The Minneapolis Police Department reported in September 2025 that sworn officer staffing had reached 677 — approaching the 888 officers employed before the George Floyd protests in 2020, when the department had experienced its largest-ever exodus. The department credited an accelerated hiring initiative launched after the DOJ formally withdrew from the consent decree in May 2025. These facts are confirmed by MPD statistics, Fox News, NPR, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Mayor Jacob Frey's office.

Minneapolis had seen its officer count fall to a low of approximately 560 by late 2022 as officers left citing morale concerns, COVID leaves, and controversy over the city's response to the Floyd protests. The Minneapolis City Council had voted in 2020 to defund and eventually dismantle MPD — a measure voters rejected at the ballot box in November 2021, when 56% voted no on a charter amendment that would have replaced the police department.

City data showed major crime in Minneapolis fell 8.2% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, with homicides down 15%. Police Chief Brian O'Hara credited increased proactive patrol. Some community organizations said the crime decline reflected community violence intervention programs, not just policing changes. Both the crime decline and staffing increase were confirmed by city data cited across outlets.

Fox News and conservative media framed the staffing rebuild as vindication of the argument that 'defund the police' policies had contributed to crime spikes. NPR noted that Minneapolis had never actually defunded the police — the 2020 charter amendment failed — and that reform advocates said crime fell in cities that did implement reforms. The consent decree's exit was a subject of ongoing dispute, with some reforms continuing voluntarily.