Minneapolis agrees to overhaul police training and force policies after George Floyd's murder

[January 07, 2025]  By STEVE KARNOWSKI

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis City Council on Monday approved an agreement with the federal government to overhaul the city's police training and use-of-force policies in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

The deal incorporates and builds on changes the Minneapolis Police Department has made since Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white officer in 2020, prompting a national reckoning with police brutality and racism.

The 171-page agreement, filed in federal court shortly after the council voted 12-0 to approve it, says the department will require its officers to “promote the sanctity of human life as the highest priority in their activities." It says officers must ”carry out their law enforcement duties with professionalism and respect for the dignity of every person." And it says they must not allow race, gender or ethnicity “to influence any decision to use force, including the amount or type of force used.”

The agreement, known as a consent decree, will put the department under long-term court supervision. It had been under negotiation since the Department of Justice issued a scathing critique of the city’s police in June 2023.

Department officials alleged that police engaged in systematic racial discrimination, violated constitutional rights and disregarded the safety of people in custody for years before Floyd was killed. The report was the result of a sweeping two-year investigation that confirmed many citizen complaints about police conduct. It found that Minneapolis officers used excessive force, including “unjustified deadly force,” and violated the rights of people engaged in constitutionally protected speech.

“George Floyd’s death was not just a tragedy, it was a galvanizing force for the city and for the nation," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, said at a news conference. "All eyes remain on Minneapolis, and with this consent decree, we now have a roadmap for reform that will help this community heal while strengthening trust between law enforcement and the people they serve.”

An independent monitor will oversee the changes and a judge must approve them. A hearing has not yet been scheduled, but officials hope that approval comes quickly.

During his first administration, President-elect Donald Trump was critical of consent decrees as anti-police. Finalizing the Minneapolis agreement before he returns to office Jan. 20 would make it harder for him to undercut the deal, because changes would require court approval. Clarke declined to predict how vigorously the incoming administration will or won't try to enforce the consent decree.

The council's brief public vote followed an hourslong closed-door discussion.

“I’d like to thank our community for standing together, united in this, and for having patience with us as we have traveled a very, very long and challenging journey," Council President Elliott Payne said after the vote. "We’re just beginning, and we know we have a long way to go. Our success will only be realized when we all work together on what is arguably one of the most important issues in the life of our city.”

Council member Robin Wonsley said in a statement before the vote that she has “no faith that the Trump administration will be a serious partner" in implementing the agreement.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, flanked by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, left, and Chief Brian O'Hara of the Minneapolis Police Department, speaks at a news conference after the Minneapolis City Council approved a settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice approving a federal consent decree, at the U.S. Courthouse in Minneapolis, Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. (Jeff Wheeler/Star Tribune via AP)

“Having a federal consent decree signed and in place is valuable to police reform efforts, but we need to be sober about the fact that it will take local political will to hold the city and the (Mayor Jacob) Frey administration accountable to implementing and enforcing the terms of the consent decree,” she said.

A state court judge in 2023 approved a similar agreement between Minneapolis and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights after the state agency issued its own blistering report in 2022. The state investigation found that the city's police had engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade.

The Justice Department has opened 12 similar investigations of state and local law enforcement agencies since April 2021, many in response to high-profile deaths at the hands of police. Assuming court approval, Clarke said, the department will be enforcing 16 policing “pattern and practices” settlements across the country. She said 30 years of experience shows that they lead to “important and tangible progress toward better, safer, and lawful policing.”

The department has reached agreements with Seattle, New Orleans, Baltimore, Chicago and Ferguson, Missouri. A consent decree with Louisville, Kentucky, after an investigation prompted by the fatal police shooting of Breonna Taylor is waiting court approval. In Memphis, Tennessee, the mayor last month pushed back against pressure for a consent decree there, saying his city has made hundreds of positive changes since the beating death of Tyre Nichols.

Consent decrees require law enforcement to meet specific goals before federal oversight is removed, a process that often takes years and millions of dollars. A major reason Minneapolis hired Brian O’Hara as police chief in 2022 was his experience implementing a consent decree in Newark, New Jersey.

O'Hara noted that the city would be the first in the country to operate under both federal and state consent decrees. He said they showed in Newark that consent decrees can lead to meaningful change.

“We are not going to just comply with its terms, but we will exceed expectations and we will make change real for people on the street," the chief said. “Together, we will make Minneapolis a place where everyone feels safer, and they know that Minneapolis cops will have their back.”

The mayor told reporters that officers will rise to the occasion.

“I trust the members of this department to show up every day, that you will be committed to being the change reflected in this agreement,” Frey said. “You have the ability, you have the obligation, and you have the responsibility to set the tone. Show the rest of the country, in fact, the rest of the world, what good constitutional policing looks like."

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