Report: Minneapolis falling behind meeting goals in policing agreement with state
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
The group overseeing the city of Minneapolis’ court-enforceable agreement on policing has released a report showing the city falling behind on its goals two years into the oversight process.
Effective Law Enforcement for All (ELEFA), the independent team chosen to monitor the agreement’s implementation, highlighted substantial problems in the city’s internal affairs unit, which the report said has made no meaningful progress in reducing its case backlog.
“The failure to timely resolve complaints defeats the purpose of a progressive, corrective action disciplinary system,” according to ELEFA’s report. “The lack of progress is even more concerning because MPD leadership has long been aware of these deficiencies.”
ELEFA said internal affairs doesn’t have the supervisory staffing to quickly move cases up the ladder to the chief. They recommend hiring to supplement these positions. But even when an internal affairs case has made it all the way to the chief, it’s taken an average of about four months for a final decision, and the same staff who conduct the investigation also participate in discussions around potential discipline.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
While Minneapolis police leadership has a plan to address problems in the internal affairs unit, they have not committed to deadlines to reach the goal of eliminating the backlog by September.
In a letter included in the report, Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero noted that Minneapolis police “remain far from achieving the transformational change necessary to address the root causes of race-based policing.”
Lucero pointed specifically to flawed systems of accountability. She said breakdowns in city systems have allowed concerning conduct to persist, including a lack of independent review of cases by the chief.
“Public confidence and morale quickly erode when both community members and officers cannot clearly understand how misconduct complaints are investigated, why certain decisions are made, or whether meaningful consequences follow,” Lucero wrote in the letter. “When accountability systems produce outcomes that appear disconnected from the severity of misconduct, credibility deteriorates further.”
In an interview with MPR News, Bureau Chief of Constitutional Policing Ganesha Martin said she’s asked ELEFA to independently assess the department’s internal affairs unit. She’s hoping to get the report in the coming months and to add more supervisory support. The case backlog currently stands at about 55.
”We have to first hire new people, train new people, and get them to work, including the vendor, getting them up to speed,” Martin said. “Most likely the actual backlog will not be significantly reduced until the end of the year.”
MPD has made progress, but challenges remain
In a statement, interim police Chief Bill Peterson acknowledged the challenges outlined by the report.
“We will hold ourselves accountable to the standards our community expects and deserves. This work is about more than compliance,” Peterson said. “It is about building a stronger organization, strengthening public trust and ensuring we deliver the highest level of service to the people of Minneapolis. We have made important progress, but we cannot lose sight of the work ahead.”
Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette told MPR News that he agreed with ELEFA’s mixed assessment but said he has faith in employees at the police department and the city to carry the work forward.
”When we entered the settlement agreement, we knew that this was going to be a long process, and so we knew it was not going to be a sprint but a marathon,” Barnette said. “When we get these reports, those things that we are doing well, that's fantastic. Those things that we need to work on, we'll continue to work on those things until we get it right.”
ELEFA also highlighted the city’s lack of progress in instituting an early intervention system that’s designed to flag warning signs like stress or fatigue that make it more likely that officers will face health issues or commit misconduct. The report says the stalled program is due to “management weaknesses and personnel turnover.”
Commander Bryce Robinson of the implementation unit said the department is interviewing candidates to serve as wellness director. He said they’ll help fill the other positions needed to implement the early intervention system.
”I want to say ‘almost there,’” Robinson said. “What ended up happening is that we ended up having some staffing changes, and so once those staffing changes occurred, work did not stop. We continued to work on the training. We're pressing forward on that, and we're also working on the technology pieces.”
Despite the criticisms in the ELEFA report, the group said the city has made “tangible improvements,” including revamped use of force policies, a new policy management system and key training programs, as well as providing more officer wellness resources. The department has also approved policies around misconduct, peer support and adult stops and citations.
Looking ahead, ELEFA said the next year of the agreement will require a higher level of execution.
“Many of the key policy foundations are substantially in place. The task now is to train, implement and hold personnel accountable,” ELEFA wrote in their report. “Until that occurs, the public will not experience the changes to policing that MPD has promised and is working to deliver.”
ELEFA acknowledged that the federal government’s Operation Metro Surge disrupted the process by drawing away police and city staff: “It was a severe, unanticipated disruption of the implementation process.” The group said city and policing staff have “demonstrated genuine and sustained commitment to implementing the agreement despite these challenges.”
Former Chief Brian O’Hara resigned late last month after an investigation found that he interfered with an earlier investigation into allegations he had sexual relationships with city employees, which investigators failed to substantiate. Some involved in the state consent decree process saw O’Hara’s departure as an opportunity to speed up the reform process.
Martin admitted that neither the community nor officers have faith in the department’s accountability systems. She said strong systems they’re working to build need to serve both residents and police officers.
“We did not get here overnight; we will not transform these systems overnight, but we are committed to doing the work, listening to feedback and building systems worthy of the trust of both officers and community,” Martin said. “I'm confident we will get there together.”
The agreement between Minneapolis and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights came after an investigation into the city’s policing practices after George Floyd’s murder by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. The investigation found that the Minneapolis Police Department had a pattern of racial discrimination and that officers used force disproportionately on people of color.
Minneapolis agreed in March 2023 to institute reforms that include trainings, revised policies, promotion of officer wellness and new systems for accountability. The city had previously been subject to a federal consent decree, but that deal was dropped after President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice withdrew support.
