Minneapolis, the city where a police officer murdered George Floyd in 2020, has agreed to let the federal government monitor and reform its policing. The Minnesota city will submit to legally binding conditions intended to make its police department more accountable, fairer and less violent. President-elect Donald Trump’s impending control of the Department of Justice may have an unknown impact on this and similar situations, however.
On January 6, Minneapolis City Council voted 12-0 to approve a consent decree with the federal DOJ. A consent decree is analogous to putting a city on probation after it has broken the law. About 30 police departments and jail systems nationwide were under a consent decree with the federal government as of 2023, according to the Vera Institute of Justice. Under such legal agreements, a city will promise to make changes to an agency under federal supervision—in this case, to reduce discrimination and violence perpetrated by the Minneapolis Police Department.
This consent decree is the result of federal investigations and a civil rights lawsuit following Floyd’s murder, which sparked a nationwide protest movement against police brutality and anti-Black racism, including demands to defund the police and end civil liability protections for cops.
In June 2023, the DOJ announced an agreement it had reached with Minneapolis. The federal government found the city and police department had violated federal law and the United States Constitution—including through police use of excessive force, up to unjustified deadly force; discrimination against Black and Indigenous residents; violation of free speech rights; and discrimination against people with behavioral health disabilities.
“It was important that we get it right. We owe that to people here in Minneapolis. This was not a race to the finish line.”
Both sides “agreed in principle” to resolve the disputes through a court-ordered consent decree, rather than go to trial.
“Every American deserves policing that is fair, equitable, and non-discriminatory,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, at the time. “The protests that unfolded across Minneapolis, and the country, underscore the urgency behind our efforts to ensure that police departments respect constitutional rights, while garnering public trust. We will stand by the people of Minneapolis as we work to institute reforms that are lasting and enduring.”
The consent decree puts the Minneapolis Police Department under jurisdiction of a federal judge, and covers a range of new policies including police and civilian interactions, discipline, investigations of misconduct, and stronger requirements for the police chief to act on complaints.
Here’s some of what it requires Minneapolis police to do:
* Use de-escalation and avoid use of force in incidents. The department will write new policies, including training and review policies for use of force.
* Enforce the law fairly and impartially, and bar racial discrimination in enforcement.
* Respect the rights of people with behavioral disabilities in emergency response.
* Provide confidential mental health counseling to all police and public safety employees.
* Fairly investigate officer misconduct, and hold officers accountable.
* Protect the free speech rights of people who record, criticize and protest against the police.
As the Minnesota Star Tribune reports, timing plays a crucial role here: The negotiations between Minneapolis and the feds didn’t begin until 2024, and the final announcement came just two weeks before Trump will be sworn in on January 20. Assistant Attorney General Clarke acknowledged this at a January 6 press conference, saying, “It was important that we get it right. We owe that to people here in Minneapolis. This was not a race to the finish line.”
“While a consent decree is not a panacea, we hope that it is an important step toward reducing civil rights violations by the Minneapolis Police Department.”
In a statement shared with Filter, Teresa Nelson, legal director for the ACLU of Minnesota, commended the agreement. “The ACLU-MN welcomes the news that the DOJ and City of Minneapolis have finalized a consent decree aimed at addressing the systemic racism and violence that has permeated the Minneapolis Police Department for decades,” Nelson said. “While a consent decree is not a panacea, we hope that it is an important step toward reducing civil rights violations by the Minneapolis Police Department and that it will help the community hold the department accountable for its actions.”
Minneapolis is already under another court-ordered decree with the state, which the Minnesota Department of Human Rights signed in March 2023. That agreement was also approved by a unanimous city council vote, and followed the state’s own investigation into the Minneapolis police.
Minnesota had opened a human rights investigation on June 1, 2020, days after Floyd’s death. In 2022, state officials released their report finding “probable cause that the City and [Minneapolis police] engage in a pattern or practice of race discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.”
This agreement requires a police Review Panel, to oversee the department’s enforcement practices; created stricter requirements for documenting use of force; required all officers to state the reason for any stop; increased mental health resources for police; increased required training for officers and supervisors; and required the department to ask for public feedback on its policies online and in person.
Hanging over all of this is the fact that when Donald Trump becomes the 47th president, he will bring a very different set of priorities to the DOJ. Trump has nominated Harmeet Dhillon—a conservative lawyer serving as the Republican Party’s national committeewoman for California—to lead the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, replacing Clarke.
Dhillon made her name as a Trump-friendly “culture warrior” on hot button social issues, as NBC News describes. She repeatedly sued California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) over his statewide COVID-19 pandemic restrictions; defended former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in a gender discrimination suit; and currently represents a woman who is suing a health care company, expressing regret after receiving gender-affirming care as a teenager.
In December, Maya Wiley, president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, criticized Trump’s decision to nominate Dhillon.
“The nomination of Harmeet Dhillon to lead this critical civil rights office is yet another clear sign that this administration seeks to advance ideological viewpoints over the rights and protections that protect every person in this country,” she stated. “Dhillon has focused her career on diminishing civil rights, rather than enforcing or protecting them. Rather than fighting to expand voting access, she has worked to restrict it.”
Trump’s record from his previous term is another indicator. Under Trump’s leadership, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division sought far fewer consent decrees with police departments than it had under the Obama administration, as Clarke herself noted in a 2020 op-ed, and overall took fewer enforcement actions related to racial discrimination.
Trump’s DOJ additionally tried to pull out of pending consent decrees with the cities of Baltimore and Chicago, and specifically refused to open a “pattern and practice” investigation into racial discrimination at the Minneapolis Police Department after Floyd’s murder.
For now, Minneapolis’ new consent decree has to be signed off by the judge for the federal US District Court for the District of Minnesota, before it can take effect.
Photograph of George Floyd memorial in Minneapolis by Vasanth Rajkumar via WikiMedia Commons/Creative Commons 4.0
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