Minneapolis Police Department Still Struggling to Ramp up Recruitment After George Floyd Death

Minneapolis Police Department is still struggling with recruitment while hundreds of police officers left, citing post-traumatic stress from the George Floyd incident in 2020.

City officials are now calling people to join the force. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has said in August that the city "needs more police officers" while he was presenting a proposal to boost police funding.

ABC News Go reported that crime increased in Minneapolis during the pandemic, with homicide offenses nearly doubling from 2019 to 2021, aggravated assaults rose by one-third, and car-jackings skyrocketed.

The crime problem was also doubled down by the mass resignation of police officers after George Floyd was killed. It resulted in roughly one-third of its personnel quitting.

Frey wanted to push the number of police officers to more than 800 by 2025 after a court ruled that the city has an insufficient minimum number of officers required under the city's charter.

Police spokesman Garrett Parten said that the city is aware it is facing recruitment challenges, saying fewer people are "applying for the job."

In September, only six graduated in a class that can accommodate more than 40 recruits.

In 2022, only 57 people applied. It was a decrease from 292 applicants in 2019.

Minneapolis Police Recruitment Challenges

The nonprofit Police Executive Research Forum surveyed 184 police agencies in the U.S. and Canada. It revealed that resignations increased by 43% from 2019 through 2021, according to a Fox News report.

In addition, retirements in police departments rose by 24%, with overall hiring in the same period falling by 4%.

Interim City Attorney Peter Ginder noted in a recruitment issue in court in June that the police mass resignation was "an unprecedented loss of personnel that is not easily corrected."

Ginder added that the Minneapolis mayor and Minneapolis Police Department are working "in good faith" to recruit and hire more police officers.

Minneapolis police officers responsible for Floyd's death have faced legal repercussions, with Derek Chauvin convicted of murder last year.

Chauvin was the police officer who knelt on Floyd's neck for nine minutes.

Minneapolis Police Department Legal Battles

MPR News noted that the Minneapolis City Council approved settlements more than $700,000 in lawsuits by more than a dozen protesters, claiming that the police officers used excessive force against them. The cases were rooted in police response during protests after the murder of Floyd in 2020.

The city also agreed to a proposed injunction on police use of chemical agents like tear gas or mace as part of the settlement.

Attorney Joshua Rissman, who represented some of the plaintiffs, said that with the unlawful use of rubber bullets or other chemical munitions against peaceful protesters, they are able to quickly seek to enforce the injunction in federal court.

One of the lawsuits noted that Minneapolis police started using pepper spray, rubber bullets, and tear gas despite demonstrations already dispersing.

In May, council members also approved $1.2 million in settlements, covering the $600,000 to a freelance photographer who lost sight in her eye while covering protests.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Minneapolis police continue to fall short in officer hires - from WCCO- CBS Minnesota