Will state-mandated police reform for Minneapolis make a difference after federal consent decree was quashed?

It s no coincidence that the Trump administration s Department of Justice moved to dismiss a federal consent decree settlement that would have legally mandated police change in Minneapolis in the week leading to the five-year mark of George Floyd s murder It s also no coincidence that the Minnesota Department of Human Rights has a settlement agreement of its own with the city Minneapolis is relatively unique in its formation around consent decree settlements because of timing noted University of Minnesota sociology professor Michelle Phelps Floyd s murder under the knee of a police officer happened during the Trump administration as Phelps calls it Trump has long opposed consent decrees calling them a war on police Fast-forward five years to the Trump administration and the Biden administration DOJ s work on a federal consent decree between Trump s two terms has been rendered moot With a judge s approval of a motion to dismiss the federal decree any prospect of a legally binding federal agreement is dead To understand the similarities and differences between the two agreements it s critical to remember who was in power in when Floyd was murdered announced Phelps whose research focuses on the psychology of punishment in multiple works including The Minneapolis Reckoning Race Violence and the Politics of Policing in America In the state knew that the DOJ was unlikely to intervene because Trump s folks that he put into power in the Department of Justice at that point were also against this practice Phelps commented So the Minnesota Department of Human Rights launches their own probe that leads to this parallel consent decree and it s only after Biden wins the voting and comes in that the DOJ comes in The same independent auditor Effective Law Enforcement for All ELEFA was ultimately picked for both the state and presumptive federal decrees Having the same monitor was intentional Phelps noted Once the Biden administration came in and a federal decree became viable the goal was that the state and federal decrees would not be in conflict with each other During this time the Department of Human Rights is really looking into these statements around the Police Department performing race-based policing and then evolving a set of recommendations around addressing and eliminating race-based policing whereas the DOJ study is really around compliance with federal law which includes things like the Americans with Disabilities Act and First Amendment protection Phelps declared Despite attempts to differentiate there s key overlap between the two decrees including changes in polices regarding Use of force Discipline of officers Traffic stops and search of vehicles Use of force in crowd control including the use of tear gas and non-lethal projectiles Growth of early intervention around officer misconduct and the review process Working with youth and people with disabilities on behavioral strength issues including both calling for the full funding and aid for the behavioral emergency response in Minneapolis There are specific differences between the two agreements Phelps commented For example the DOJ agreement had a specific category that limited the off-duty employment of officers which is not in the state agreement Also the federal consent decree would have given more power to the civilian oversight board added stronger First Amendment protections for protestors and journalists and strengthened oversight of police department supervisors But I would say in general the kind of broad categories addressed in the reports and then in the consent decree that came out of them were pretty overlapping she revealed Meanwhile Minneapolis representatives have noted they will continue to work toward the goals of the federal decree despite its dismissal However there is a difference between a moment-in-time promise made by officers in power vs a legally-binding settlement agreement that runs in perpetuity until conditions are met The very foundation of this parallel decree saga in Minneapolis is a testament to that I think the big difference when you zoom way out is that you don t have the expertise of the DOJ crew that has done this kind of thing in a great number of other cities and you don t have the leverage of federal intervention Phelps announced But it is still very different than a city that s going from a DOJ consent decree to nothing because we have this parallel process that was built The post Will state-mandated police modification for Minneapolis make a difference after federal consent decree was quashed appeared first on MinnPost