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A report released this week found that Minneapolis police often mishandled officer discipline cases in past years.

The report was issued by Effective Law Enforcement for All (ELEFA), the group responsible for monitoring the policing agreement between the city of Minneapolis and the state's human rights department.

It found that Minneapolis police in the past often wrongly routed discipline cases to coaching rather harsher discipline, and that cases often went unresolved for long periods of time. 

ELEFA looked at cases from as long ago as 2018 and as recently as 2024 that were handled by the police department’s internal affairs unit and office of police misconduct review. Many of the cases pre-date the city’s court-enforced agreement over policing with the state Department of Human Rights.

“These results reinforce the need to reform policies and practices concerning the investigation and disposition of complaints,” according to the report.

Using the current guidelines, the group found that 58 percent of cases they looked at should not have been sent to coaching. Among the cases that violated coaching guidelines were police chases, failing to write a report and collisions involving injuries. 

The analysis also found that the time it took a median case in the city’s Office of Police Conduct and Review two years to move a case from open to deliver the coaching. The median time for cases spent in the department’s internal affairs unit until coaching was 316 days.

Minnesota Department of Humans Rights investigation

 of the Minneapolis Police Department, which also found that more than a third of officers that were referred to coaching by the office of conduct and review received no corrective action. 

 to avoid having to disclose disciplinary actions, arguing that it doesn’t qualify as discipline under state law. An appeals court ruled last month that coaching does qualify as discipline and should therefore be made public. 

The report recommends that Minneapolis police update coaching guidelines and streamline data practices.

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The report was issued by Effective Law Enforcement for All (ELEFA), the group responsible for monitoring the policing agreement between the city of Minneapolis and the state's human rights department.  

Ben Hovland | MPR News

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The report from the independent monitor found that Minneapolis police in the past often wrongly routed discipline cases to coaching rather harsher discipline, and that cases often went unresolved for long periods of time. 

Report: Minneapolis misused police coaching

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