The Derek Chauvin trial starts two weeks from today, and from all the prep that is going on, it appears that folks are nervous. Concrete dividers, fencing and barb wire have joined plywood at the entrance doors of the Hennepin County Government Center building in downtown Minneapolis.

For those readers who were busy in a blow pipe making class in PNG last summer, Derek Chauvin is the former Minneapolis police officer who held his knee on George Floyd’s neck for eight minutes. With his face inches from the pavement, Floyd expressed concerns about not being able to breath before he died in police custody. This happened on a Tuesday. Protests were in full gear by Wednesday evening. Riots led to the burning of a police precinct Thursday. It wasn’t until Saturday evening that the National Guard, in full combat gear, patrolled the streets with pellets guns to keep them clear for the curfew. Black smoke from Batteries Plus and other commercial spaces hung over the Lake Street section of South Minneapolis through Sunday morning. Protestors burned or damaged upwards of 700 buildings, housing many minority owned businesses as well as national chains.

Estimates are that the Minneapolis Police Department has lost 200 of its 600 police officers to disability claims and early retirements since last year. The city council continues to hammer on the department, denying funding requests while attempting to shift responsibilities from the police department to social workers. This strategy is not garnering a lot of support outside the city limits.

In an unusual move, the speaker of the Minnesota house, Melissa Hortman (D-Brooklyn Park), brought a bill to the floor of the (DFL majority) house which, apparently, had not been vetted for votes. The governor’s proposal to create a statewide fund intended to pay for security during the trial failed as a handful of democrats voted with the GOP. It appears there is a shuffling up of groups, as who do or do not support Minneapolis’ move to reimagine public safety, and they are not all falling along party lines.

The Minnesota House rejected a bill Thursday that seeks to create a state fund to reimburse police departments from outside Minneapolis if they’re called in to help prevent civil unrest around the upcoming trial of Derek Chauvin.

Security funding plan for Chauvin trial fails in Minnesota House | MPR News

One comment that was made was that outstate Minnesotans aren’t necessarily as supportive of the MPD, as they are appalled at how the police have been treated. There is a difference. The media, however, is cradling protestors sympathetically, as in this recent headline in the Minneapolis Star and Tribune. (Hollywood ready little girl in his arms et all)

The trial will be televised, but it seems like the drama already has its verdict. Just in case, there will be a lot of manpower on the ground to keep the peace.