It's hard to believe it has been over three years since the BLM and Antifa riots plagued the nation in 2020. Ground zero during that turbulent time was Minneapolis, which culminated with Mayor Jacob Fry (D) ordering police to abandon the 3rd Police Precinct after putting their lives on the line for days to defend it.
Rioters, seeing their actions cause the rout, became more violent and destructive. The station was eventually set on fire.
Three years later, the precinct still sits walled off and abandoned. Questions remain about what to do with the unusable structure and where to base the officers tasked with patrolling the 3rd Precinct. A community survey went out, and two options were given: rebuild at the original site or build a new 3rd Police Precinct up the street. Unsurprisingly, many community members wrote back saying they do not want a new building or a police presence in the 3rd Precinct at all.
Fry told KSTP he does not support not having a police presence, but a compromise could be to house 3rd Precinct officers near the northern border of the area of responsibility downtown. Based on the community feedback, officers' opinion of the site, and not wanting to have another flare-up, it looks as though Minneapolis will go with the last option for now.
My initial thought — having been outside the building the night it was set on fire and seeing the aftermath in the area —is that the city needs to have the building within the borders of the 3rd Precinct, if not at the original site, then up the road. Should the Democratic leadership go with its backup plan, it will once again signal to the hardcore activists and criminals they have won yet again because they have the power.
The evacuation and burning of the 3rd Police Precinct was the turning point that set the tone across the country for the rest of the year. The next night, BLM rioters tried to set fire to the 5th Police Precinct, located a few miles down the road. Then-Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan (D) ordered the Seattle Police out of the East Precinct based on the fear of having a repeat of a 3rd Precinct situation. That led to the creation of CHAZ/CHOP, creating a hub of criminal activity. Antifa rioters in Portland laid siege to the federal courthouse and local police stations for months – all of these events I witnessed firsthand.
This is where the United States is now. The country that once was in 2019 is dead. The slow, deliberate decline of our once-great cities won't stop anytime soon. Buckle up. Welcome to the new America.