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MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis City Council on Friday approved an agreement with the state of Minnesota to revamp the city’s troubled police department nearly three years after the police killing of George Floyd.
The agreement, which must be approved by a judge, responds to claims by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights which issued a scathing report last year that found Minneapolis police had routinely engaged in racially discriminatory policing for at least a decade and had failed to properly train and hold its officers accountable for misconduct.
After months of negotiations between city and state officials, the council voted unanimously to approve a 144-page “court-enforceable settlement” ahead of an expected state lawsuit that includes scores of mandated reforms aimed at transforming the practices and culture of a police department accused of racism and unnecessary violence long before Floyd’s May 2020 death.
“This is the legacy of George Floyd,” said council president Andrea Jenkins. “This work was initiated by the death and murder of George Floyd — but not only George Floyd, but so many other community members that should be alive and here with us today.”
The settlement includes a litany of new rules limiting and providing more accountability about the use of force along with fresh restrictions on stops, searches and arrests, including a ban on stopping cars for low-level offenses like expired license tabs or failing to signal. It issues new requirements about officer wellness and training, including mandatory instruction on issues of race and “challenges related to racism, race inequity and race relations in policing in the city of Minneapolis.”
The agreement requires the appointment of an independent evaluator to monitor the city’s compliance. It comes as the city braces for the outcome of separate Justice Department investigation into Minneapolis police that many city officials expect will result in a federal consent decree likely to call for similar reforms and the appointment of an outside monitor. Language in the settlement allows the independent monitor to oversee both the state settlement and the expected federal consent decree.
Minneapolis leaders praised the agreement, but many did so with harsh criticism of the police department and city leaders who failed to tackle reforms before Floyd’s murder.
“For decades, residents have told the city of Minneapolis that MPD was an abusive and racist police force … The lack of political will to take responsibility for MPD is why we are in this position today,” council member Robin Wonsley said. “I hope this settlement is a wake-up call for city leaders, who the public has watched rubber-stamp poor labor contracts, have signed off on endless misconduct settlements, and then shrug their shoulders when residents asked them why we have a dysfunctional police department.”
The state investigation, launched just days after Floyd’s killing, found Minneapolis officers had stopped, searched, ticketed, used force on and killed people of color at a higher rate than White people. While Black people make just 19 percent of the city’s population, Black individuals accounted for 63 percent of the department’s use of force incidents over the last decade, according to the report.
State investigators described a deeply entrenched culture of racism and misogyny. Officers and supervisors were routinely captured on body-camera video using racial slurs and misogynistic comments, including about their own colleagues.
And in one of the more damning findings, the report accused Minneapolis officers of using “covert social media accounts” to “surveil and engage Black individuals, Black organizations, and elected officials unrelated to criminal activity, without a public safety objective.” In one instance, the report said, an officer posed as a Black resident to send a message criticizing the NAACP. The report said officers also posed as residents to criticize elected officials.
Minneapolis officials continue to dispute those claims.“ “The short answer is the city does not agree with those findings,” city attorney Kristyn Anderson told reporters during a news conference Friday.
Yet both city and state officials agreed to a one paragraph concession in the statement saying the parties “recognize the value of MPD using ‘undercover social media accounts’ in a lawful, nondiscriminatory manner” that may include “following and engaging with other social media accounts to establish a credible” cover.
The state settlement comes as Minneapolis continues to deal with the lingering trauma and fallout of Floyd’s killing three years later.
Floyd died on May 25, 2020, after then-officer Derek Chauvin, who is White, pressed his knees into the Black man’s neck and back for more than nine minutes. The incident, captured on a viral Facebook video, spurred a national reckoning on issues of race and policing and sparked mass demonstrations around the world.
Chauvin was convicted on state charges of murder and manslaughter and of violating Floyd’s federal civil rights and is serving more than 22 ½ years in prison. Three other officers at the scene — J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas K. Lane, and Tou Thao — were later convicted on federal civil rights charges related to Floyd’s death, including failing to intervene with Chauvin.
Kueng and Lane also pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting manslaughter charges in state court and are in federal custody. A state case against Thao, who is charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter, is pending.
But while those officers have faced punishment in the courts, the city is still scarred by the aftermath of Floyd’s death. Massive protests sparked violent clashes between police and mostly peaceful protesters. Parts of the city were burned and destroyed, with some damaged areas still struggling to rebuild.
Scores of police officers have quit the department, leaving it understaffed, while the city has paid out tens of millions of dollars to settle lawsuits related to police conduct and disability claims from outgoing officers, many of whom claimed post-traumatic stress from the 2020 unrest.
On Friday, Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara, who was hired last year after leading the Newark, police department while it was under a federal consent decree, said the agency remains understaffed — with about 580 of 731 positions filled. But he said recruitment had been improving — pointing to interest from former officers who had inquired about returning to work in the city, which he credited to reform efforts.
O’Hara called Friday’s settlement as part of the effort to heal “the deep wounds of the city.”
“We recognize that some terrible things have happened here in the past, and together with our communities, we are embracing this reform process today,” O’Hara said. “We are embracing this reform process today.”
But both he and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who signed the agreement, cautioned that sweeping policing changes won’t happen overnight.
“The agreement isn’t change in and of itself. But it charts a clear road map to it,” Frey said. “The world is watching us, and I know that Minneapolis will be held as an example for policing. We’re ready for that. We need to lean into it. And we’re committed to doing this work together.”
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