Minneapolis on Monday agreed to systemic reforms to its police division and to undergo outdoors oversight after a federal investigation spurred by the 2020 killing of George Floyd uncovered a sample of civil rights abuses.
Minneapolis and the U.S. Justice Division reached a court-enforceable settlement, often known as a consent decree, that may search an outdoor unbiased monitor to report on the town’s progress.
Town council voted 12–0 to approve the settlement, in line with the town clerk and a Justice Division spokesperson.
The settlement, which should be permitted by a federal decide, cements police reforms in Minneapolis.
Floyd died after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck.
“All eyes stay on Minneapolis, and with this consent decree, we now have a highway map for reform that may assist this neighborhood heal,” Kristen Clarke, the top of the Justice Division’s Civil Rights Division, advised reporters.
The settlement requires Minneapolis to restrict officers’ use of power and search immediate medical take care of these injured in interactions with police. It additionally calls on officers to keep away from utilizing handcuffs on youngsters youthful than 14 and restricts sure police techniques throughout protests.
A gaggle of civilian specialists is already monitoring the Minneapolis police following a 2023 settlement. The identical group can even monitor compliance with the federal settlement, Clarke stated.
The Justice Division investigation, which concluded in 2023, discovered that Minneapolis police frequently used extreme power and discriminated towards black individuals and Native Individuals.
The probe, often known as a “pattern-or-practice” investigation, was separate from the federal prison prosecutions of 4 Minneapolis law enforcement officials, together with Chauvin, who had been convicted of violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Chauvin was sentenced to greater than 20 years in jail within the federal case. He was additionally discovered responsible of state homicide expenses.
Sample-or-practice investigations, which study a whole division, typically result in consent decrees, agreements filed with a court docket that mandate reforms and sometimes years of out of doors monitoring.
Minneapolis is the second U.S. metropolis to achieve such an settlement following an investigation began by the Biden Justice Division, regardless of the division beginning a dozen police division investigations over the past 4 years.
Louisville, Kentucky, struck its personal settlement with the Justice Division final month.
Different cities, together with Phoenix, have resisted outdoors oversight and objected to Justice Division findings. A number of probes have solely been accomplished in current weeks, leaving little time to finalize court docket agreements earlier than the tip of the Biden administration on Jan. 20.
Trump vowed throughout his presidential marketing campaign to extend authorized protections for police. The Justice Division in his first time period curtailed using pattern-or-practice investigations and sought to problem beforehand negotiated court docket agreements, viewing them as overly burdensome for police departments.