Minneapolis City Council discusses third option for future of 3rd Police Precinct
Minneapolis City Council members unanimously approved a request at the Tuesday meeting for the Mayor’s office to spend a few more months reviewing if combining the 1st and 3rd Police Precincts into one building would temporarily work.
As previously reported, the precinct was heavily damaged in the unrest after the murder of George Floyd. This spring, city leaders announced two options for the future of the precinct but now a third option is on the table.
Currently, option one is to rebuild at the current site, located at Minnehaha and Lake Street. The second is to build on an empty lot just blocks down the street on Minnehaha.
A city survey showed people chose the original location, mainly because it would cost about $10 million less and be finished in half the time. However, that made up less than half of the people who responded because many said they didn’t support either idea or wanted no precinct at all.
In 2021, officers from the 3rd Precinct were moved to the City of Lakes building downtown.
According to Alexander Kado with the city’s Office of Public Safety, in 2019, officers were responding to calls in about five minutes from the former 3rd Precinct building. The response time in 2022 slowed to around 17 minutes from the new building — affecting around 139,000 people who live in the area.
Monday, city leaders announced a third option, which would combine the 3rd Precinct with the new 1st Precinct location at the old Century Plaza building right by the convention center.
RELATED: Minneapolis mayor changes course, announces third option for 3rd police precinct
The idea came from City Council President Andrea Jenkins, who says it’s a spot on the border of the 3rd Precinct but is only a temporary fix.
“Why can’t we really co-locate the 3rd Precinct there while we work with the community to try and hear and understand what are the real issues and concerns about the current site and about alternative sites and really try to come to some consensus,” Jenkins said.
If approved, the merge could happen within a year or two.
As of this time, there’s no price tag for the project but some of those discussions are expected to take place during Tuesday’s meeting. The meeting began at 10 a.m. in Room 317 at City Hall. CLICK HERE for the full council agenda.
You can also watch the meeting by CLICKING HERE.
Check back for updates.
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