In the mid-1990s, the murder rate was so high in Minneapolis that it earned the nickname, “Murderapolis.”
Now, more than two years after the Democrat stronghold turned into ground zero for the ‘defund the police’ movement after the murder of George Floyd, Murderopolis is back.
In a kind of Newtonian response, the city became the epicenter of the culturally seismic “Defund the Police” movement. But that progressive local effort fizzled with a decisive referendum last November.
Now, with its police department under investigation by the Department of Justice, the city of 425,000 is trying to find a way forward amid a period of heightened crime that began shortly after Floyd’s death. –CNN
In 2020, murders jumped from 46 to nearly 80. In 2021, 93 people were killed in the city. This year, homicides are on track to surpass 2020.
“The criminals were celebrating. They were getting rich” after police withdrew from violent neighborhoods in the wake of Floyd’s killing, said longtime resident, KG Wilson. “They were selling drugs openly.”
