Brooklyn Center mayor 'frustrated' by pushback to police reform

Brooklyn Center Mayor April Graves joined MPR News host Nina Moini on Minnesota Now. Use the audio player above to listen to their full conversation.

A new advisory board in Brooklyn Center will offer recommendations to the city on policing and public safety. City council members approved the creation of the Community Safety and Violence Prevention Commission on Monday.

The council’s 4-1 vote came after months of debate over whether to move forward with the commission, which is one of the last surviving proposals from a 2021 resolution that the city council passed in response to the killing of Daunte Wright. Former Brooklyn Center officer Kim Potter, who shot Wright during a traffic stop, said she had meant to use her taser. Potter was later convicted of manslaughter.

At the time, supporters of police reform hoped the suburb just north of Minneapolis would prove to be an example for other communities across the nation. But activists say the proposals that came to fruition was diluted from the original vision.

In 2021, the proposed duties of the commission included reviewing any collective bargaining contract with police officers and helping create a civilian oversight committee. The approved duties are limited to community outreach and making recommendations to the city about public safety.

“I feel like Brooklyn Center has pushed forward the changes when the spotlight was on them, and they did it for show,” Katie Wright, the mother of Daunte Wright, told MPR News. “And now that they see that the fire has cleared, we can go back to business as usual, because there's a few council members that sit on the seat now that don't want that change.”

Brooklyn Center Mayor April Graves, who was a council member in 2021, told MPR News host Nina Moini she understands Wright’s and other activists’ frustration. “I’ve been frustrated too,” she said.

Graves said she was disappointed that last year the city council did not pass a proposal to ban traffic stops for minor violations, like the stop that resulted in Wright’s death. She said part of what’s changed is the political makeup of the council.

“I think some of it, too, is just the larger political climate that we're living in and people sometimes respond based on irrational fears or a desire to pushback against perceived power by people that they don't relate to,” she said.

But Graves said the new commission will help the council respond to concerns from community members.

The board will consist of a chairperson and six voting members. One sticking point in the council debate over the commission was that it would have included four non-voting members who were not required to live in the city. Council Member Dan Jerzak said in a meeting in late March that he would not support the proposal unless the non-voting members were removed. They were, and he and three other members approved the commission on Monday, with Council Member Laurie Ann Moore voting no.

Under the measure passed Monday, city staff will submit candidates to serve on the board to the Mayor, who will bring them to the city council for approval.

Graves said her focus is on “getting as much buy-in as possible.”

“Even if I can't get someone to agree on a particular policy that I think is important, if I can move the city closer toward true equity and true inclusion of those voices most impacted, then it's a step in the right direction,” she said.