The Metropolis of Minneapolis Friday reached an agreement with the state of Minnesota to revamp town’s police division. The settlement lays out a wholesale analysis of policing practices inside the Metropolis of Minneapolis, spanning use of drive procedures to knowledge system transparency.
The settlement is a illustration of over eight months of negotiation between the commissioner of the Minnesota Division of Human Rights (MDHR), the Metropolis of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Division (MPD). The settlement stipulates that “[w]hile the Metropolis and MPD didn’t and don’t admit or agree with MDHR’s Findings, the Events engaged in good-faith negotiations to resolve this matter to keep away from the time and expense of taxpayer funded litigation.”
The necessities the court-enforceable settlement imposes on the MPD would require structural and cultural adjustments. Amongst different issues, the settlement requires MPD officers to de-escalate and to intervene when different officers are violating use of drive procedures. It additionally adjustments the circumstances below which MPD officers could pull folks over and bans searches based mostly on the alleged odor of hashish. Along with these adjustments, the settlement mandates a brand new reporting system and knowledge evaluation of police practices.
The MPD got here below hearth in 2020 for officer Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd, which sparked worldwide protests. On June 1, 2020, the commissioner of the MDHR filed a cost of discrimination in opposition to town and the MPD, alleging each engaged in a sample or apply of race discrimination. On April 27, 2022 the commissioner introduced findings that MDHR had possible trigger to consider the Metropolis of Minneapolis and the MPD violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act. The act protects in opposition to patterns or practices of discrimination, and the division’s web site describes the act as “one of many strongest civil rights legal guidelines within the nation.”
To make sure Friday’s settlement is adopted, MDHR and town plan to establish unbiased evaluators to observe MPD’s progress.
