Police in Minneapolis disproportionately use severe force against blacks and other minorities, stop their vehicles more often, and are more likely to arrest them and track them covertly online, according to a report released Wednesday by Minnesota human rights leaders.
The 72-page report, released by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, found probable cause that Minneapolis officers “engage in a pattern or practice of race discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.” The investigation was launched in the wake of George Floyd’s death in May 2020 under the knee of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin.
The report’s authors attributed the alleged racial discrimination to an organizational culture that provides officers with “deficient training,” emphasizes a paramilitary approach to policing, and that features accountability systems that are “insufficient and ineffective.”
One department leader, whose name was not released in the report, allegedly told human rights investigators that the department has an internal culture “steeped in racism.” Another said that some Minneapolis officers believe that “black people are ruining this [city].”
“Race-based policing is unlawful and especially harms people of color and Indigenous individuals – sometimes costing community members their lives,” Rebecca Lucero, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, wrote in the report’s conclusion.
Statements Lucero made when announcing the investigation indicate that the conclusions of the probe were likely never in doubt. “This is something that will result in court action and require change,” Lucero said in June 2020, according to a report in the Star Tribune..
According to her online bio, Lucero, “has spent her life fighting to end racism and transform policies that lead to structural inequities,” and she “strives to lead her life with an intersectional lens, honoring complex identities.”
Attempts by National Review to reach Minneapolis police union leaders for comment on the report were unsuccessful on Wednesday afternoon.
The investigation included a review of about 700 hours of police body cameras and about 480,000 pages of city and police documents, including training materials, policies and procedures, and disciplinary records, according to the report. Investigators say they reviewed “data from MPD’s covert social media accounts,” interviewed department employees and leaders, and reviewed statements from over 2,200 community members about their experiences. They also received assistance from nationally-recognized policing experts, who helped review the department’s use of force files and alleged police misconduct files.
According to the report, the investigation found that Minneapolis officers disproportionately employ higher rates of more severe force against black residents, “and this remains true even when comparing MPD officers’ use of force against black and white individuals in similar circumstances.” The authors state that they conducted a comparison of use of force incidents against black and white individuals in similar circumstances, including a review of body camera footage, and found the racial disparity persists. The analysis found that “race is the likely reason that MPD officers use higher rates of more severe force against black individuals compared to white individuals in similar circumstances,” the report states.
Of the 14 people killed by Minneapolis police since 2010, 13 were “people of color or Indigenous individuals.” Those groups make up about 42 percent of the city’s population.
The investigation found that Minneapolis police were more likely to use neck restraints and chemical irritants against blacks when compared to whites in similar circumstances, and they were more likely to use “soft tactics” on whites. The investigators found that Minneapolis police were 12 percent more likely to stop vehicles with minority drivers, using a so-called “veil of darkness” analysis to compare traffic stop patterns when it is light outside and officers are more likely to see a driver’s race, according to the report.
“Furthermore, current and former high-level City officials, MPD supervisors, and patrol officers admitted that MPD stops vehicles with people of color for either no genuine reason or for low-level violations in an effort to find guns or drugs,” the report states.
The report states that after a traffic stop, Minneapolis officers issue citations at a higher rate for black drivers compared to whites in similar circumstances, and that over a three-year period between 2017 and 2020, 55 percent of all citations were issued to black drivers.
According to the report, black community members referred to the price of interacting with police – including attorney costs and time off work – as the “black tax.”
“One black community member reported that she lost her housing because she had to decide between paying her rent or paying her attorney to challenge a wrongful citation. The charge was ultimately dismissed, but as of 2021, she was still living out of her car,” according to the report, which doesn’t include the woman’s name.
The report claims Minneapolis officers use covert social media accounts to engage with black individuals, black organizations like the NAACP and Urban League, and black elected leaders “without a public safety objective.” The department “did not operate its own covert social media accounts to track white supremacist or white nationalist groups,” the report states.
“In one case, and MPD officer used and MPD covert account to pose as a black community member to send a message to a local branch of the NAACP criticizing the group,” it states.
The report also accuses Minneapolis officers of using racist and misogynistic language, some of which was documented on body camera footage, and some of which was included in discipline reports or reported by community members and other officers.
Moving forward, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights will be working with the city to develop a court-enforceable consent decree to identify specific changes that need to be made, and to establish timelines for those changes to occur, the report states.