State probe after George Floyds killing finds a decade of discriminatory, race-based policing in Minneapolis – CNN

“I found the contents to be repugnant, at times horrific. They made me sick to my stomach and outraged and I think that our community feels the same way.”

He called for a “full-on culture shift” in policing and added, “We have to get this right.”

Interim Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman, appearing at a news conference with the mayor and other city leaders, said: “While we have not yet had the opportunity to fully digest this report the points raised are deeply concerning to everyone standing before you today.”

“We will review this report in collaboration with city leadership and community members to ensure that we have a clear understanding of every issue that was raised,” she added.”During the nearly two year period of this investigation, the department has been moving forward with reforms and we’re not waiting to move forward at this point to build a stronger department. We’re committed to providing effective constitutional police service, the service that people across our community want and need and deserve.”

“We hope this leads to placing the city and the police department under a state-ordered consent decree, which would give us assurance, at last, that real change in policing is possible, and Minneapolis can become a safer city for its Black residents,” said the statement from Ben Crump and co-counsel Antonio Romanucci and Jeff Storms.

Consent decrees are court-enforced settlements aimed at reforming police departments.

“We are grateful and deeply hopeful that change is possible and is imminent,” the statement said. “We call on city, state, and Police leaders to accept the challenge of these findings and make meaningful change at last to create trust between communities of color in Minneapolis and those who are sworn to protect and serve them.”

Discriminatory policing is widespread, report finds

Lucero said discriminatory policing against people of color and the indigenous community was widespread.

“We found these patterns throughout the city so none of this can be explained or excused away by one precinct,” she said.

Officers were 12% “more likely to stop a vehicle occupied by a person of color or Indigenous individual when it was light outside and officers were more likely to see the race of the people in the car,” the report said.

The report also cited a “consistent” use of “racist, misogynistic, and disrespectful language” by officers.

A significant portion of the report focused on the use of force.

“Since 2010, of the 14 individuals that MPD officers have killed, 13 of those individuals were people of color or Indigenous individuals,” the report said.

“People of color and Indigenous individuals comprise approximately 42% of the Minneapolis population, but comprise 93% of all MPD officer-involved deaths between January 1, 2010, to February 2, 2022.”

The report accused the department of “deficient training, which emphasizes a paramilitary approach to policing that results in officers unnecessarily escalating encounters or using inappropriate levels of force.”

A high-level police official told investigators that officers often arrested and cited people with obstruction or disorderly conduct “for things that could fall under the category, arguably, of pissing off the police,” the report said.

The report cited officers’ “use of covert social media to surveil Black individuals and Black organizations, unrelated to criminal activity.”

In one instance, the report said, an officer used a “covert” social media account posing as a Black resident to send a message to the local NAACP branch. Officers also used similar accounts to pose as residents attacking police critics and local officials.

‘Dozens and dozens’ of officers interviewed

The investigation originated with a June 1, 2020, filing against the city by the Department of Human Rights to determine if police engaged in a “pattern-or-practice” of race discrimination. The investigation determined just that.

The 72-page report is based on findings spanning a decade, including interviews with “dozens and dozens” of officers of all ranks, an estimated 700 hours of body worn camera footage, and statements from residents.

The state obtained a temporary court order in 2020 requiring the city of Minneapolis and Minneapolis police to implement immediate changes — including prohibiting neck restraints and choke holds and requiring officers to intervene in other officers’ unauthorized uses of force, among other changes.

Pattern-or-practice investigations of police departments are relatively uncommon, and look for patterns of racist, discriminatory, or otherwise problematic behaviors, with the goal of overhauling the way those departments operate.

The state’s investigation started exactly one week after body camera and bystander video captured the final moments of Floyd’s life on May 25, 2020. Video showed a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on the 46-year-old Black man’s neck and back for more than nine minutes as Floyd gasped for air and told officers, “I can’t breathe.” Floyd’s death and the video ignited prolonged protests across the country over police brutality and racial injustice.

In the Locke case, prosecutors last month declined to file charges against the Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot the 22-year-old man or any other officers involved in the no-knock warrant service that led to Locke’s death in early February.

An officer shot Locke within a few seconds of entering an apartment after prosecutors said Locke emerged from a couch with a handgun and raised it toward an officer. The officer, and others on the Minneapolis SWAT team, were there serving a warrant in a homicide investigation.