After the conclusion of the federal investigation into Minneapolis Police Department and the court’s approval of reforms, the community expressed mixed reactions on Thursday to the proposed changes that activists claimed would not have been feasible without them.
Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice concluded their investigation, and found that MPD had engaged in unconstitutional practices of policing. This included excessive force against Black and Indigenous people and discrimination. The city of Minneapolis announced at a press conference on June 16 that it would negotiate a consent order with the Justice Department in order to reform its police.
According to DOJ officials, the consent decree will be an independently monitored, court-enforceable agreement that will have been negotiated by Minneapolis and the Justice Department. It will be finalized within the next few months. The agreement was reached after Minneapolis had approved a consent decree with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights in March for its findings of misconduct by police.
An investigation began in 2020. A state judge approved a court-enforceable settlement between MDHR and MPD on Thursday. Since March, the groups have been negotiating a decree in court. The MDHR investigation revealed discrimination against Black people in Minneapolis and the inappropriate use of force.
Michelle Gross, founder of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said, “The fingerprints from members of the community can be found all over this report. I find it excellent.” She was referring to DOJ’s investigation. We’re happy with the report as it is factual.
The organizations that participated in a press conference held after the DOJ announcement, which was hosted by local activist groups including CUAPB and Black Lives Matter Twin Cities as well as the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, had mixed reactions.
Gross said that, while acknowledging many of the concerns of the community, she was disappointed not to see any mention about MPD’s treatment towards unhoused and encampments of people in the city.
Community fingerprints
Gross explained that for the past two decades, CUAPB has collected stories about Minneapolis residents’ interactions with MPD by using canvassers who did anything from go door-to-door or speak with people in parking lots of liquor stores to going door-to -door.
CUAPB provided more than 2,300 written testimony to the DOJ, MDHR and other agencies to assist in their investigations. The organization also held two dozen panels and events to provide recommendations for reforms that the community wanted in the consent order, such as changes to MPD policies on mental health crises and the use of force.
Gross explained that the organization’s collaboration with the Justice Department centered on translating community needs into concrete policies to be included within the city’s consent deeds.
Gross stated that “people have many ideas of what they want but don’t know how to make them a reality.”
Toshira Allen founded Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence (a support group for victims of police misconduct). Garraway Allen says that residents’ calls for reform were a result of finally hearing their stories after years of abuse by MPD.
Garraway Allen explained that “there’s a kind of separation between people because they live in a bubble and it’s difficult to understand what someone who has experienced it is saying.” “This treatment can be seen in the voices of people who speak out.”
During the DOJ announcement, Merrick Garland listed a number of incidents of MPD misconduct. These included an officer telling Somali teenagers he was proud about Operation Black Hawk Down, and an officer pushing a reporter’s head against pavement during a demonstration.
Garraway Allen stated that despite the gasps heard at Garland’s statement, nothing in the DOJ report should have come as a surprise to anyone who reads it.
Garraway Allen, a Garraway resident who lives in a community where police continue to retaliate against them, said that the agreements were a “slap in face” to the federal government.
Garraway Allen stated, “We do not believe that a piece paper or some rules will change people’s heart and minds.”
Gross said that while the community had done a good job informing the DOJ, there are many who do not believe Minneapolis will include its residents in the reform negotiations it has with the state and the federal government.
The city is trying to get the MDHR, the DOJ to negotiate and then leave the community behind. Gross replied, “Absolutely flippin’ no.” We’re going make sure the community’s wants and needs are a part this.
Gross says that one of the main concerns for the community is the selection of independent monitors by Minneapolis and MDHR to enforce the two reform agreements in the city.
According to a request for city data, independent monitors will receive $1.5 million per year and be responsible for ensuring that the city complies with its agreements. The city has received consent decrees from MDHR for several law firms, and a research group that works with the military.
Gross says that it is the responsibility of the community to hold monitors accountable. CUAPB is concerned that the current applicant pool is not sufficient to ensure compliance with either agreement and advocates for separate monitors for state and federal agreements.
Gross stated that “a lot of these people have had long-standing relations with the city and we feel there is something too cozy.” The list is inadequate. It’s really poor.
The MDHR-MPD consent decree has been approved despite concerns from the community. The agreement lists a number of requirements for Minneapolis and MPD.
Demand that officers de-escalate situations;
Interdiction of force by officers to punish or retaliate
Interdiction of the use certain pretext stops
Limit the use of force by officers and their ability to use chemical irritants, tasers or other chemical irritants;
Ban searches based solely on the alleged scent of cannabis
Ban “excited delirium” training.
According to a release, MDHR Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said, “The agreement captures scope of necessary work to address race-based policing in our city, a plague that harms everyone. Especially people of color and Indigenous communities.”
The team of independent evaluators, however, will monitor compliance by the city with its federal and state agreements for reform.
Lucero, during the hearing, said that the monitoring team would work with Minneapolis and the local community to make sure the city’s commitment towards police reform was met.
“We created the scope of responsibilities for the monitoring team in the hope of setting up the city for success,” Lucero stated during the hearing according to a release.
Reactions to agreements
Some were less hopeful about the promised reforms. Nekima Armstrong, former Minneapolis NAACP president and city attorney, said the report was a long-overdue intervention by a city which has always tried to avoid accountability for its misdeeds.
Levy Armstrong stated that “they failed to correct the injustices, abuses, and policy violations which have been occurring for years.” Levy Armstrong said: “To see elected officials on TV today, and those who were appointed, saying that they will now do what they need do is a slap to the face.”
Levy Armstrong stated that the Justice Department and leaders of the city expect trust from communities, where there is little. The continued victimization of these communities by MPD and the city’s failure to reform their police is a barrier.
Levy Armstrong, after the DOJ announcement, said: “We ask the Justice Department not only to work with the City of Minneapolis when it enters into this negotiation but to also make good on its promise today that it wants the involvement of community.” “That means that you must work in solidarity with us in order to continue to exert pressure on those in power,” Levy Armstrong said after the DOJ announcement.
Many of those who attended the event asked why it was necessary to have the federal government in order for Minneapolis’s change to occur.
Toussaint Morrison, a community activist and member of the Black community in this area, said that many Blacks and Indigenous people have changed their lives because they have realized how important it is to do so. “We don’t have to witness a lynching in public to realize that things need to change.”
Morrison said that city leaders were not the only ones responsible for MPD’s misconduct over many years. Morrison stated that the DOJ findings regarding MPD were only surprising to white communities, who chose to ignore the MPD and allowed it to continue their misconduct.
Morrison stated that the issue was “the collective silence of white Minnesotan communities who have failed to speak about this.” This is why it continues to happen. Why is it that people have to wait until the DOJ comes up with a consent order before they speak out?
It is not clear what the DOJ will negotiate with the city or when this agreement will be finalized. DOJ officials have said that the process may take up to one year or months. This is a separate decree from the one made Friday by MDHR.
Many activists are concerned about the future of MPD reform.
Chauntyll Allan of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities stated that while it’s important to acknowledge the traumas MPD caused to its community in writing, the city has the responsibility to work proactively to heal decades-old wounds.
Allen stated, “I ask that we see MPD take some clear actions.” “Be the department to say, ‘Hey! We are going to liberate Black communities. We will protect and serve the Black community. We will do what is right. For 400 years the right thing has not been done.
This story is in progress. Updates will be posted.