Reports: Minneapolis' federal police reform plan may be coming soon
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A new federal reform plan for the Minneapolis Police Department could be announced as soon as Monday, according to reports from multiple news outlets.
Why it matters: A deal on a consent decree this week could leave just enough time to lock in federal court oversight of MPD before President-elect Trump takes office Jan. 20.
- Trump limited the use of consent decrees for police agencies in his first term and has argued they weaken law enforcement.
State of play: The Minneapolis City Council is meeting Monday morning to receive a closed-door briefing on settlement talks with the U.S. Department of Justice.
- The council, mayor and a federal judge would all have to approve the agreement. It's not clear if or when any public votes would take place.
The big picture: A consent decree — one of the federal government's most powerful tools for enforcing reform in law enforcement agencies nationwide — would be the latest sanction to hit MPD in the wake of George Floyd's murder by a former officer in 2020.
- U.S. Department of Justice investigators in 2023 affirmed what some residents have said for decades: Officers routinely used unlawful excessive force against Black and Native American people.
Between the lines: While it's not yet clear what Minneapolis' reform plan would entail, consent decrees often require concrete policy and procedural tweaks aimed at spurring deeper culture change.
Zoom in: MPD is already subject to a similar police reform settlement agreement filed in state court after Minnesota officials reached similar conclusions about MPD's harsh treatment of people of color in 2022.
- The state-level agreement forbids traffic stops for certain minor offenses, requires the department to clear a backlog of internal affairs cases and bans controversial trainings that increase officers' likelihood of using deadly force.
The intrigue: City officials have said that Minneapolis would be the first U.S. police department to be under state and federal court oversight at the same time.
- An independent evaluator monitors MPD's compliance with the state settlement. The state settlement would allow the same evaluator to also oversee any federal consent decree.
Reality check: Experts say consent decrees have only been as effective as the authorities carrying them out.
- After five years under a consent decree, Chicago's court-appointed police monitor says the department still has a long way to go.
- Oakland police are still under a consent decree after two decades.
The bottom line: "I can't stand when people talk about [reform] as if it's a checklist," Minneapolis police chief Brian O'Hara told Axios in April.
- O'Hara — hired for his experience implementing court-ordered police reform in Newark, N.J. — said it's about culture change.
- "We might eventually be out of a consent decree," he said, "but we're always going to have to be trying to improve the organization."