Minnesota Reformer
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo coordinated closely with a group called Operation Safety Now, which was created by a PR consultant, to sway public opinion and the City Council against budget cuts to the Minneapolis police department. The office of Mayor Jacob Frey, seen here in the background, also worked with Operation Safety Now. Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer.
Bill Rodriguez was the first speaker at the first public hearing on cutting funding to the Minneapolis Police Department. “We need both: the police and reform,” Rodriguez said at a City Council meeting in November.
Variations on that phrase “we need both” were repeated throughout the hearing. It is the signature talking point of Operation Safety Now, the pro-police group Rodriguez founded.