Minneapolis City Council leaders have advanced a proposal to eliminate the Office of Community Safety, a municipal agency established in 2022 amid calls for public safety reforms following George Floyd’s death. Supporters say the office has added administrative costs without delivering adequate oversight. Mayor Jacob Frey argues that eliminating it without a detailed transition plan could threaten services.
Council President Elliott Payne and Council Member Robin Wonsley are leading the proposal. In comments reported by FOX 9, Wonsley said the city should stop funding structures she believes are not producing meaningful results, and pointed to management problems that she said have increased audit costs. Payne said the proposed changes are intended to reduce administrative expenses while maintaining progress on public safety and racial disparities.
Frey, who created the office, said it oversees services including mental health response, violence prevention and police reform. He warned that abolishing it, alongside other proposed reductions to the Minneapolis Police Department, could place those services in jeopardy. The mayor also criticized council members for seeking to remove a structure they had previously supported.
The city describes the office as coordinating five departments: police, fire, 911, emergency management and neighborhood safety. Its stated purpose is to improve communication among those services and establish a common structure for accountability and command.
The proposal comes as the city faces scrutiny over violence-prevention spending. A recent Minneapolis audit found weaknesses in the Neighborhood Safety Department’s oversight of contracts with community-based violence-prevention organizations. The audit cited insufficient documentation and financial controls, which it said raised risks of fraud or misuse of public funds. The review covered a system that has awarded more than $36 million to five major violence-prevention programs since 2023.
Wonsley has argued that programs can continue without the Office of Community Safety. She cited the Behavioral Crisis Response team as an example of a non-police service that existed before the office was created. She said the proposal would remove an administrative layer rather than end public safety or violence-prevention programs she considers effective.
The city’s published 2026 budget assigned more than $16 million to the Office of Community Safety, nearly $10 million to Neighborhood Safety and more than $225 million to the police department. The amount the city would save by eliminating the office has not been established in the available reporting. The proposal’s effect on the office’s responsibilities and on the services it oversees therefore remains uncertain.
