Court: Minneapolis doesn’t have to meet police minimum

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has overturned a lower-court ruling that Minneapolis violated its city charter by failing to keep police staffing levels above a minimum.

The appellate court Monday said that the city charter clearly imposes a duty on the City Council to fund a minimum number of officers, but it doesn’t require the mayor to continously employ them.

The Star Tribune reports that the ruling reverses a court victory last year in a lawsuit brought by several north Minneapolis residents who said the city was failing in its obligation to provide sufficient policing.

Attorney Douglas Seaton, whose Upper Midwest Law Center represents the group that sued, said the citizens would appear to the state Supreme Court.