St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter has publicly rejected his police chief’s call for 50 more officers.
At 6 p.m. Friday, Carter posted a statement to Facebook above a link to a Pioneer Press account of Police Chief Todd Axtell’s recent presentation to the St. Paul City Council. The issue of hiring more officers came up Wednesday as Axtell responded to questions from Council President Amy Brendmoen.
But Carter said in his Friday statement: “The philosophy that more police officers, tougher prosecutors and bigger jails equal a safer city has failed. Our driving goal shouldn’t be to hire as many officers as possible but to reduce the number of times we have to call police in the first place.”
The mayor said the city already spends three times more money on police and fire services than on recreation centers and libraries. He said the city’s “Community First” public safety approach calls for investing in neighborhood services, not increasing uniforms on the street.
In Wednesday’s presentation to the City Council, Axtell noted that St. Paul’s population has grown. According to U.S. census data, it increased by more than 7.5 percent between 2010 and last year.
Axtell said 911 calls in St. Paul have increased by more than 30 percent in the last five years. The chief said his primary goal was not more arrests, but faster response times, and new officers would be expected to spend six months in a community engagement unit to better integrate into city neighborhoods.
“Community engagement isn’t simply a temporary assignment for rookie officers,” Carter said in his Facebook post on Friday. “It must be the underlying culture of our entire police department.”
The police department’s authorized strength is currently 626 officers, and it operates on a $101 million budget. Adding 50 officers over the next two years would require an additional $4.5 million. A police spokesman said this week the department is searching for grant funding.
In response to Carter’s Facebook post, Axtell said Friday evening, “I have a great deal of respect for Mayor Carter and I continue to support his vision for our city. The mayor will set our budget and I will continue to lead our department to achieve our mutual goals.”
Mara H. Gottfried contributed to this report.
