Voters in Minneapolis will on Tuesday decide whether to scrap the city’s police department in an historic step.

Following the death of George Floyd at the hands of officer Derek Chauvin the city became the epicentre of the “defund the police movement”.

For Minneapolis, this would see the police department being replaced by a new Department of Public Safety under the City Council’s control.

If passed, the proposals would scrap the requirement for a minimum number of police officers, which has been in place since 1961.

It would see resources being used to increase the number of social workers, therapists and so-called “violence interrupters,”  in a bid to tackle the root causes of crime.

But critics warn the reforms will have a devastating effect on a city with a soaring crime rate – shootings have risen more than 25 per cent this year – and policing troubles.

Even ahead of the ballot, Minneapolis has suffered a haemorrhage of police officers. Around 200 have quit in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder.

Over the same period, the city has seen a spike in crime from carjacking to murder.

The latest figures show 503 people were shot in the first nine months of the year. Murders increased by 16 per cent, robberies by five per cent and aggravated assaults by 2.6 per cent.

However, supporters of the change say that the spike in crime took place under the existing policing arrangements.

The move has split the Democrats. It is supported by congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a member of the “squad” of left-wingers in Washington and Keith Ellison, a former member of congress and more recently the state’s attorney general.

But it is opposed by the party establishment including Minnesota senator, Amy Klobuchar and Joe Biden, who distanced himself from calls to defund the police when running for the presidency. But the attorney general who led the Chauvin prosecution backs the move.

Polling last month suggested that voters favoured reforming the police department, but not cutting the number of officers.

Support for the ‘defund the police’ movement has been falling among Americans as violent crime has spiralled in the last year or so.