By Police1 Staff
MINNEAPOLIS — A candidate for mayor of Minneapolis is calling for the removal of police officers’ sidearms.
“I’m not saying they don’t have access to that, just like they have access to more lethal weapons in their cars, I would believe they would still have access to their guns in their cars,” Rep. Raymond Dehn said.
Dehn told KMSP that changes need to be made to the training officers receive with more focus around de-escalation.
“I think as we look at how to change policing and how we get officers to not react to use their gun in situations, but learning skills around de-escalation training I think are important,” he said.
Dehn believes officers could use other means like batons and pepper spray to defend themselves.
The current mayor and incumbent, Betsy Hodges, disagrees with Dehn. She said while reform needs to happen, disarming officers is not the answer.
“And if we are going to talk about changes in gun policy, we shouldn’t start with police officers who are going to be operating in a world with people who have guns,” Hodges said.
Lt. Bob Kroll, the president of the local police union, argues that the idea is not feasible.
“I don’t think the people in Minneapolis are logically ready for anything like this,” Kroll said. “Who would ever do the job of policing again? It’s absolutely an absurd thought.”
The proposal is still in the early planning process, but Dehn wants to sit down and work with police officers to create a strategy that works well for the city and the police department.