DOJ asks residents what changes they'd like to see in the Minneapolis Police Department
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The U.S. Department of Justice held listening sessions this week to find out what provisions Minneapolis residents would like to see in a federal consent decree on the Minneapolis Police Department. They face skepticism from some residents who aren’t convinced any change is possible in the department.
The agency released a scathing report on Minneapolis police earlier this month, which found that officers routinely used excessive force, discriminated against Black and Native American residents and violated people’s constitutional rights.
The meetings are the federal agency’s first outreach to city residents to prepare to negotiate a consent decree with the city, which will be enforced by a federal court and overseen by an independent monitor. The initial meetings focused on African Americans, East Africans, American Indians and others affected by the city’s discriminatory policing.
Department of Justice investigator Ethan Trinh told people in a meeting in southwest Minneapolis that they want creative ideas for how best to revamp the police department.
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“We really want this to be a platform where we don’t do a lot of talking, but we do a lot of listening, to hear how the community wants policing to be handled in the future in Minneapolis,” Trinh said in the Thursday morning meeting, hosted by the Unity Community Mediation Team.
Longtime activist Spike Moss said previous promises of change have rung hollow.
“I started dealing with this problem in 1966. One of the biggest problems we have in this state is no mayor, no city council, no human rights office, at any point in my career, did anything to stop the carnage that was happening to African Americans and Native Americans in this state,” Moss said. “Consistently the justice department came, went downtown and left town — and nothing was done.”
Moss said Black and American Indian residents needed to be recognized by law enforcement as “human beings, taxpayers and Americans.”
Later that day, at a more than two-hour meeting in south Minneapolis, residents questioned why they rarely saw officers get out of their squad cars and suggested that more people who live in the city and come from American Indian backgrounds should be recruited into the force.
Activist Rachel Dionne Thunder told investigators she wants to see real accountability from Minneapolis police.
“We need real change driven by community,” Thunder said. “We need third-party investigations into complaints against officers. Not MPD investigating themselves and closed investigations that we don’t know anything about.”
Others at the meeting suggested the consent decree emphasize mental health and crisis response training for officers, among other changes. Most agreed that they wanted to be free from inhumane treatment by officers, but also wanted officers to respond when they call 911.
Department of Justice staff said they plan to host more listening sessions in the future. Any city residents who want to forward suggestions for the consent decree can leave a message for investigators at community.minneapolis@usdoj.gov or 866-432-0268.