Minneapolis leaders and Minnesota Department of Human Rights (DHR) apparently have hit snag negotiating a Consent Decree in response to the DHR’s scathing report, released last April, identifying a pattern and practice of racial discrimination by the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD).
Meanwhile, city officials have put forward a weak proposal to reform police oversight of MPD. Settlements are still coming in form people injured during the 2020 George Floyd uprising, and injured parties are forcing MPD reforms though lawsuits.
Law enforcement line at Namewag in Hubbard County,July 28, 2021. Photo: The Giniw Collective.
Across the country, law enforcement’s credibility is under scrutiny. To regain it, it’s essential that it’s impartial in deed and in public perception.
The state and law enforcement did themselves damage in how they responded to water protectors resisting the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline in 2020-2021. The state approved a plan allowing Enbridge to fund an escrow account to reimburse law enforcement agencies for any Line 3-related costs. Those law enforcement agencies collectively received $8.5 million.
The Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office received nearly half a million dollars from the Enbridge escrow account. It also abused its power to intimidate those at Namewag, a camp set up by Giniw, an Indigenous women-led environmental protection group. At Namewag, they practiced traditional Anishinaabe ways and also actively opposed Line 3.
On June 28, 2021 the Hubbard County Sheriff’s Office organized a shock-and-awe law enforcement response to Namewag … because it didn’t have an easement to drive a short stretch of county-owned land, the camp’s only access.
Let that soak in. Look at all the deputies in the photo above, and ask: Does this make sense over an easement infraction?
Honor the Earth envisions Line 3 exhibit in Park Rapids
Shell River Seven standoff
A District Court judge in Wadena County Monday dismissed gross misdemeanor charges against five of the “Shell River Seven” who peacefully tried to protect the Shell River and Anishinaabe treaty rights against the construction of the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline.
“Criminalizing and over-charging protestors is a common tactic used by the State to scare activists and suppress movements,” Claire Glenn, an attorney for two of the defendants, said in a media release. “The criminalization of the Shell River defendants was no exception, and this dismissal is a powerful victory for water protectors.”
Minneapolis police guard the Third Precinct on the first night of protests over George Floyd’s murder.
Everyone wants fair and unbiased law enforcement; in the United States today, red flags abound.
There were 19 current and former law enforcement officers involved in the Jan. 6 riot, which was promoted by extremist and hate groups.
A Reuters investigation found a “significant number of U.S. police instructors have ties to a constellation of armed right-wing militias and white supremacist hate groups, a report that adds to a fast-growing body of evidence showing a deadly threat inside U.S. police departments.”
The Minnesota Department of Human Rights released a report in April finding a pattern and practice of racial discrimination in the Minneapolis Police Department.
At a minimum, addressing these problem will require changes to law enforcement’s hiring process, training, and discipline.
Last spring, the city of Minneapolis hired Tyeastia Green to restart the racial justice work that collapsed after most staff in the city’s Division of Race and Equity quit in frustration. Mayor Frey’s budget proposes that Green lead a newly created Department of Racial Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging.
Green’s putting together an ambitious agenda, including the annual publication of the “Minneapolis Inequity Report,” more robust and ongoing racial equity trainings for city employees, and fundraising for projects she can’t do within her city budget.
The Minnesota Police Officers Standards and Training (POST) Board is considering a new rule for licensed officers that would make support or involvement in white supremacist, hate, or extremist groups a violation of police ‘standards of conduct.’
It’s one of three rule changes under the POST Board’s review.
Any officer violating the code of conduct is subject to discipline, ranging from a reprimand to termination.
Another proposal would require law enforcement agencies to adopt a policy around police responses to public assemblies, crowd control, and use of force.
A public comment period on the rule changes is open for one more week, until Wednesday, July 20.
Scrappy environmental and racial justice advocates rely on social media to get the word out about their work. Such was the case with water protectors organizing against the Enbridge Line 3 tar sands pipeline.
At the same time, law enforcement increasingly tracks the social media accounts of individuals and organizations doing advocacy work. “This poses risks to privacy and free expression, increases disproportionate surveillance of communities of color, and can lead to arrests of people on the basis of misinterpreted posts and associations,” the Brennan Center for Justice said.
The Rally for the Rivers event held in the winter of 2021 is a Minnesota case study in law enforcement’s social media tracking. It’s also a jumping off point to look at the disparate treatment of water protectors opposed to Line 3 now facing criminal charges compared to the state’s weak response to Enbridge’s environmental damage.
Let’s take a look at the ups and downs of proposed Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) reform and where things stand now. Bottom line: The Consent Decree being negotiated by the city and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights seems the best hope for accountability.
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