Three Minneapolis City Council members who voted to dismantle the city’s police department reportedly began using a private security detail for protection.
The city has spent $63,000 over the last 3 weeks to provide security for Andrea Jenkins of Ward 8, Phillipe Cunningham of Ward 4, and Alondra Cano of Ward 9, FOX 9 reported on Friday.
The security detail, which is being provided by two firms, Aegis and BelCom, cost $4,500 a day.
The three city council members say they that have been receiving threats after George Floyd died on Memorial Day once a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes despite his pleas for air.
“I don’t feel comfortable publicly discussing the death threats against me or the level of security I currently have protecting me from those threats,” Cunningham told local news outlets, also explaining that this is a temporary situation.
Jenkins said that she is receiving threats in numerous forms and that she has been requesting security since she was sworn in to her current position.
“My concern is the large number of white nationalist(s) in our city and other threatening communications I’ve been receiving,” she said.
The mayor of Minneapolis traditionally has a police officer security detail who also acts as a personal driver, but city council members are not afforded the same protection.
A spokesperson for the police department said they were not providing protection to the council members because resources are needed elsewhere and that it would be a similar price to that of the private firm.
Floyd’s death inspired huge protests that sought to raise awareness about systemic racism and police brutality against minorities.
Some activists and politicians have taken up the call to “defund the police” and reallocate resources.
The Minneapolis City Council unanimously advanced a plan on Friday that could one day dismantle the police department and replace it with “a department of community safety and violence prevention” that would take “a holistic, public-health-oriented approach.”
