A City of Minneapolis audit has identified serious flaws in the oversight of contracts and contractors hired by the Neighborhood Safety Department to carry out its various violence prevention efforts.
The genesis
In 2020 the Minneapolis City Council voted to disband its police department amid activist calls for massive police reform. Fortunately, the citizens voted to reject the council’s effort in 2021. But the era of “alternatives to policing” was here.
As a result, Minneapolis leaders began redirecting funding from its police department towards a variety of “alternatives to policing” efforts under the label “violence prevention programs.” Police officers left the department in droves, choosing early retirement or continuing their career elsewhere over remaining with the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD).
It seemed highly ironic that at the same time city leaders were criticizing the MPD for lack of control, transparency, and accountability, those same leaders determined that it was prudent to throw millions of dollars at unproven violence prevention efforts which lacked control, transparency, and accountability. The result, or lack thereof, should surprise no one.
According to the Star Tribune, the city’s Neighborhood Safety Department (NSD) has spent more than $36 million on these alternatives to policing since 2023, and even casual observers understand there is little to show for it. During the same time, the MPD has incurred tens of millions of dollars per year in overtime, due to chronic understaffing that exceeded 40% of its workforce for a time.
In November 2023, a Minneapolis lawyer sued the city alleging there was a lack of accountability and oversight of the millions of dollars being spent on various violence prevention efforts. In 2024 the city settled the lawsuit and agreed to, among other things, an audit of the programs.
The audit
In 2026, nearly two years after the settlement, the Minneapolis Auditor completed a 60-page report that reviewed the violence prevention efforts between 2000 and 2025. The report was highly critical of the Neighborhood Safety Department’s oversight of its violence prevention contractors.
The report focused on 7 key shortcomings:
Oversight
NSD, Finance & Property Services, and the City Attorney’s Office do not have shared, consistent oversight practices. Communication gaps and unclear roles limit the City’s ability to identify risks or respond to concerns in a timely way.
Influence and Pressure
The City does not have strong safeguards that protect the contracting process from pressure or influence. Expectations for communication between staff, elected officials, and contractors are not clear or documented.
Policies and Procedures
NSD does not have complete or finalized policies and procedures for its core contracting work. Many documents remain in draft form, which leaves staff without consistent guidance and creates uneven practices across programs.
Invoicing Practices
NSD’s invoicing process does not fully align with enterprise expectations or Coppola settlement requirements. Some contractors submit limited documentation, and NSD often requests the remainder months later. This increases the risk of paying for work the City cannot fully verify.
Contractor Training
NSD does not consistently track or document contractor training, including required two-hour sessions for certain violence-prevention contracts. As a result, NSD cannot reliably show that contractors received information needed to follow City requirements.
Contractor Site Visits
NSD does not have a standardized process for conducting and documenting site visits. The frequency, content, and documentation of these visits are inconsistent, limiting the department’s ability to confirm that services occur as expected.
Contract Documentation and Contractor Communication
NSD does not have a department-wide standard for saving contract records or documenting communication with contractors. Records are stored in different locations and formats, which complicates oversight and creates risk when staff transition.
Excerpt from Executive Summary by Minneapolis Auditor, Robert Timmerman
What’s next
Thankfully, after years of throwing resources at these alternatives to policing, serious inquiries are uncovering the grift and lack of results that have plagued far too many programs.
In 2024, Commissioner of Community Safety, Todd Barnette, began to implement major changes in how contractors were evaluated and how contracts would be managed. In 2025 and 2026, NSD began downsizing its violence prevention efforts, cutting ties with several contractors, some which had failed to provide adequate documentation of money spent or work completed. A higher emphasis was placed on addressing gun violence.
Councilmember Pearl Warren, elected into office in 2025, has been critical of the violence interrupter teams working in the city, calling them a “parade of skittles” who do little while walking on patrol – a reference to the common colorful shirts the teams wear and the perception of many that the groups do little to combat violence.
Mayor Frey’s proposed 2027 budget cuts nearly $2.7 million in violence interrupter funding. In announcing the proposed cuts, Mayor Frey described the violence interrupter effort as being filled with “committed and talented community leaders,” but noted the programs have “not demonstrated the level of results taxpayers deserve.”
It is difficult to find comprehensive records detailing the number of programs that have been funded since 2020, but the NSD website shows that as of today Minneapolis has 35 contracts with various contractors to provide violence prevention services in the city from 2025 – 2028.
The total amount budgeted for these programs is not to exceed $8.87 million over the three years – a significant reduction in the number of programs and money spent in recent years, and a welcome signal that better oversight of funding and results is at play.
Continued improvements in the focus and mission of many of these efforts is needed, and a removal of the “firewall” that exists between remaining violence interrupter groups and the MPD is a must. They don’t have to be arms of the police department, but there has to be coordination of efforts and a system to communicate information back and forth.
Readers wishing to learn more about Minneapolis’s violence prevention efforts going forward can visit the NSD Violence Prevention Services page found here.