Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Calls for Disarming Police

Authors Current Events S.H. Blannelberry
Minneapolis Mayoral Candidate Calls for Disarming Police

Minneapolis mayor candidate Raymond Dehn. (Photo: Fox9 News)

Minneapolis mayoral candidate Raymond Dehn caused quite the commotion this week when he called for disarming the city’s police force.

“I’m not saying they don’t have access to that, just like they have access to more lethal weapons in their cars, I would believe they would still have access to their guns in their cars,” said Dehn, according to Fox9 News.

Dehn, a state representative, believes that there needs to be a major overhaul in the way police officers are trained, specifically that less-lethal means of force should be prioritized.

“I think as we look at how to change policing and how we get officers to not react to use their gun in situations, but learning skills around de-escalation training I think are important,” he said.

When asked to clarify his rather stunning remarks, Dehn doubled down on his position.

Dehn has not yet fleshed out his vision for how a subarmed police force would operate within a community.  He said he wants to sit down with the law enforcement to discuss the approach.

SEE ALSO: Korwin: Should America Subarm its Citizens?

Hmmm… to have a discussion with law enforcement presupposes that they’ll show up to the table.  But that may not be the case.  Lt. Bob Kroll, the head of the city’s police union, said what any rational person is thinking.  That no cop would ever approve of this policy change.

“I don’t think the people in Minneapolis are logically ready for anything like this,” said Kroll. “Who would ever do the job of policing again? It’s absolutely an absurd thought.”

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  • Beachhawk Sutton May 29, 2020, 6:18 pm

    I have heard a lot of silly things come out of the mouths of politicians, but Raymond Dehn takes the prize fro the dumbest, A middle sized city in California tried putting their patrol officers in civilian blazers and slacks back in the mid-1970s. Even though the officers were stilled armed, the result was a huge spike in street crime and violent assaults on officers. Just imagine what would happen if you put officers on the street with no way to defend themselves. They would immediately become the target of every thug in the community. Let Mr. Dehn put on a uniform and go enforce the law with no weapons because no police officer is going to do it.

  • Gary May 29, 2020, 11:15 am

    I will keep my remark very short, as so many well spoken folks have already explained how things would go IF this moron is ellected to office.
    My opinion is, this guy is a F**KTARD!! Simple as that.
    That’s all.
    Peace!✌

  • larry abrams September 17, 2018, 9:48 am

    What can I say about people like Mr. Dehn. They walk, They talk, live among us and believe it or not they even get elected and worse of all they actually believe what they say and even sadder they reproduce.. I have known personally a few like Mr. Dehn who also were out of their rabbit ass minds.. 🙁

  • Buff June 1, 2018, 8:40 am

    Have him ride with the police, inner city, every night for a month, then ask him again.Better yet, just one night, but drop him off in the middle of the Hood, dressed in a police uniform with an empty holster.See if he makes it out alive.Odds are not good.

  • Fitz September 29, 2017, 7:44 pm

    I had the privilege of hearing this candidate speak to a small gathering tonight. The fact that he is running for mayor of a large metropolitan city scares me. The fact that he actually had followers scares me even more….

  • Glock17 August 14, 2017, 9:48 pm

    I applaud the mayor for taking the first step towards true disarmament of guns from people. Starting with those who carried them on a daily basis. Disarm the officers or the military when they show up on my front porch and I’ll feel a lot safer on giving up my own guns. Until then don’t infringe on law-abiding citizens right to the Second Amendment.

    • ejharb September 3, 2017, 9:00 pm

      Speak for yourself sir.
      The government will always have guns.when only the government has guns you get,
      The Armenian genocide by turks
      The red terror and other soviet massacres.
      The holocaust.
      The untold slaughtered in communist china.
      Need I add more? You give up your human right to defense! As for me,from my cold dead hands after I exact a blood price

  • Carl Tests August 5, 2017, 1:38 pm

    Most elected officials, mayors, supervisors, councilmen and women, and the like get automatic tickets to CCW permits, even in States like CA (the latter being the only types of people allowed CCWs). I say let’s pull the CCWs of all politicians and see if they support it. Heck, Diane Feinstein even had a CCW.

    • Lewis H Christenson August 5, 2017, 9:53 pm

      After watching Feinstein and DeLeon handle a firearm and share their knowledge of firearms with other law makers in Sacramento. I would not give them a rubber band gun even with a permit. I thought all those crazy ideas only came from CA. This guys parents must have dropped acid in the sixties, he has brain damage.

  • Nemo August 5, 2017, 1:08 pm

    With the current importation of people from (mainly lawless) Somalia into MN (via Soros-allied NGOs), with drearily predictable results (increased crime), it is self-evident that Mr. Dehn resides in a bubble of some kind. One that would be popped very quickly should he find himself at odds with one of those jihad-minded importations.

    It was FDR who said that a “liberal is a man with both feet firmly planted in the air”. Mr. Dehn is a perfect example of such.

  • Carl S August 5, 2017, 10:23 am

    Welcome to San Francisco East. It’s a waste of breath to comment on the stupidity of this individual, it is self evident, but then Mpls. residents keep sending people like this one into public office…..have you evaluated their choices for mayor lately and historically MPD has been a hotbed of political involvement in law enforcement, God help the rank and file, constantly looking over their shoulder. You actually think this couldn’t happen in the MiniApple. Residents of Mpls. wake up. As the idea, this individual still lives in the world of’ blame the gun, people are basically good and if not for guns we could all get along’. Until this person actually embraces the truth that PEOPLE are the problem and not weapons. Weapons are a problem for people who want harm, but they’ll use anything as weapon if it suits them. No one is safe from such people and problematically our world of snowflakes, entitlement mentality, lack of true holding people responsible, for their actions, parenting that raises a child from a foundation of right and wrong; we will never be rid of people who will do wrong, harm, and mayhem. As to the cops, speaking as a retired officer the gun should be the last resort, your mouth and attitude can solve many problems better then resorting to gun first, but I have been out of the loop for a while and my active acquaintances tell me the streets are far more populated with guns and sadly people too immature to be let out after dark……..this ‘public servant’ is one of those who will not go out after dark, he prefers to pamper the entitled, the snowflakes scream armageddon and look for excuses rather then hold PEOPLE accountable and he REALLY thinks the answer is to coerce everybody else to do what his foolish brain believes. Like I said San Francisco East. The electorate of Mpls need to look in the mirror and actually do something about it. But then Minnesotans should be held to the same call and do something about it’s State wide governance as well.

  • Jim August 5, 2017, 9:45 am

    As a former police officer let’s see how disarming police should work. Take GB that didn’t work too well for them when the Bobbie didn’t have a gun and was stabbed allowing the actor to kill more people. The key to everything is training and not putting unqualified or should I say unfit officers into a position because of their political connection or social connection with the hiring body. It’s a bad move. Inexperienced officers need training both with a training officer and with outside instruction. Cultural diversity training is a must now a days. Supervisors need to grab the reins and do what’s best for the officers and the community they serve. Taking their guns away, get a grip. You walk the mean streets and see how you feel. When you or your family become the victim of an armed armed assailant, I want the guy showing up to have gun. On a side note hire a few more guys and it’s always seemed to me that a good guy with a gun, cop or no cop beats a bad guy with a gun.

  • Jay August 5, 2017, 8:43 am

    Every time some politician like dehn opens their mouth, my belief in aliens living among us is reassured! We need to vet all politicians with mental test, IQ test and full back ground check,s then lower their salaries to minimum wage and make them use the same insurance the rest of us do!

  • Dan August 4, 2017, 1:22 pm

    Obviously we have a problem with law enforcement screening, selection, and training, but taking away the ability of a police officer to carry a pistol will ensure that the good ones will leave or never sign up in the first place. What kind of a force will we be left with then?

    We’ve all heard the Greek proverb about where a fish rots from, and our focus should be on getting money out of politics, and calling for publicly funded elections instead of using tragic events to justify vilifying those on the front lines. For decades, our standard of living has continued to decline for all but a select few in this country. Instead of draining the swamp, we are up to our a$$es in alligators, and now we’ve added invasive species into the mix!

    • Kevin August 4, 2017, 2:38 pm

      Enhanced screening and much deeper training of our police officer is definitely needed but equally so, we need to do mental illness screening and IQ tests for politicians and wanna be politicians. This guy is an idiot.

      • Ken Janulewicz November 2, 2018, 12:29 pm

        Nowadays, no one wants the job of being a police officer. Vilified in the press, thrown under the bus by chiefs, every move under a Monday morning microscope. The job now sucks with less and less applicants. The only way to fill the gap is by lowering hiring standards, which has already been done in a lot of departments. They accept applicants now that would have been shown the door in 2 minutes before all this anti-police rhetoric and shortage of applicants.

    • John Taylor August 4, 2017, 8:01 pm

      The two most important task in society do not require a pre-screening test, parent, and politician.

  • Charlie August 4, 2017, 1:18 pm

    I have said it,time and time again. God,Guts and Guns made this country free,and that is what it will take to keep it that way. This guy is living in the world of wonder land if he thinks such an idea of taking the guns out of reach of the police will work for safety of the public.

  • John August 4, 2017, 12:16 pm

    Or, how about they stop hiring people for reasons of political correctness, rather than fitness for duty? This Somali was heralded as the “new wave” of diversity in MPD. I am a big supporter of the Police community, HOWEVER, cops that shoot down innocent people like Philandro Castile and this Australian woman should go straight to jail.

    In addition, the reason these two murders are so low-key in the media is that both were committed by non-white officers. Had they been committed by white officers, those officers would be pilloried in every left-wing paper in the country.

  • Lee Elliott August 4, 2017, 12:13 pm

    This Marxist Communist A-hole just signed the death certificate of his campaign lol. Want to erase the national debt? Just tax Reynold\’s aluminum foil for all those tin hats.

  • Deadmeat99 August 4, 2017, 11:36 am

    And if they disarm police, you know who’s going to be disarmed next. The only people left with firearms will be the thugs overrunning the city.

  • Jim August 4, 2017, 10:21 am

    “Dehn, a state representative, believes that there needs to be a major overhaul in the way police officers are trained, specifically that less-lethal means of force should be prioritized.”
    Yessiree, and the next thing we do is to train the thugs, radical muslims, BLM folks, and the like, that they should be more cognizant of the brutality they force upon the citizens and the police and they should just STOP doing what they are doing to intimidate people and stop killing them.
    OF COURSE THEY WILL COMPLY! Oh, and about that bridge I have for sale……
    I wonder what Dehn, and those folks are smokin’ up there in Minnesota?
    BTW: Dehn is a member of the democratic-farmer-labor party in MN.
    AND…..a little more information from Wikipedia: “Dehn grew up in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota in a working class family. His father was a teamster, operating a forklift at a factory. His mother worked part-time at a company making toilet-paper wraps for American soldiers in Vietnam[1]. In 1976, at the age of 19, Dehn was convicted of a felony burglary[2]. He served seven months at the Hennepin County Workhouse and was released to a drug treatment program due to his cocaine addiction. He has been sober since his rehabilitation. In 1982, Dehn applied and was granted a full pardon for his felony by the State of Minnesota.”
    NOW, MORE THAN EVER, I WONDER WHAT THEY’RE SMOKIN’ UP THERE IN MN! I MEAN, REALLY?

  • Steve Challis August 4, 2017, 10:08 am

    I walked the beat and drove a patrol car for 21 years in the UK where police are by and large unarmed.
    I survived without a gun ,but that was in the UK. As a US citizen I would not dream of leaving home without my gun. The cultures are vast’ll y different. UK has no constitution and hand ownership is banned.only criminals have guns,and shootings are on the rise.
    In the US everyone who is not a felon can own a gun.That is a reality that the police have to live with.
    Add to that the rise of hate groups like Black Lives Matter and the rising threat of terrorism, and you can see the day of the unarmed beat cop is becoming history. A romantic idea that belongs in The fantasy world ,where only good guys live and criminals do not exist.

    • Russ H. August 4, 2017, 5:37 pm

      Well said. I served as a state trooper for over 22 yrs – I can without a doubt say I would have been killed at least 20-30 times if I had not been armed. Keep in mind – felons DO own guns, just because they are breaking the law doesn\’t mean they can\’t. I\’ve also noticed the UK is beginning to rethink the whole unarmed copper thing – more and more are carrying or at least have more ready access to one. The days of unarmed cops should be over.There is no way anyone in their right mind would be a cop in the US and not demand to be armed. It would be suicide, particularly in metropolitan areas. I would very much like to see Raymond Dehn work as a cop for a year unarmed in Minneapolis and then see what his opinion was (if he survived it).

  • Jimmy Jihad August 4, 2017, 10:03 am

    So, disarm the police and import more Somalis then. You betcha! For cool.

  • Bull Durham August 4, 2017, 9:29 am

    I don’t know why everyone is so upset. It’s been said that “a people get the government they deserve.” If Minneapolis elects the individual who is the subject of the story (see, I didn’t have to use any pejorative term to describe this i****t), then they will get the result they deserve. Since I’m too lazy to check, does anyone know Minneapolis’ ordinances granting or limiting home ownership of weapons, or open/concealed carry? If he gets elected, that could be very important information for the few remaining citizens with even a partially functioning brain to know.

    WRT the police, there are millions of candidates out there for a disarmed police force. They all voted for Hillary…

  • j rocco August 4, 2017, 9:11 am

    I be-leave the police should be issued defensive arms only.A six round 357 should be more then efficient ..

    • A August 4, 2017, 12:57 pm

      Yeah and the criminals get ARs and AKs with 30 plus rounds. So while the cop reloads becuase, in a fire fight accuracy is lower drastically, the bad guy can use the superior fire power as suppressive fire pinn the officer as he advances gets the better shot and kills him when he tries to shoot. There is a video that shows this exactly. Guy with a m1a and state trooper with a pistol. Look it up, the outcome is deadly.
      Your comment is just as stupid as this political idiot sayung to disarm police.
      Obviously you have never been in this type of situation, me being police and prior military, I have. I would never work for a department that does this.

    • Russ H. August 4, 2017, 5:51 pm

      WHAT??? I\’d like to see YOU go out as a cop armed like that. The police have been outgunned for over 30-40 years because of ridiculous ideas like this. When I worked down on the AZ/MX border, the bad guys were carrying AK\’s or AR15s – I had a S&W 686 with 18 authorized rds plus a model 60 38 spec on my ankle. 2 yrs later we went to Sigs but even then, Sig 220 45acp vs AK isn\’t good. A year later we were authorized to purchase our own \”assault rifles.\” I\’m still kicking myself for not buying an HK91 or 93 for $400. I bought a Colt HBAR. Hindsight… Eventually, we were issued old refurbished M16\’s (converted to semiauto).J rocco, your opinion is silly.

    • Willie-O August 6, 2017, 12:48 pm

      ALMOST as ignorant as the politician’s idea. Proof positive that “progressive” liberal ignorance is alive and well.

  • Ardvark August 4, 2017, 8:49 am

    This individual is so far removed from reality that he should evaluated mentally. He certainly sounds like a great democrat!

  • Jeffrey L. Frischkorn August 4, 2017, 8:29 am

    Hmm, I suspect that Mr. Dehn thinks that a criminal will give a police officer time to go back to the squad car to fetch his sidearm.. \”Hold on, Sir, can you wait a minute? I need to go and get my Glock.\”

  • liquidators1 August 4, 2017, 8:20 am

    This city will become the home of MS-13 and all the criminal gangs in America. What this city needs is another wacko politician to destroy its population.

    • Anders Olafson August 4, 2017, 10:09 am

      Oh ya, you betcha.

  • Roger F. Garner August 4, 2017, 8:05 am

    Must be something in the water, Minnesota sure has it’s problems with wacko people.

    • Jd August 4, 2017, 10:52 am

      It’s coast envy. They want to be sophisticated and civilized like people on the east or left coast.

  • Cyrus August 4, 2017, 7:32 am

    If Sheriff Taylor can maintain the peace in Mayberry without a gun then so can Minneapolis mayoral candidate Raymond Dehn. But even Andy had backup from Barney even though he was only allowed to carry 1 bullet!

  • JGinFlorida August 4, 2017, 6:40 am

    One would think that someone could call for research into policing techniques and technology that was less lethal without being so stupid. We have drones coming on, self driving cars, robot servants, they will have some impact on all of us. Maybe there will be ways to instantly detect from afar whether someone is armed or not. New AI techniques might be developed that instantly read body language and tension in voices. Remote sampling of air to diagnose drug use, smelling of ammunition. There must be countless ways policing should and will change in the coming decades that can be researched. But cops without immediate access to deadly force in the forseeable future is not one of them.

  • Richard L Park August 4, 2017, 4:39 am

    I’ll bet ‘ol Jessie & Frank James and the rest of the Gang are looking down and just smiling……………..

  • Michael Stuhr August 2, 2017, 3:13 am

    Who in their right mind would take a job there?
    If it goes into effect it won’t be long before it will become a failed experiment.
    I’m all for less than lethal force but lethal force needs to be on hand as a “Plan B.”
    You won’t have time to go looking for it when you need it the most.

  • Mark Timblin July 31, 2017, 3:35 pm

    Maybe if he did do the ride along, answering calls going to domestics,(hated domestics….shiver). aybe going to road rage incidents, or going to a B & E, any number of the calls we got throughout our shift, being the dumb ass that he is I still don’t think its gonna change his mind! OK, you can have your duty pistol but ya gotta keep it in the car. OK dumb ass….what happens when you get a call in a really bad part of town and you confront the perp. Halt or I’m gonna, I’m gonna….taze you! Really, then when your flag draped coffin comes out the church nd your fellow officers bid you good-bye, your wife hands this mayor a law suit naming him and the city in a wrongful death suit.
    I doubt seriously if this dope will even get elected, he is so outta touch with the way things are that he doesn’t stand a chance. Then again.

  • Russ July 31, 2017, 9:34 am

    What an idiot. Let him ride in the high crime areas for one month. After the first call amongst the savages this douche nozzles pie in the sky ideas will change. Is he doing this for air time?? No one can truly be that stupid!!!!

    • Mark Timblin July 31, 2017, 3:26 pm

      Hell, it wouldn’t take a month. Let him ride for a week then let him walk a beat for a week, that would change his attitude. If it doesn’t then he is a hell of a lot dumber than I thought. I walked a beat or a year, head my cruiser but the mayor said I had to walk at least 1/3 to 1/2 of my shift. I wasn’t in a large city like Minneapolis but we had around 10-12K population. Back in the late 70’s early 80’s it was a different time different everything. I worked as a police officer for almost 11 yrs, retiring as the assistant chief. From there moved to Fl. from Pa to get away from the cold, wound up going to work for Fl. Dept of Corrections. ade 14 yrs. was injured in a riot in the 90’s and it turned out to be a career ending injury. Hey….life in the fast lane, still miss it even now 17 yrs after I was retired.

  • Dilligaf July 30, 2017, 11:42 am

    That guy is dumb as FUCK! He won’t be elected. IF for some stupid chance he is, it wouldn’t surprise me if the entire police force quits and that town left with no protection whatsoever

  • CharlieKing1 July 29, 2017, 6:54 pm

    Chris- your comment is dead on…I am an old retired state police officer who agrees with you. The wannabe mayor needs to ride out one shift in the worst part of town. His Pollyanna ideas are downright dangerous. Maybe he should remove those rose colored glasses for a real dose of reality. He’ll never be able shift the culture away from the use of firearms. First he’ll have to convince the crooks and thugs to disarm first, and good luck with that…

  • SuperG July 28, 2017, 12:51 pm

    Truly, one of the most retarded ideas I have ever heard.

  • Chris July 28, 2017, 12:35 pm

    He should have to spend a month doing a ride-along and going to domestic violence calls, gang activity calls, robbery calls & road rage incidents and deal with the “real” general public and have to actually be hands on in arresting people ( all while not having a sidearm on his hip) and see if he still feels that it would be prudent to disarm the police. I bet once he had to really get into the nitty gritty of things his opinion would change.

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