Minneapolis leaders say city will continue policing changes, with or without federal mandate
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey answers questions from the press during a press conference at the U.S. Courthouse in Minneapolis after the Minneapolis City Council agreed to the terms of a federal consent decree on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.
Ben Hovland | MPR News
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Audio transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: It's our top story on Minnesota Now. The US Department of Justice signaled today that it's not interested in pursuing an agreement with the city of Minneapolis designed to mandate policing reforms. The DOJ filed a motion this morning to dismiss the government's consent decree with the city.
In January, the city and the Biden Justice Department reached an agreement to address alleged discriminatory policing, particularly affecting Black and Native residents. But the agreement needed a federal judge's approval to move forward. Matt Sepic joins me now from Minneapolis after city leaders have just responded to this news. Thanks for being here, Matt.
MATT SEPIC: Hi there, Nina.
NINA MOINI: Remind us, if you would, what led to the federal government stepping in and creating this agreement with the city.
MATT SEPIC: Well, after the murder of George Floyd nearly five years ago, the DOJ, under President Joe Biden, began a civil rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department. It took well over a year and found that the MPD uses excessive force, including unjustified deadly force and the unreasonable use of tasers, particularly against Black people and Native American people, particularly in traffic stops. The report by the Biden DOJ also found that MPD had violated the rights of people who were engaged in protected First Amendment speech and discriminated against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to calls.
Now, city officials had been working with the Justice Department under President Biden to reach an agreement since this report came out in mid-2023, when that investigation was completed. And in early January of this year, the city signed off on a proposed consent decree to mandate changes. Among those changes was a requirement that officers intervene anytime they see another officer violating someone's rights, no matter the violator's rank.
NINA MOINI: And the agreement had not yet been signed off on and then put into motion by a judge, like you mentioned. What was the timeline of the consent decree?
MATT SEPIC: Well, after President Trump was reelected in November, there was a sense of urgency by city officials to get the consent decree agreement finalized. The writing was on the wall. Trump previously had made statements opposing these kinds of agreements during his first term. As you might recall, Nina, he called them a war on police. And when the new administration came in, the DOJ filed several motions to slow the process before a judge could sign off on the deal. Those delays continued for several months, as we had reported. Now, this new filing this morning comes just a few days before the fifth-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.
NINA MOINI: And where does this put the state agreement for court-ordered reforms, Matt, because there is another agreement with the state?
MATT SEPIC: And that's important to point out, Nina. There are two agreements. They're, basically, in parallel and include many of the same provisions. The state agreement is under state law, of course, under the Minnesota Human Rights Act. And it's being enforced by a Hennepin County judge.
And within minutes of the DOJ's filing this morning, the Human Rights Department, the MDHR, issued a news release saying the decision by the DOJ will not impact the court-enforced agreement between the state and the city. And at a news conference last hour, Mayor Jacob Frey said the city is still moving forward with the reform efforts and is making progress. He says the city will abide by the terms of both the state and the federal consent decree, even though the Trump Justice Department is not on board with it.
JACOB FREY: We will comply with every sentence of every paragraph of the 169-page consent decree that we signed this year. We will make sure that we are moving forward with every sentence of every paragraph of both the settlement around the Minnesota Department of Human Rights as well as the consent decree.
MATT SEPIC: Now, Frey noted that the Trump administration could have filed this motion to dismiss the federal consent decree at any time since the president started his second term, but deliberately chose it to do this week as the fifth anniversary of Floyd's murder approaches.
NINA MOINI: And at the heart of a lot of these reform questions is the idea of culture change, Matt, correct? So could this have an impact on the culture within the Minneapolis Police Department? Did city leaders speak to that?
MATT SEPIC: Yeah. I asked Police Chief Brian O'Hara about that at the news conference this morning, about whether he thinks that this move by the Trump administration, the Justice Department, sends a message to rank-and-file officers that these reform efforts don't really matter. But he says police officers are largely on board with the reform plans.
BRIAN O'HARA: By and large, today, the men and women who remain here are deeply committed to getting this right. They are not about to turn their backs on their fellow officers or the residents of this community.
NINA MOINI: And Matt, the Department of Justice, though, didn't just drop this Minneapolis consent decree, correct? There were other investigations. What was the message the government is trying to send?
MATT SEPIC: Well, the language of the motion in the Minneapolis case here is pretty clear. Here's a quote. "After an extensive review by current Department of Justice and Civil Rights Division leadership, the United States no longer believes that the proposed consent decree would be in the public interest." The DOJ today also issued a news release voicing similar sentiment about pending agreements between the federal government and other cities, including Phoenix, Arizona, Trenton, New Jersey, and notably, Louisville, Kentucky. That's where officers killed Breonna Taylor in March of 2020, just a few months before Mr. Floyd was murdered.
The DOJ says the findings of the investigations that happened under the Biden administration wrongly equated statistical disparities with intentional discrimination. They said that approach relied on what they called "flawed methodologies and incomplete data."
NINA MOINI: Matt, thank you for bringing us the latest on this. I really appreciate it.
MATT SEPIC: No problem.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR news reporter Matt Sepic.
In January, the city and the Biden Justice Department reached an agreement to address alleged discriminatory policing, particularly affecting Black and Native residents. But the agreement needed a federal judge's approval to move forward. Matt Sepic joins me now from Minneapolis after city leaders have just responded to this news. Thanks for being here, Matt.
MATT SEPIC: Hi there, Nina.
NINA MOINI: Remind us, if you would, what led to the federal government stepping in and creating this agreement with the city.
MATT SEPIC: Well, after the murder of George Floyd nearly five years ago, the DOJ, under President Joe Biden, began a civil rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department. It took well over a year and found that the MPD uses excessive force, including unjustified deadly force and the unreasonable use of tasers, particularly against Black people and Native American people, particularly in traffic stops. The report by the Biden DOJ also found that MPD had violated the rights of people who were engaged in protected First Amendment speech and discriminated against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to calls.
Now, city officials had been working with the Justice Department under President Biden to reach an agreement since this report came out in mid-2023, when that investigation was completed. And in early January of this year, the city signed off on a proposed consent decree to mandate changes. Among those changes was a requirement that officers intervene anytime they see another officer violating someone's rights, no matter the violator's rank.
NINA MOINI: And the agreement had not yet been signed off on and then put into motion by a judge, like you mentioned. What was the timeline of the consent decree?
MATT SEPIC: Well, after President Trump was reelected in November, there was a sense of urgency by city officials to get the consent decree agreement finalized. The writing was on the wall. Trump previously had made statements opposing these kinds of agreements during his first term. As you might recall, Nina, he called them a war on police. And when the new administration came in, the DOJ filed several motions to slow the process before a judge could sign off on the deal. Those delays continued for several months, as we had reported. Now, this new filing this morning comes just a few days before the fifth-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd.
NINA MOINI: And where does this put the state agreement for court-ordered reforms, Matt, because there is another agreement with the state?
MATT SEPIC: And that's important to point out, Nina. There are two agreements. They're, basically, in parallel and include many of the same provisions. The state agreement is under state law, of course, under the Minnesota Human Rights Act. And it's being enforced by a Hennepin County judge.
And within minutes of the DOJ's filing this morning, the Human Rights Department, the MDHR, issued a news release saying the decision by the DOJ will not impact the court-enforced agreement between the state and the city. And at a news conference last hour, Mayor Jacob Frey said the city is still moving forward with the reform efforts and is making progress. He says the city will abide by the terms of both the state and the federal consent decree, even though the Trump Justice Department is not on board with it.
JACOB FREY: We will comply with every sentence of every paragraph of the 169-page consent decree that we signed this year. We will make sure that we are moving forward with every sentence of every paragraph of both the settlement around the Minnesota Department of Human Rights as well as the consent decree.
MATT SEPIC: Now, Frey noted that the Trump administration could have filed this motion to dismiss the federal consent decree at any time since the president started his second term, but deliberately chose it to do this week as the fifth anniversary of Floyd's murder approaches.
NINA MOINI: And at the heart of a lot of these reform questions is the idea of culture change, Matt, correct? So could this have an impact on the culture within the Minneapolis Police Department? Did city leaders speak to that?
MATT SEPIC: Yeah. I asked Police Chief Brian O'Hara about that at the news conference this morning, about whether he thinks that this move by the Trump administration, the Justice Department, sends a message to rank-and-file officers that these reform efforts don't really matter. But he says police officers are largely on board with the reform plans.
BRIAN O'HARA: By and large, today, the men and women who remain here are deeply committed to getting this right. They are not about to turn their backs on their fellow officers or the residents of this community.
NINA MOINI: And Matt, the Department of Justice, though, didn't just drop this Minneapolis consent decree, correct? There were other investigations. What was the message the government is trying to send?
MATT SEPIC: Well, the language of the motion in the Minneapolis case here is pretty clear. Here's a quote. "After an extensive review by current Department of Justice and Civil Rights Division leadership, the United States no longer believes that the proposed consent decree would be in the public interest." The DOJ today also issued a news release voicing similar sentiment about pending agreements between the federal government and other cities, including Phoenix, Arizona, Trenton, New Jersey, and notably, Louisville, Kentucky. That's where officers killed Breonna Taylor in March of 2020, just a few months before Mr. Floyd was murdered.
The DOJ says the findings of the investigations that happened under the Biden administration wrongly equated statistical disparities with intentional discrimination. They said that approach relied on what they called "flawed methodologies and incomplete data."
NINA MOINI: Matt, thank you for bringing us the latest on this. I really appreciate it.
MATT SEPIC: No problem.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR news reporter Matt Sepic.
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