More than 4½ years after the police killing of George Floyd triggered state and federal investigations and protests worldwide, Minneapolis officials reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice outlining sweeping reforms to address discriminatory policing.
The Minneapolis City Council discussed the consent decree in a closed-door session for nearly seven hours Monday before emerging to vote 12-0 to approve it, reports the Minnesota Star Tribune.
The 170-page document details changes the city's police department must take in the coming years under the supervision of a federal judge, including regulating how police interact with suspects; adopting a new disciplinary scale; continuing investigations into serious misconduct even if an officer leaves the department; requiring that the chief act on discipline recommendations within 60 days; and limiting off-duty work.
The consent decree lays out how the Minneapolis Police Department will reform its training, discipline and policies to address systemic problems laid out by the DOJ in 2023. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said those problems “made what happened to George Floyd possible.”
The DOJ found Minneapolis police used excessive and unjustified deadly force; routinely discriminated against Black and Native American people; violated reporters’ and protesters’ free speech rights; and discriminated against people with behavioral health disabilities.
The two sides are asking a judge to sign off on the the agreement before President-elect Trump takes office Jan. 20. Trump’s administration was hostile to such agreements during his first term, scaling them back and calling them a “war on police.”
Trump's re-election put Minneapolis in a race against the clock because formal talks with the feds didn’t begin until nearly a year after the DOJ reported its findings in June 2023.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, asked whether the Trump administration could derail the agreement, said, “I can’t predict the future. What I can tell you is that the findings we identified in Minneapolis are severe. These are real issues that impact people’s lives. The community wants reform. The city wants reform, the police department wants reform, and the Justice Department stands here today as a full partner in the effort of achieving reform and transformation for this community.”
Mayor Jacob Frey said, “It’s a good agreement, and at the same time, I want to be honest with every resident throughout our city: It is not a panacea. There aren’t any shortcuts, and success is not guaranteed.”
It marked only the second police consent decree during President Biden’s administration despite its launching of a dozen federal investigations into police departments nationwide.
Police Chief Brian O’Hara, who was hired two years ago in part because he helped implement a consent decree in Newark, N.J., said the department has “turned a corner.”
Police department funding dropped in 2021 but has steadily increased since then, to a record $229 million this year, which will cover historic pay raises and dozens of new positions to carry out reforms. About 500 officers have left the department, with many retiring and claiming disability from post-traumatic stress disorder after the protests and riots that followed Floyd’s murder.
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