Has anything changed when it comes to police accountability?
Calls for police reform resounded in the months after George Floyd’s death at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer. Has anything changed when it comes to police transparency and accountability?
Just as 2020 came to a close, Minneapolis police killed 23-year-old Dolal Idd at a gas station in south Minneapolis during what court documents later described as a gun sting operation. The shooting was the first by Minneapolis police since Floyd's death in May.
Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo defended the officers' decision to fire, saying they reacted to “deadly threat” when Idd shot at them. And, he said releasing video from body cameras a day after the shooting demonstrates his department’s “commitment to transparency.”
Earlier in December, an unarmed black man named Andre Hill was shot and killed in Columbus, Ohio, by police responding to a call about a car running in front of the house. Hill was walking out of a friend’s garage holding his cell phone. The officer who killed him was fired the next week in a move the Columbus police chief said shows “what accountability looks like.”
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Has policing changed as a result of Floyd’s killing and the protests that followed? Is there more transparency? Have police departments changed their tactics or training? Have the calls for police reform or the defunding of police departments resulted in real change?
MPR News host Kerri Miller talked with two law enforcement experts about what needs to happen to create an effective and trusted police force.
Guests:
David Thomas is a former police officer, a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University and author of the book "The State of American Policing: Psychology, Behavior, Problems and Solutions."
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.”
To listen to the full conversation, use the audio player above.
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