According to an investigation, Minneapolis state police have engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade, including stopping and arresting Black people at a higher rate than white people, using force on people of color more frequently, and maintaining a culture that tolerates racist language.
After George Floyd’s death, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights launched an investigation, which concluded that the police used an illegal “pattern or practice of race discrimination.” The report was released on Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, which stated that the police used an illegal “pattern or practice of race discrimination.”
The agency and the American city would create a court-enforceable agreement to solve the report’s vast list of issues, with input from residents, cops, city personnel, and others, according to the report.
The report said police department data “demonstrates significant racial disparities with respect to officers’ use of force, traffic stops, searches, citations, and arrests.”
Officers also “used covert social media to surveil Black individuals and Black organizations for reasons unrelated to criminal activity, and maintain an organizational culture where some officers and supervisors use racist, misogynistic, and disrespectful language with impunity,” according to the report.
“They refer to Black people as (n-word) and’monkeys,’ and Black women as ‘Black b****es,'” the complaint said.
Somali guys were referred to as “orangutans” by one MPD supervisor.
“Community members reported MPD police calling Latinos ‘beaners,'” the survey said, “as well as calling fellow Black MPD officers ‘nappy head’ and ‘cattle.'”
During a press conference following the release of the report, human rights commissioner Rebecca Lucero stated that the study did not single out any cops or city leaders.
“This isn’t about a single person or a single occurrence,” Lucero added.
Campaigners call report ‘historic’
The report noted the city and police department “do not need to wait to institute immediate changes to begin to address the causes of discrimination that weaken the City’s public safety system and harm community members.”
It listed several steps that the city can take now, including implementing stronger internal oversight to hold officers accountable for their conduct, better training, and better communication with the public about critical incidents such as officer-involved shootings.
National civil rights attorney Ben Crump and his partners, who won a $27 million settlement from the city for the Floyd family, called the report “historic” and “monumental in its importance.”
They said they were “grateful and deeply hopeful” that change is imminent.
Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, called the finding “obvious.”
“The findings were no surprise, but now there’s an agency with the muscle to make those changes happen,” Gross said.
She said a critical next step is who will monitor a consent decree to make sure changes actually happen, and said she would demand that community members take part. Gross said she was meeting on Thursday with Lucero’s department and that monitoring a decree would top her agenda.
George Floyd’s killing
The Department of Human Rights launched its investigation barely a week after Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020.
Then-Officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin the Black man to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes in a case that sparked protests around the world against police racism and brutality.
Chauvin, who is white, was convicted last spring of murder.
Three other fired officers — Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng — were convicted this year of violating Floyd’s civil rights in a federal trial and they face a state trial starting in June.
Officers also “used covert social media to surveil Black individuals and Black organizations for reasons unrelated to criminal activity, and maintain an organizational culture where some officers and supervisors use racist, misogynistic, and disrespectful language with impunity,” according to the report.
“They refer to Black people as (n-word) and’monkeys,’ and Black women as ‘Black b****es,'” the complaint said.
Somali guys were referred to as “orangutans” by one MPD supervisor.
“Community members reported MPD police calling Latinos ‘beaners,'” the survey said, “as well as calling fellow Black MPD officers ‘nappy head’ and ‘cattle.'”
During a press conference following the release of the report, human rights commissioner Rebecca Lucero stated that the study did not single out any cops or city leaders.
“This isn’t about a single person or a single occurrence,” Lucero added.
Campaigners call report ‘historic’
The report noted the city and police department “do not need to wait to institute immediate changes to begin to address the causes of discrimination that weaken the City’s public safety system and harm community members.”
It listed several steps that the city can take now, including implementing stronger internal oversight to hold officers accountable for their conduct, better training, and better communication with the public about critical incidents such as officer-involved shootings.
National civil rights attorney Ben Crump and his partners, who won a $27 million settlement from the city for the Floyd family, called the report “historic” and “monumental in its importance.”
They said they were “grateful and deeply hopeful” that change is imminent.
Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, called the finding “obvious.”
“The findings were no surprise, but now there’s an agency with the muscle to make those changes happen,” Gross said.
She said a critical next step is who will monitor a consent decree to make sure changes actually happen, and said she would demand that community members take part. Gross said she was meeting on Thursday with Lucero’s department and that monitoring a decree would top her agenda.
George Floyd’s killing
The Department of Human Rights launched its investigation barely a week after Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020.
Then-Officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to pin the Black man to the pavement for 9 1/2 minutes in a case that sparked protests around the world against police racism and brutality.
Chauvin, who is white, was convicted last spring of murder.
Three other fired officers — Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng — were convicted this year of violating Floyd’s civil rights in a federal trial and they face a state trial starting in June.