Cold Call / Episode 137

Engaging Community to Create Proactive, Equitable Public Safety

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Can the mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, overhaul the city’s public safety framework amid budget shortfalls and national protests against police brutality?

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January 19, 2021

Melvin Carter, the mayor of Saint Paul, Minnesota, swept into office in 2018, promising to improve equity. In his campaign, he had spoken from experience about what it felt like to be pulled over by police as a Black man. He wanted to create a new public safety framework that would be rooted in community.

But then the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out much of the city’s budget and the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by a police officer in neighboring Minneapolis sparked calls to defund the police. How would Mayor Carter make these changes happen?

Harvard Business School professor Mitch Weiss discusses the challenges and rewards of “possibility government” in his case, “Community-First Public Safety.”

HBR Presents is a network of podcasts curated by HBR editors, bringing you the best business ideas from the leading minds in management. The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Harvard Business Review or its affiliates.

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