVE!™ (@WedgeLIVE) October 3, 2019

• Friday, October 4, 7:32 p.m.
  Minneapolis North Siders air concerns about troubled street corner
  N. 21st and Aldrich has been plagued by drugs, shootings and violence.
   
  — tl;dr “These aren’t robots, these aren’t people who are unreachable, but we can’t be afraid to approach these guys,” said Pastor Edrin Williams of Sanctuary Covenant Church.
   
• Monday, October 7, 11:14 a.m.
  Twin Cities property tax hikes take biggest bite in less wealthy areas
  Mpls., St. Paul proposals could bring 15% increase to some poorer areas.
   
  — n.b. the police are the third-most expensive budget item after Public Works and Capital Improvement

Why isn't this an article about change #MNLeg could take? State could adjust rates so those with least don't pay the most and give more rev tools to Mn Cities.https://t.co/O7jhnu7gV7

— Elizabeth Glidden (@elizglid) October 6, 2019

• Monday, October 7, 2:07 p.m.
  Minneapolis police union selling “Cops for Trump” T-shirts, in wake of uniform ban
  Mpls. police say the move was in the works before Trump announced visit. 

• Monday, October 7, 10:47 p.m.
  Detention sought for young repeat Minneapolis offenders
  Policy change meant to address Mpls. crime wave.
   
  — tl;dr perception of increased crime downtown is tied to one specific group. Minors from the group are diverted from jail to the Juvenile Supervision Center, where some 10 percent to 13 percent walk out after waiting up to 10 hours to be offered shelter or a guardian. Because the jail has significantly more resources than diversion programs, repeat offenders will be sent to jail instead