AKIPRESS.COM - Minneapolis is poised to disband its police department after a majority of city council members vowed to end policing as the city knows it, Sky News reports.

The dramatic move comes as the state of Minnesota has launched a civil rights investigation after the killing of George Floyd while in police custody.

Nine of the Minneapolis City Council's 12 members appeared with activists on Sunday afternoon and vowed to start the city's police force over again.

Council member Jeremiah Ellison promised that the council would "dismantle" the department.

"It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe," Lisa Bender, the council president, said. "Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period."

Ms Bender said she and the eight other council members who joined the rally were committed to ending the city's relationship with the police force and "to end policing as we know it and recreate systems that actually keep us safe".