Policing the Minneapolis Police

The years-long Department of Justice investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department began after the May 25, 2020 murder of George Floyd. That investigation has now concluded with a 92-page report. The report is damning in its entirety, and I encourage everyone to read it in full. The report begins by stating the findings of the DOJ investigation:

“MPD and the City engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the Constitution and federal law. First, MPD uses excessive force, including unjustified deadly force and excessive less-lethal force. Second, MPD unlawfully discriminates against Black and Native American people when enforcing the law. Third, MPD violates individuals’ First Amendment rights. Finally, MPD and the City discriminate when responding to people with behavioral health issues.”

The first section of the Department of Justice report focuses on the routine use of excessive force by Minneapolis police. This includes shooting, use of weapons, use of tasers and chemicals, and chokeholds. The four main points are: 

1) MPD officers routinely use excessive force, often when no force is necessary.

2) For years, MPD used dangerous techniques and weapons against people who committed at most petty offenses and sometimes no offense at all.

3) MPD used force to punish people who made officers angry or criticized the police.

4) MPD patrolled neighborhoods differently based on their racial composition and discriminated based on race when searching, handcuffing or using force against people during stops.

It’s difficult to pick out one of the many examples, but this one shows MPD excessive force EVEN WHILE DOJ INVESTIGATORS WERE PRESENT ON A RIDE-ALONG: 

“In addition to the taser incidents we reviewed as part of our sample, we also reviewed an incident that occurred during one of our ride-alongs with MPD officers. During the incident, an MPD officer used a taser on an unarmed Black man who was yelling and filming an accident scene. When the man did not follow the officer’s commands to leave the scene, the officer pointed his taser and threatened to fire it. The man raised his hands and began walking backward away from the accident scene as he continued to film and yell at the officers. The officer advanced on the man and shot him with the taser, causing the man to fall to the ground. The man was following commands to leave and was away from the scene, so there was no apparent need for the officer to use a taser.” 

The second section of the DOJ report on the Minneapolis police says: “MPD unlawfully discriminates against Black and Native American people when enforcing the law.” That does not mean MPD treats white people well—the report is full of examples of abuse and excessive use of force against white people. But MPD treats Black and Native Americans even WORSE. MPD patrols differently in Black and Native American neighborhoods “without a legitimate, related safety rationale;” stops Black and Native American people more often;  uses force much more often against Black and Native American people than against white people in similar circumstances; fails to address racist behavior by police officers; and after George Floyd’s murder, many officers simply stopped reporting race so that discrimination could be concealed. 

This section includes both extensive analysis of MPD statistics and reports of statements by MPD officers, such as the following:

“One officer told us that MPD officers make degrading comments to Black detainees about their intelligence or their family, or by invoking racially charged stereotypes with statements like ‘we’ll get you Popeyes in a minute.’ Similarly, when an officer in plainclothes held a Black teen at gunpoint for allegedly stealing a $5 burrito (as described on page 24), in response to questions about whether he was a police officer, the officer responded on camera, ‘Really? How many white people in the city of Minneapolis have you run up against with a gun?’ He also reportedly said of the teen words to this effect: ‘If he doesn’t steal today, he will steal tomorrow.’ Statements like these undermine the community’s faith in MPD, which in turn undermines public safety. …

“We heard from several MPD employees that some officers also express bias directly to other officers. One Black officer told us about statements by officers condoning disrespectful racial stereotypes and tropes, such as calling Black people “ghetto,” and saying, “Black people don’t work,” and “you don’t have to worry about Black people during the day ’cuz they haven’t woken up—crime starts at night.” This officer told us that they try not to appear offended and refrain from reporting comments like this for fear of retaliation. The officer recalled not receiving backup on dangerous calls after reporting misconduct, impacting public and officer safety and MPD’s effectiveness. When a permissive culture—furthered by expressions of bias by supervisors and other MPD leaders—results in some officers being afraid to serve their community because they cannot rely on their peers, the breakdown in supervision becomes mission critical. 

“in 2015, MPD officers stopped a car carrying four Somali-American teens. According to an arbitrator assigned to review discipline, an officer approached the car with his gun drawn and ordered a teen to get out, threatening: ‘If you fuck with me, I’m gonna break your leg before you even get a chance to run.’ When the teen asked why he was being arrested, the officer replied, “Because I feel like arresting you.’ Later, when one of the teens told the officer, ‘[Y]ou’re a racist, bro,” the officer responded: ‘Yep, and I’m proud of it.’ He added, ‘Do you remember what happened in Black Hawk Down when we killed a bunch of you folk? I’m proud of that . . . . We didn’t finish the job over there . . . if we had . . . you guys wouldn’t be over here right now.’ None of the other officers present intervened or reported their colleague …”

The third section of the DOJ report on the Minneapolis police focuses on police violations of First Amendment rights: retaliation against protesters, retaliation against journalists, punishment of people for challenging or questioning police actions, and unlawful interference with people observing or recording police activities. 

Any police action to repress free speech and free press is illegal, including threats and commands. MPD officers not only threaten protesters and journalists: they frequently and even routinely attack them physically, even when the4 protest conduct is entirely lawful. Their deliberate intent is clear in video recordings that show them deliberately pepper spraying the faces of journalists who are clearly identified and holding up their press credentials.  

MPD officers retaliate against people who observe and record them on routine calls, often using violence. MPD fails to adequately train officers in First Amendment rights and completely fails to discipline officers who violate these rights, even when the officers’ actions are recorded on body cams. Among the many examples cited in the report:

“For example, at a June 2021 protest of a police shooting, an MPD officer pushed a protester so hard that she fell backward, hit the pavement, and lay unconscious for three minutes. Other officers had told the protester to move back, and she did; she was walking backwards when one of them pushed her on the shoulder. When she responded, “Don’t fucking push me, asshole,” the officer pushed her again, this time so hard that he knocked her to the pavement. The woman needed 12 staples in her head, spent two days in the hospital, and suffered a traumatic brain injury. That protester was not the only one shoved that day. At the same protest, another MPD officer ran up behind a protester who was walking away and shoved him forcefully in the back. Another officer shoved a man who was standing on the sidewalk recording the police. …

“MPD officers regularly use 40 mm launchers—firearms that shoot impact projectiles, like rubber bullets—against protesters who are committing no crime or who are dispersing. In one incident, an MPD officer shot several times toward a distant crowd, even though he had no clear target, limited visibility, and was—according to MPD training—too far away to ensure accuracy. Around the same time, a nearby journalist was hit by a rubber bullet and lost her eye.” 

The fourth section of the Department of Justice report focuses on the Minneapolis Police Department’s mistreatment of people with behavioral health disabilities, which violates the Americans With Disabilities Act. Although Minneapolis launched a mobile behavioral crisis response pilot program (BCR) to respond to behavioral health calls, the MPD “continues to be the primary response,” in part because of limited funding, hours, and staffing for the BCR program. That’s a problem because of the MPD’s long-standing failure in responding to such calls. The DOJ found that police officers often escalate situations and use avoidable and unnecessary force. Two examples illustrate the problem: 

“One officer responded to a report in 2016 of a naked Latino man walking down a quiet residential street using a long branch as a walking stick. The officer drove next to the man in his squad car, asking him where he was going. The man ignored the officer but appeared disoriented and calm. The officer exited his squad car, grabbed the man’s wrist, pulled him towards the vehicle, and subdued him with a neck restraint. Another officer arrived, and they pinned the man to the pavement for over 13 minutes. EMS sedated him, and he later had to be intubated. 

“In a 2017 incident, officers used a taser on an unarmed white man experiencing behavioral health issues. The man was shirtless, shoeless, and wearing pajama pants in his front yard. Neighbors told officers that he was having a mental health episode, had bipolar disorder, and was unmedicated. Although agitated, at times pacing around his yard and yelling, the man was compliant with officer orders to sit on his front steps. At a quiet moment during the encounter—the man was seated, unarmed, and not posing a threat to anyone—an officer fired his taser without warning. After the man stood up in pain, he fell to the ground, officers handcuffed him, and EMS eventually sedated him. The unnecessary police-led response escalated the situation, and a behavioral health-led response may have avoided the use of force entirely.” 

As bad as these two incidents are, they are far from the worst. In other examples cited in the report, police response to people in mental health crises ended with police killing the individual they were called to help. 

The report criticizes MPD training in the area of behavioral/mental health issues as “at best inadequate; at worst … factually inaccurate and biased.” 

Finally, the report documents “persistent deficiencies in MPD’s accountability systems, training, supervision, and officer wellness programs, which contribute to the violations of the Constitution and federal law.” 

That includes a “fundamentally flawed” accountability system that allows officers to continue to act with impunity, failing to document or investigate serious violations of human rights, and failing to discipline officers for such violations or to hold them accountable for clearly criminal misconduct. The “discipline” system is described as “an opaque maze, with multiple dead ends where meritorious complaints are dismissed without investigation and often for no discernable reason.” 

Despite routine dismissals of meritorious complaints and lengthy delays in decisions, some cases end in findings of violations. Too often, those findings come only after the officer has inflicted serious damage on individuals, such as this example:

“In 2014, an MPD officer responded to a report that a man had committed retail theft. The OPCR investigator noted that store surveillance video showed the officer punching the man “multiple times in the face with a closed fist while [the man] is handcuffed behind his back.” The force review supervisor completed the force review without viewing the surveillance footage that would have revealed the misconduct, and MPD did not investigate further at the time. 

“The officer continued working and continued using unreasonable force. He had eight uses of force requiring a supervisory force review from March 31, 2016, to May 30, 2016. In one of those incidents, the officer kicked a man in the face after the man was already on his hands and knees. The man suffered a traumatic brain injury and a displaced nasal bone. MPD settled with the man for $150,000, and the officer was convicted of assault. 

“MPD’s 2016 internal review of the officer’s force showed that from February 2012 to June 2016, he had 68 force incidents, a number that OPCR noted was ‘far outside the norm for an MPD officer.’” 

If 15 “force incidents” per year is “far outside the norm for an MPD officer,” how many incidents are “the norm?” How many people are injured each year by “normal” MPD behavior, as well as by officers who are never disciplined for “beyond the norm” violence? 

This investigation began after MPD officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in broad daylight and on camera” on May 25, 2020. At that time, Chauvin already had been identified in multiple complaints of brutality and on each occasion, other MPD officers assisted him and/or failed to intervene and failed to report his excessive use of force. 

“Indeed, years before Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, multiple other MPD officers stood by as Mr. Chauvin used excessive force on other occasions and did not stop him. In June 2017, an MPD officer failed to intervene when Mr. Chauvin slammed a handcuffed woman on the ground and held her down with his knee on her back and neck. The officer helped hold the woman down, then at Mr. Chauvin’s request, helped to put her in an ankle restraint. In September 2017, an MPD officer did not stop Mr. Chauvin when he beat a 14-year-old teen with a flashlight and then kneeled on his neck or back for more than 15 minutes. At least two other officers responded to the scene and found Mr. Chauvin kneeling on the teen. They did not intervene either. Neither Mr. Chauvin nor his partner reported that Mr. Chauvin had knelt on the teen’s neck.” 

The murder of George Floyd epitomizes the routine, unchecked, and continuing abuses of civilians by the MPD. Those abuses have been thoroughly documented, in this report and in ongoing complaints about the MPD over decades. 

The current Minneapolis city administration has failed to exert any meaningful control over the MPD in the past, preferring to minimize, deny, or ignore MPD’s ongoing violations of human rights, the U.S. and Minnesota constitutions, and criminal law. 

This Department of Justice report details proposed remedial measures. Even if those measures are eventually incorporated in a consent decree, it will be up to the voters of Minneapolis to make the changes in government necessary to change policing in the city.