A conservative legal group is hauling Minneapolis back into court, asking a Hennepin County judge to force the city to rebuild its depleted police force to the level the Minnesota Supreme Court says the charter requires. The petition argues that Mayor Jacob Frey has not met the charter's 1.7 officers-per-1,000-residents requirement, roughly 731 sworn officers, and urges the court to issue a writ of mandamus to compel action. The filing lands as the city continues a multiyear recruitment push to rebuild the Minneapolis Police Department after dramatic post-2020 departures.
What petitioners are asking the court
The 36-page petition, filed by the Upper Midwest Law Center, asks the district court to order the mayor to "employ 731 sworn police officers" and contends the mayor has "blatantly refused" to comply with the Supreme Court's 2022 holding, according to the Upper Midwest Law Center. The filing floats potential remedies from setting a firm deadline to imposing fines that petitioners say would speed compliance.
Legal background
The petition leans heavily on the Minnesota Supreme Court's 2022 opinion in Spann v. Minneapolis City Council, where the court concluded the mayor has a clear legal duty to employ 0.0017 officers per resident, a ratio the court tied to 731 officers under the 2020 census, according to the Minnesota Supreme Court. That decision left the City Council's funding responsibilities in place while making clear the mayor must actually employ the minimum number of officers laid out in the charter.
Claims and responses
UMLC attorney Rachel Paulose told KSTP there is "a failure of will" among city leadership to make MPD an attractive workplace and urged higher pay and benefits to recruit and retain officers. The city pushed back in the same report, with spokesperson Jess Olstad rejecting the allegation and pointing to $2 million in recruitment spending and a 22% pay increase approved in 2024. KSTP also reported the MPD roster stood at 617 sworn officers and that 32 people were enrolled in the city's police academy as of Tuesday; the outlet says the city has not yet filed a formal response, and no hearing has been scheduled in the case.
How Minneapolis got here
The department shrank after the unrest following George Floyd's killing, dropping from roughly 889 sworn officers in early 2019 to as low as 503 in February 2024, and leaders have blamed the shortfall for soaring overtime and strained investigations, reporting by the Star Tribune. The paper reported overtime was on track to reach about $26 million in 2024 and noted recent council actions that approved significant pay and hiring incentives. Chief Brian O'Hara has credited recruitment drives for bringing new classes of officers on board while cautioning that attrition remains high.
What happens next
The petition asks the court to issue a preemptory writ of mandamus to enforce the Supreme Court's 2022 holding and give petitioners a judicially enforceable timeline, according to the Upper Midwest Law Center. For now, the judge has not scheduled a hearing, and the city has not filed a formal response, per KSTP. If the case moves ahead, a ruling could force new political choices about pay, recruitment, and how the department is run.
