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The report paints a damning picture of police in Minneapolis, where Lucero Black makes up about 19% of the population, but 78% of all police searches from 2017 to 2020 involved black residents and their cars.
CNN has reached out to the Minneapolis police and the mayor’s office for comment.
“We hope this will put the city and police department under a state-ordered consent decree, which will, finally, give us assurance that real change in policing is possible, and Minneapolis can become a safer city for its black residents,” Ben Crump said in a statement. and Co-Attorney Antonio Romanucci and Jeff Storms.
“We are grateful and deeply hope that change is possible and imminent. We call on city, state, and police leaders to accept the challenge of these findings and finally make meaningful change to create trust between the communities of color in Minneapolis and those they swear to protect and serve.”
The report noted there were “racial disparities in how MPD officers use force, stop, search, arrest, and cite people of color” and “officers’ use of clandestine social media to monitor black individuals and black organizations not associated with criminal activity.”
The report also accused the administration of “a lack of training, which emphasizes a paramilitary approach to policing that results in officers escalating confrontations or using inappropriate levels of force.”
11 years of audit information
The investigation began on June 1, 2020, with a lawsuit filed against the city by the Ministry of Human Rights to determine whether the police were involved in a “pattern or practice” of racial discrimination.
The investigation reviewed 11 years of information, including stops, searches, arrests, use of force, procedures and training.
The state obtained a temporary court order in 2020 requiring the City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis police to implement immediate changes — including banning neck restraints, choking reservations and requiring officers to interfere with other officers’ unauthorized uses of force, among other changes.
Pattern or practice investigations in police departments are relatively uncommon, and look for patterns of racist, discriminatory, or other problematic behavior, with the goal of reforming the way these departments operate.
The body camera and bystander video that captured the last moments of Floyd’s life on May 25, 2020, show Chauvin kneeling on the neck and back of the 46-year-old black man for more than nine minutes while Floyd gasped for air and told officers, “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s death and video have sparked lengthy protests across the country over police brutality and racial injustice.
In Luke’s case, prosecutors last month declined to press charges against the Minneapolis police officer who shot the 22-year-old or any other officers who participated in the no-hammer warrant service that led to Luke’s death in early February.
An officer shot Locke within a few seconds of entering the apartment after prosecutors said that Locke got off the couch with a pistol and raised it toward an officer. The officer, and others on the Minneapolis SWAT team, were there serving a murder investigation order.
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