Findings and Action Plan
The City of Minneapolis has envisioned a transformational approach to public safety by shifting from a traditional law enforcement model to one that promotes safety and well-being for all residents through an ecosystem of preventive, responsive, and restorative services.
The City has a strong base of existing programs and services to execute this vision, but has not maximally leveraged those resources. Our analysis aims to support Minneapolis’ effort to advance its vision for community safety by identifying service gaps, areas of overlap, and opportunities for strategic improvement, as well as by outlining an actionable plan forward.
The analysis draws on several sources of data, including local crime and response data, findings from a multi-agency community safety questionnaire, and extensive follow-up conversations with safety providers.
A key finding was the breadth of Minneapolis’ existing alternative response options, covering behavioral crisis response, traffic control, animal control, and online services. Collectively, these alternatives currently divert 9 percent of 911 calls to non-police responders. In response to our report, which outlines several pathways to increase this share of alternative calls, the City has committed to reaching a goal of diverting 20 percent of 911 calls.
Our findings also revealed critical service gaps and actionable solutions across the three areas of community safety: preventive services, responsive services, and restorative services. In response, we recommend a range of measures for the City to address each gap – for example, increasing referrals to underutilized diversion programs via improved protocols and fixing shortcomings in gaps in violence interruption coverage by mapping gun crime data with service areas.
