The Minneapolis Police Department remains in place following Tuesday’s Minneapolis city elections. A ballot question to dissolve the MPD and replace it with a Department of Public Safety (whatever that would look like) was soundly defeated by Minneapolis voters who, apparently, prefer the devil they know than the one they don’t know.

The ballot question was vague and contained no plans for how the city would protect its citizens, and it deserved to go down.

But the election should not be seen as a vote of confidence for the Minneapolis Police Department. The department is in need of reform and has been for some time. It has developed a culture of “us against them” rather than “protect and serve,” and its more brutal officers continue to be employed with little or no accountability, thanks to a police union that protests every attempt at discipline and a state arbitration system that stymies efforts to remove bad officers.

The problems that led to the ballot question in the first place need to be addressed in order to restore public trust in the MPD. It will be up to the new Minneapolis City Council, Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Medaria Arradondo to address these problems.