'There's reason to be hopeful': AG Ellison on five years after George Floyd
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Sunday marks five years since Minneapolis police officers murdered George Floyd at the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue.
Reflecting on the years that have passed since the tragedy, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said “there’s reason to be hopeful” even as the country saw the highest number of police killings in a decade in 2024.
“I think it's important to also understand that in Minnesota, we have banned and curtailed the use of no-knock warrants, high-speed chase,” Ellison shared with MPR News host Emily Bright. “We have reformed the Police Officer Standards and Training Board to give them more authority. We have a practice and a custom of making sure that every case gets reviewed carefully.”
Ellison, however, admits local changes haven’t translated nationally.
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“I think at the local level, we’re making meaningful progress. I think at the national level, we’re not necessarily making very much progress,” he said.
For more of the conversation with Keith Ellison, use the audio player above or read the transcript below which has been lightly edited for clarity.
There’s talk that Derek Chauvin might be pardoned by President Donald Trump. What would that actually mean and is there anything your office plans to do if that happens?
Well, the main thing that I’m doing is trying to tell people that Derek Chauvin will remain in the custody of the Minnesota Department of Corrections if he receives a federal pardon. So far, it’s only rumor. We don’t have any solid information that this is going to happen — or not.
In any case, I tell people that they have the First Amendment right to protest. I say, you know, if people want to express their their outrage over this, they should do it. They should do it peacefully.
And they should be outraged, because, in my view, it is disrespect to the life of George Floyd, to his family, to the community in which it happened, to the police officers who stepped up and testified that what Derek Chauvin did was far outside of what they trained officers to do and that they regarded it as wrong — and any officer who puts his or her life on the line to try to do policing right should be offended by this.
According to a report by Mapping Police Violence, there were “more people killed by police in 2024 than any other year in the past decade.” We’re talking nationally. What’s your reaction to that?
Well, sadness. I think it’s important to also understand that in Minnesota, we have banned and curtailed the use of no-knock warrants, high-speed chase. We have reformed the Police Officer Standards and Training Board to give them more authority. We have a practice and a custom of making sure that every case gets reviewed carefully.
Also, you know, one of the other rumors out there is that perhaps President Trump will stop enforcing the consent decree between the federal government and the city of Minneapolis. Well, we have one between the state of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis. We also have a police chief who I think is doing a good job.
I think there's reason to be hopeful. So, it’s a mixed report card.
Your office was successful in the Chauvin case and some say it’s because it got elevated to your office. There have since been other police killings that have not been prosecuted. So, how are you deciding which cases to take?
As the attorney general’s office, I don’t have the authority to just take cases from wherever I want. The county attorney has to invite me into the case or the governor has to assign me the case. There are cases where we still can’t prosecute that case.
There was a tragic case where the police entered a house on a no-knock warrant. They had a warrant from a judge to enter the house, which allows them to legally be there. They encountered a resident who had a gun, which is lawful as well.
The resident was shot and killed, but because of the standard of Graham v. Connor, we couldn’t charge the case. So, it’s not always a situation where we can act even when we are brought into a case.
When you reflect on these last five years, do you think we’re making meaningful progress toward justice?
I think at the local level, we’re making meaningful progress. I think at the national level, we’re not necessarily making very much progress.
We also need reform, like a registry so that an officer that has a bad record can’t just bounce from one department to another. As I say, policing is a hard job. It’s not right for everybody. If you don't have a lot of patience, if you don’t have a lot of self control, it’s probably not for you.
But we’re lucky. We do have a lot of great men and women who can do the job well, and we should lift them up and help them to build the trust they need to do the job that they’re called to do. That means holding people accountable when those standards are not met.
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