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Some community activists are worried that President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration could impact attempts to reform the Minneapolis Police Department through federal oversight. 

Minneapolis is in the process of negotiating a federal consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which would make sweeping changes to how the city approaches policing. But some community members are concerned about what might happen to that agreement if it isn’t finalized before Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20. 

“I’ve been working for 35 years to get the DOJ to come here and do a consent decree, and I feel like now it’s not going to happen in my lifetime,” said Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality. “I’m very worried about it. I’m very upset about it.”

The city entered a separate state consent decree with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR), which a judge approved in July 2023. The agency began investigating Minneapolis and its police department after George Floyd was murdered by police in 2020, and found that the city and police department had a pattern of violating the state’s civil rights law. The state report found that the department’s accountability measures were deficient, and that there were racial disparities in how police used force.

announced that it found the city and the police department in violation of the U.S. Constitution

. The DOJ investigation concluded that Minneapolis police regularly used excessive force and discriminated against Black and Indigenous people. 

Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette said in a written statement that he can’t discuss the timeline of the consent decree process, but that the city has been meeting with the DOJ on a regular basis to negotiate.

“Our focus is to ensure that our efforts result in effective, meaningful, and sustainable reform,” the statement reads in part. “Our commitment is not tied to political cycles, but rather to the enduring principle that every person deserves to be treated with dignity, equality, and respect. But we cannot rush this process.”

Some community members say it’s too soon to know the fate of Minneapolis’ federal consent decree. But one expert says Trump’s last presidency provides a warning for how things could play out. 

There was a “stark” decline in investigations into police departments during Trump’s last term compared to other administrations, said Christy Lopez, a professor from practice at Georgetown Law. Lopez also previously worked for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division during President Barack Obama’s administration. 

“Republican administrations have been less supportive of this work than Democrat administrations, but never has there been such a complete abdication of the federal enforcement role as there was under Donald Trump,” Lopez said. 

The DOJ launched one investigation into police departments under Trump. President Joe Biden’s administration launched 12 DOJ investigations, including the one into Minneapolis police that resulted in the pending federal consent decree.

The federal government was noticeably absent in the immediate aftermath of the police killings of Floyd and Breonna Taylor during Trump’s presidency, Lopez said. Floyd and Taylor were both killed in 2020, but the Minneapolis and Louisville police departments weren’t investigated until Biden took office in 2021. 

“Everyone’s in the streets, everyone’s concerned about policing, and it’s just complete crickets from the Civil Rights Division,” Lopez said of how Trump’s administration handled the Floyd and Taylor killings. “There’s everything to indicate that [Trump’s new administration] will be even more hostile to this work.”

Lopez said if Minneapolis’ consent decree agreement isn’t finalized with the federal government before Trump takes office, it’s likely that the DOJ will no longer work toward negotiating an agreement. That’s what happened in Chicago when Trump first took office in 2017, she added. 

In reaction to the DOJ’s inaction in Chicago, the Illinois attorney general stepped in and successfully sued the city in federal court to initiate a federal consent decree. Such action was unprecedented at the time, Lopez said.

A spokesperson for Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office said the state consent decree will be unaffected by the federal consent decree process, and that Ellison is watching the negotiations “with interest.”

A consent decree is a legally binding agreement enforced by a court between the investigative agency and the city. An independent monitor oversees how reforms outlined in an agreement are carried out by the police department and city. 

Lopez said that based on her previous work on consent decrees, an agreement is usually reached within a year of an investigation’s public release. It’s “unfortunate,” she said, that Minneapolis’ federal consent decree hasn’t been finalized yet, given the high-profile nature of Floyd’s murder, which sparked days of protest across the world. 

Barnette said that the DOJ didn’t open the negotiations process until June 2024. The negotiations process begins once the DOJ presents a draft of the consent decree to the city.

Nekima Levy Armstrong, a Twin Cities civil rights attorney and founder of the Racial Justice Network, said the process should have been expedited. 

“That’s been disappointing, seeing such a long delay and not being given an explanation as to why the process is taking so long,” she said. “I’m not sure if it’s the city’s fault or if it’s the DOJ’s fault, but at the end of the day, it’s the residents who suffer, regarding this delay.”

The city isn’t legally obligated to make changes if there’s no finalized agreement, Lopez said. 

“Consent decrees are the only vehicle for obtaining broad, forward-looking, legally mandated remedies against a police department,” she said. “They allow you to demand or require from defendants that they make changes to actually prevent harm in the future.”

Barnette said Minneapolis is the only city in the country that could be under a state and federal consent decree. 

“This is a complex process,” Barnette said in his written statement. “I have and continue to view this as a top priority.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has previously said that he was 

against the city entering into two different consent decrees.

 In a statement Tuesday, a spokesperson from Frey’s office said the mayor is committed to negotiating a federal consent decree.

“Delivering on meaningful reform — both through and beyond agreements with the state and federal governments — has been and will remain one of the mayor’s top priorities, regardless of who is in the White House,” the statement reads in part. 

Gross said it’s essential that the city enter into two consent decrees, as the state agreement only holds the city to the terms of the Minnesota Human Rights Act. 

“That’s very good, but it doesn’t incorporate everything we need to address about policing,” she said of the state consent decree. “We need that ability to get at the bigger picture of what’s going on with Minneapolis police.”

A federal consent decree would also likely be enforced for a longer amount of time than the state agreement, which is currently set to last four years. Federal consent decrees usually last about seven to 10 years, Lopez said. 

Johnathon McClellan, president of the Minnesota Justice Coalition, said he hopes the city will be able to finish its negotiations soon. He urged city leaders to get the work done. 

“This fully falls on the shoulders of the city and what direction they want to go,” he said. “We all know change is hard, but it’s necessary, period. And so they’re gonna have to make a decision. But at the end of the day, I still think this happens.”

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Georgetown law professor Christy Lopez says the U.S. Department of Justice is unlikely to continue working with Minneapolis towards a federal consent decree if an agreement isn’t signed before Donald Trump takes office in January.

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