ABOVE PHOTO: Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division speaks about a Department of Justice report that found the Minneapolis Police Department has engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination during a news conference, Friday, June 16, 2023, in Minneapolis. The two-year probe found that Minneapolis officers used excessive force, including “unjustified deadly force,” and violated the rights of people engaged in constitutionally protected speech. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
By Mark Vancleave, Jim Salter
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MINNEAPOLIS — The Justice Department on Friday issued a withering critique of Minneapolis police, alleging that they systematically discriminated against racial minorities, often violated constitutional rights, and disregarded the safety of people in custody for years before George Floyd was killed.
The report was the result of a sweeping two-year probe, and it confirmed many of the citizen complaints about police conduct that emerged after Floyd’s 2020 death. The investigation found that Minneapolis officers used excessive force, including “unjustified deadly force,” and violated the rights of people engaged in constitutionally protected speech.
The investigation also concluded that both police and the city discriminated against Black and Native American people and those with “behavioral health disabilities.”
“We observed many MPD officers who did their difficult work with professionalism, courage and respect,” Attorney General Merrick Garland told a news conference in Minneapolis. “But the patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible.”
Garland said officers routinely disregarded the safety of people in custody, noting numerous examples in which someone complained that they could not breathe, only to have officers reply with a version of “You can breathe. You’re talking right now.”
Police “used dangerous techniques and weapons against people who committed at most a petty offense and sometimes no offense at all,” the report said. Officers “used force to punish people who made officers angry or criticized the police.”
Police also “patrolled neighborhoods differently based on their racial composition and discriminated based on race when searching, handcuffing or using force against people during stops,” according to the report.
As a result of the investigation, the city and the police department agreed to a deal known as a federal consent decree, which will require reforms to be overseen by an independent monitor and approved by a federal judge. That arrangement is similar to reform efforts in Seattle, New Orleans, Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri.
Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his agency was committed to creating “the kind of police department that every Minneapolis resident deserves.”
Mayor Jacob Frey acknowledged the work ahead.
“We understand that change is non-negotiable,” Frey said. “Progress can be painful, and the obstacles can be great. But we haven’t let up in the three years since the murder of George Floyd.
The scathing report reflected Garland’s efforts to prioritize civil rights and policing nationwide. Similar investigations of police departments have been undertaken in Louisville, Phoenix, and Memphis, among other cities.
The Minneapolis investigation was launched in April 2021, a day after former
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