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Citing an inability to keep up with a surge in crime that’s overwhelming officers, St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell is asking the City Council to spend $3.1 million more on his department than what Mayor Melvin Carter proposed.
The unusual bucking of authority during a routine budget presentation on Wednesday sparked tensions between the police chief, the mayor and council members about the role of law enforcement in St. Paul, a debate that has intensified in cities across the country since the murder of George Floyd sparked calls to defund police agencies and invest in alternative public safety programs.
Carter has proposed allocating $120.8 million, about 17% of the city’s overall budget, to police in 2022. That amount is $1.2 million less than what the department received in 2021, but Carter’s plan shifts $5.1 million from the police to other city departments taking over management of St. Paul’s community ambassadors program and emergency communications center…
