Minneapolis Cop Blames Crime Wave on Anti-Police City Council

Who bears responsibility for enabling the violent crime wave in downtown Minneapolis? It’s evident much of the problem lies with elected officials who refuse to take ownership of the problem and do something about it–the Minneapolis City Council.

So Minneapolis Police Federation President Lt. Bob Kroll made sure they got the message, unloading on local elected officials on national television this week in an interview picked up by Fox News.

“The city council… ran on an anti-police agenda and they all made it. It’s ultra-left. It’s been [an] extreme Democrat-controlled council,” he said on “Fox & Friends” Thursday. “It’s been that way for 22 years. And [the mayor] didn’t think he could get a larger number [of cops] through.”

“It’s an ultra-left agenda that the police are the problem,” Kroll added. “[They say] it’s a racially biased criminal justice system here, and we need to de-police. That’s the overtone of our council.”

Videos of violent beatings by mobs in downtown Minneapolis have recently gone viral, highlighting the police department’s plea to add up to 400 new cops on the streets over the next few years. Yet despite the crime spree, Mayor Jacob Frey has proposed adding only 14 more police to the force.

“The chief, who they unanimously appointed to this position, laid out a well-made plan to increase our department to the size that it should be to perform our core services and provide public safety,” he said earlier in the interview. “None of them want to go forward. They think that they know policing better than the person that they’ve put in charge of the police department.”

Kroll said criminals are thriving on the indulgence of far-left lawmakers and constantly game the system to escape justice.

As usual, Minneapolis pols interviewed by KSTP-TV focused their criticism on Kroll rather than the rising threat to public safety downtown.

“I do think there is a better approach,” said Alondra Cano, Minneapolis City Councilmember.

Multiple members of Minneapolis City Council say they heard about Kroll’s comments. Many including Cano don’t think his appearance on national TV is productive.

“I think that’s a misreading on how we are governing,” Cano said.

Yet it’s far more likely that Cano and her colleagues at City Hall are misreading all the warning signs from an increasingly anxious public and police force.