"They respond to family disturbances, elder abuse, a culture of homelessness, traffic, all kinds of things they're not necessarily trained to do," said Page. "In many cases, they don't want to be doing a lot of these things. Police chiefs sometimes ask: 'Why are we expected to be a social worker, an elder specialist, a superhuman?" Professor Joshua Page is quoted in this Star Tribune article.

There are large disparities in COVID-related unemployment, with the largest proportional losses among Latinx and less-educated workers. The effects have been particularly felt among children. Professors Rob Warren and Ann Meier are co-authors of this article published in Econofact.

The City Council approved a resolution last month that would allow the city to dismantle the Minneapolis Police Department, but the movement still has a long way to go. Associate Professor Michelle Phelps is quoted in this MN Daily article.

The Minneapolis City Council is moving forward with a proposed amendment to the city’s charter that would disband the current police department and replace it with a Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention. Voters will ultimately decide the fate of the council’s proposal in November if it passes some bureaucratic hurdles in meantime. This week on Dialogue Minnesota, University of Minnesota Associate Professor of Sociology Michelle Phelps discusses systemic racism in our nation’s police departments and what a new vision for law enforcement might look like.