Big Books & Bold Ideas with Kerri Miller

What would meaningful police reform look like?

Police stand in front of protesters
Police stand in front of protesters at a Target located the Midway in St. Paul Thursday.
Evan Frost | MPR News

As protests continue in the Twin Cities over the death of George Floyd, city officials are calling for an end to violence.  Floyd died Monday; his final moments were seen in a video that showed a white Minneapolis police officer with his knee on Floyd’s neck. In the video, Floyd told the officer he couldn’t breathe. His death is the latest event in the tense relationship between the Minneapolis Police Department and the city’s black community. 

Amid this all is a question: What needs to happen to prevent more deaths like Floyd’s and those of other black men and women who have died in police-involved incidents? 

MPR News host Kerri Miller spoke with former police officers and a former federal prosecutor about meaningful police reform and about building relationships between police and communities of color.

Guests:

  • Ronal Serpas is a former police officer and professor of practice, criminology and justice at Loyola University in New Orleans.

  • Kami Chavis is a former federal prosecutor, a professor of law and director of the Criminal Justice Program at Wake Forest University School of Law.

  • Ron Johnson the CEO and founder of Lodestone Solutions Group, retired captain for the Missouri Highway Patrol and author of “13 Days in Ferguson.”

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

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