Duluth Police Union: 3 Council Candidates Have ‘Extreme Views’ Against Police; Candidates React

DULUTH, Minn. — In a rare move by the Duluth Police Union, and just days before the Nov. 7 election, its members are calling out three Duluth city council candidates — Jenna Yeakle, Miranda Pacheco and Wendy Durrwachter. The union says the three candidates have “extreme views against public safety and law enforcement officers.”

Below is the union’s full statement, which was posted on social media Friday, followed by full statements of reaction from Yeakle, Pacheco and Durrwachter.

The Duluth Police Union: 

“The Duluth Police Union, representing our city’s rank-and-file Officers, Investigators, and Sergeants, endorses and hope you will vote for Roger Reinert for Mayor, Lynn Nephew and Arik Forsman for At-Large City Council, and if in your area: Tim Meyer for 1st District, Roz Randorf for 3rd District, Tara Swenson for 4th District, Janet Kennedy for 5th District.
These candidates prioritize keeping our communities safe with strong support of law enforcement and firefighters. They are thoughtful, balanced, and commonsense decision-makers who will serve all of Duluth.

The Duluth Police Union is also deeply concerned about candidates who have extreme views against public safety and law enforcement officers. Council candidate Jenna Yeakle has publicly stated support for so-called, “defund” public safety policies which have a proven history of increasing crime and decreasing safety. (Facebook post Aug 11, 2020 – “Gonna grab some baked goods later. Eat cookies and defund the police, y’all.”)

In addition, candidates Yeakle as well as Miranda Pacheco and Wendy Durrwachter (First District) declined to pursue the endorsement of the Duluth Police Union, yet they have proudly touted an endorsement from the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) who call for the abolition of the police entirely. The DSA’s platform is to “Defund the police by rejecting any expansion to police budgets or scope of enforcement while cutting budgets annually towards zero.”

These extreme, polarizing viewpoints do not represent the citizens of Duluth, nor do they represent a positive path forward for the city. Electing candidates who support this type of negative rhetoric would also negatively affect the Duluth Police Department’s efforts at recruitment and retention, which is already struggling to attract and retain qualified candidates. Reducing police budgets, training, spreading misinformation, and supporting ineffective public safety policies is not what Duluth wants or needs in its elected representatives.”

Jenna Yeakle:

Jenna Yeakle

“I’m glad for this opportunity to talk about public safety, one of the major platforms of my campaign.

Strong public safety is essential. It’s one important way that we take care of each other as a city. And our community is only as strong as we are safe. Like most Duluthians, I am excited about the opportunities in front of us to expand crisis response, so that mental health emergencies do not immediately mean a response from someone with a gun. And like most Duluthians, I was frustrated and disappointed to learn about the racial disparities in police stops in our city, and I applaud the recent partnership between the DPD and the Duluth Branch NAACP to change policy and stop pretextual stops. I was at the press conference at City Hall yesterday celebrating this achievement. I spoke with former Police Chief Mike Tuscan about these issues before his retirement, and we agreed that a public safety program’s purpose is to keep people safe; and we have so many opportunities right now to improve how we keep people safe in Duluth. We can do better – and I believe we are taking real steps towards doing better. I’m looking forward to working with people from across the city to make Duluth safer for all.”

Miranda Pacheco:

Miranda Pacheco

“As a brown person, I know our communities also want safety, but we don’t feel safe. I would love to work with the police union to change that. There’s nothing extreme in all of us wanting to feel safe.”

Wendy Durrwachter’s:

Wendy Durrwachter

“I met with the DPD Union at the start of my campaign, something I hope to continue to do. Public safety is incredibly important to me. When Duluthians have their needs met – our communities are safer. Full stop.

My platform of housing, childcare, and high-paying jobs that support and value workers is a good start. I know that our DPD is understaffed, and a solution I will pursue is to see what duties we can shift to unarmed community service officers and community crisis response staff.

It’s unfortunate that the rhetoric being pushed right now does not capture the full view of these issues – but I am confident Duluthians will see through these catchy one-liners, and understand just how important it is that EVERYONE in our community feels safe, and is given what they need to thrive.”