Report: Minneapolis police made progress reducing backlog of complaints and force reviews

Minneapolis police made significant progress toward implementing reforms as required by a state-ordered settlement agreement, though the department did not meet all its goals laid out for year one of the process, according to a new report.

City officials met with reporters Tuesday afternoon in City Hall to discuss the latest semi-annual report from the nonprofit Effective Law Enforcement For All (ELEFA). The report covers the first full year of guidance under ELEFA.

Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice investigated Minneapolis police and found over a decade of civil rights abuses, particularly against Black and Native American residents.

In February, the city hired ELEFA as its independent monitor to oversee the implementation of reforms after the Minnesota Department of Human Rights in 2022 found the city and police department engaged in a pattern or practice of race discrimination.

Michael Harrison, a co-lead for ELEFA, said that “while it’s slow and we have concerns about the pace,” he commends the effort and amount of work completed by the city and police department now a year into this process.

“They have put forth a lot of work building the foundation and laying the groundwork for sustainable reform, and so we give them credit for this one year of foundation-building,” Harrison said.

Harrison was a police commissioner for departments in New Orleans and Baltimore when those cities were going through consent-decree processes to enact reforms. Some activists in New Orleans and Minneapolis have criticized ELEFA in the past suggesting the organization could have conflicts of interest because it is run by former police officers. However, Harrison said the nonprofit is made up of people with law enforcement backgrounds including some who have previously served as monitors of departments as well as others who have not worked in public safety.

Harrison noted he thought Minneapolis demonstrated more work in its first year under an independent monitor than he experienced in Baltimore or New Orleans.

Some notable areas of progress were significant reductions in the backlogs of use-of-force and police-misconduct cases. The city also has approved 17 new use-of-force policies and are developing training for those policies.

Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement that while the city is not taking a victory lap, the report “clearly shows our investments, dedication, and commitment to the work are paying off.”

“Minneapolis is making more progress than nearly any other city under a consent decree or settlement agreement in the first year of monitoring—that’s a big deal," Frey said.

Of the many goals for year one, some were completed, such as getting approval on revised use-of-force policies. Others such as non-discriminatory policing policies are shown to be “near” approval, while others are “still in-progress” such as revised policies for stops and searches.

“We understand that meaningful change takes time, but it is very clear in this report that we are making very demonstrable progress,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara.

He added that some of the delays in goals are due to significant staffing problems in areas such as internal affairs, internal complaints or use-of-force investigations. Police have also been relying on a contract with an independent law firm to help with clearing out the backlog of force cases.

The full report from ELEFA can be found online at ele4a.org/minneapolis-reports/ .