REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK | Abolish Minneapolis Civil Rights Department investigations unit?

The story:

Minneapolis mayor R. T. Rybak has proposed to cut the Civil Rights Complaints Investigations Unit of the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights (MDCR). This would transfer almost 500 open cases to the Department of Human Rights and put nine people out of jobs. The MDCR uses only one percent of the city’s budget, with the CIU using one-third of one percent according to Minneapolis Civil Rights commissioner Louisa Hext (louisahext@gmail.com).

What the two sides say:

Save the investigation’s unit Opponents fear that the transfer of cases will place a heavy burden on the state department, adding almost 500 cases to the current state backlog. Many say that the Minnesota Department of Human Rights is poorly run and lacking much-need funding and staff. Residents of Minneapolis will also be losing an important resource that protects their civil rights. Louisa Hext explained that two areas that would especially suffer are sexual harassment cases and welfare cases.

Go ahead and cut Proponents of the cut say that the Minneapolis Department of Civil Rights is poorly run, needing serious restructuring and better funding. There is a huge time lapse between when a complaint is filed and when the case gets investigated. Besides, the city must make budget cuts because of cuts in local government aid (LGA) from the state. Cutting the investigations unit would save $400,000 annually.

Background

These articles extensively explain the details of the proposal, the responsibilities of the departments in question, and the issues being raised on both sides of the debate:

• Community members debate the future of the Civil Rights Department

• What’s the future of the Civil Rights Department?

• Civil Rights takes a budget beating

• Politicians, community stakeholders debate the future of the Civil Rights Department

• Reactions to the Rybak plan for Civil Rights Department cuts

ª Minnesota coalition of civil rights opposes Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak budget cutting (Press release)