At least 7 Minneapolis police officers quit, citing lack of support from city leaders after protests

Several Minneapolis Police Department employees are quitting their law enforcement jobs because of the lack of support following the George Floyd protests. At least seven police officers have quit the MPD in the aftermath of protests, that does not include the four former cops who were involved in Floyd's death and were fired.

Current and former MPD officers told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that cops were frustrated with the way the police department and city leaders failed to support them. One particular event that bothered cops was Mayor Jacob Frey's (D) decision to abandon the Third Precinct police station. Rioters were able to ransack the police station and set the building on fire. Cops were forced to retreat.

Minneapolis Deputy Chief Henry Halvorson wrote an email earlier this month that stated some police officers have "simply walked off the job without filing the proper paperwork, creating confusion about who is still working and who isn't."

Minneapolis Police spokesman John Elder downplayed the cops who resigned. "There's nothing that leads us to believe that at this point the numbers are so great that it's going to be problematic," Elder said.

Minneapolis Police Department officials provided a statement to WCCO-TV that read: "People seek to leave employment for a myriad of reasons. The MPD is no exception. Due to these employment separations, we have not noted any indicators that would impact public safety."

"(Officers) don't feel appreciated," Mylan Masson, a retired Minneapolis officer and use-of-force expert, said. "Everybody hates the police right now. I mean everybody."

Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was fired and charged with second-degree murder. Three other MPD officers involved in the arrest of George Floyd have been fired and charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder.

The Minneapolis City Council passed a resolution to replace the police department with a "community safety" model last week.

Two weeks ago, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) joined the movement to defund the police.

"The Minneapolis Police Department has proven themselves beyond reform," Omar said. "It's time to disband them and reimagine public safety in Minneapolis."

"Police violence is a threat to public safety," the Democratic congresswoman said. "We must allocate resources to ensure that all instances of death or injury in police custody are adequately and independently reviewed."

"You can't really reform a department that is rotten to the root," Omar said during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

"What you can do is rebuild. And so this is our opportunity, you know, as a city, to come together, have the conversation of what public safety looks like, who enforces the most dangerous crimes that place in our community," she added. "What we are saying is, the current infrastructure that exists as policing in our city should not exist anymore."

Last week, officers of the Hallandale Beach Police Department were so angered by their chief kneeling with protesters that every member of the SWAT team resigned.

Tulsa Police Maj. Travis Yates warned that the defund the police movement and anti-police sentiment would cause a mass exodus in law enforcement.