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The Biden administration secured a deal to implement police reforms in Minneapolis ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Monday’s consent decree agreement with the Minneapolis Police Department follows a similar decree the department agreed to with police in Louisville, Ky., last month. The settlements follow the start of 12 investigations by the Biden administration in 2021, which investigated a possible “pattern or practice” of civil rights abuses by police departments across the country in the wake of anti-police riots which took place after the death of George Floyd in 2020.
Both decrees await the approval of the courts. The 171 page Minneapolis Agreement would overhaul the city’s police training and use-of-force policies, while requiring officers to “promote the sanctity of human life as the highest priority in their activities.” The decree also mandates that officers not allow race, gender or ethnicity to “influence any decision to use force, including the amount or type of force used.”
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Other elements of the Minneapolis deal include strengthening protections for protesters, new data collection requirements aimed at reducing racial discrimination, guidelines restricting officers from pursuing fleeing subjects, new interrogation requirements, a mandate against racial profiling in investigations, traffic stop reforms and more.
A local resident watches a police vehicle drive down a street in north Minneapolis on September 9, 2021. (REUTERS/Carlos Barria)
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of of the Department of Justice During a news conference Monday from Minneapolis, the Civil Rights Division was asked repeatedly whether the Trump administration could derail the deal.
“I can’t predict the future,” Clarke said. “What I can tell you is that we identified the findings in Minneapolis they are serious These are real problems that affect people’s lives. The community wants reform. The city wants reform, the police department wants reform, and the Department of Justice is here today as a full partner in the effort to bring about reform and transformation in this community.”
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Minneapolis Police Chief Brian OHara addresses more than 100 uniformed officers as he awaits the release of an officer who was shot in the line of duty in north Minneapolis, Saturday, Aug. 12. 2023. (Photo by Aaron Lavinksy/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, in an email to constituents, Minneapolis City Council member Robin Wonsley said she does not believe the incoming Trump administration is a “serious partner” in supporting the recently agreed upon consent decree.
A similar consent decree agreed to by the Biden administration and Loisville police about three weeks ago also requires the department to review its use-of-force policies, imposes new restrictions on traffic stops and police searches, and questions how law enforcement deals with protesters. .
A local police union in the city is challenging the reforms and asking a judge not to approve the deal. Meanwhile, the conservative Heritage Foundation has argued that the point of the consent decree coming so late in Biden’s tenure is to “bind the Trump 47 Administration and future elected administrations in Louisville who may vehemently and categorically disagree with the proposed consent decree”.
Protesters demonstrate outside a burning fast food restaurant on Friday, May 29, 2020, in Minneapolis. (John Minchillo)
Both Minneapolis and Louisville were flashpoints for debates over police reform after both cities saw the high-profile deaths of Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020. Both cities, and many others, saw protesters rampage through the streets after his death, resulting in multiple fatalities and billions of dollars in damage that year.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Department of Justice for comment, but they declined to comment.
