Where Minneapolis police reform stands on eve of new contract vote

Four years after George Floyd's murder, Minneapolis has a long way to go to deliver on a promised radical transformation of policing and public safety , although some progress has been made, city officials and community leaders tell Axios.

Why it matters: Minneapolis will soon be under two court orders to implement sweeping reforms.

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• They stem from state and federal investigations that affirmed what some residents had said for decades: Minneapolis Police Department officers routinely used overly excessive force , especially against Black and Native American people.

Driving the news: On July 18, the city council is expected to vote on the latest milestone in the department's overhaul: a new police union contract.

State of play: "We're finally starting to see tangible" evidence of reform, council president Elliott Payne told Axios — like the selection of an independent evaluator to watchdog these efforts.

• "But," he added, "we still have yet to see that real change on the ground."

"Much of the power structure and the role of police in the city has remained quite similar," added University of Minnesota sociologist Michelle Phelps.

• Yet, as she wrote in a detailed history , activists' "defund the police" efforts are still having "reverberating consequences for the city."

What's inside: The new union deal includes a 21.7% salary increase that officials say would make MPD officers among Minnesota's best-paid.

• Commanders would also gain more flexibility over deployment strategies and hiring civilians to investigate crimes — wins for council members who support beefed-up alternatives to policing.

The other side: The proposal has left some council members torn, in part because it makes these staffing flexibilities temporary.

• Key advocacy groups are also concerned the contract is largely silent on areas like MPD's practice of referring officers for "coaching" rather than documentable disciplinary action.

Yes, but: Rejecting the deal likely sends it to binding arbitration, which could put the city's proposed changes at risk.

• Mayor Jacob Frey argues that baking more into the contract could tie the hands of Chief Brian O'Hara — whom the mayor believes is responsible for transforming MPD.

Historic staffing decline

One of the contract's major goals is addressing MPD's attrition crisis.

• The sworn force has shrunk by one-third since 2019 to 563 officers .

Meanwhile, even though overall violent crime reports have eased since a spike in 2020 and 2021, gun violence and homicide rates remain at twice their pre-pandemic levels , and robberies are on the rise.

Data: FBI . Chart: Tory Lysik/Axios Visuals

"I felt like no one understood the urgency of this problem" as these trends came together last winter, Chief O'Hara told Axios in an April interview," and I am responsible."

The intrigue: Even without post-2020 workers' comp claims and plummeting interest in the profession, staffing shortages may have been inevitable.

• Roughly one-quarter of the force will reach retirement age within three years, O'Hara said.

Sgt. Andrew Schroeder investigates homicides and violent crimes for MPD. O'Hara says staffing in the department's investigative branch is roughly half of its normal level. Photo: Kyle Stokes/Axios

Officers who remain , like Sgt. Andrew Schroeder, have been left to shoulder huge workloads — and public scrutiny.

• "I heard a really senior cop tell me the other day, 'I'm just sick of being the bad guy,'" the homicide investigator told Axios during a ride-along in March.

What we're watching: Whether the proposed pay increase can reverse the staffing crisis, as some research suggests it could.

• Many supporters hope it will help recruit more officers like Jamal Mitchell, whose heroism was praised after he was killed in the line of duty .

MPD officers deserve the raise, North Side pastor Jaliliah Abdul-Brown tells Axios — but she also questions whether MPD can rebuild the trust needed to bolster recruitment.

• Though she said she knows many hardworking officers, some "are still racist. Some of them still want to over-police Black and Brown communities."

O'Hara says many officers are stung by this criticism. "The officers who are left here, I believe, by and large, are incredibly dedicated."

What remains from the 2021 campaign

T.O.U.C.H. Outreach founder Moe Abdul-Ahad, who urges city leaders to commit to consistent funding for violence interruption work: "Resources need to be equally invested in with this [public safety] ecosystem." Photo: Kyle Stokes/Axios

In November 2021, Minneapolis voters rejected a ballot measure that could have dismantled MPD in favor of more civilian-led public safety programs.

MPD may not have been "defunded." But since the vote, city funding for police alternatives has still more than doubled to $23 million this year.

Zoom in: The MPD reform settlement requires Minneapolis to continue funding the widely praised Behavioral Crisis Response (BCR) teams of unarmed counselors who respond to some 911 calls.

City Council member LaTrisha Vetaw recently helped a neighbor who was "scared to call the police" get in touch with a BCR counselor during a crisis.

• BCR resolved the situation without incident, proving that "police don't need to show up to everything."

Reality check: The future of other police alternative programs is more uncertain.

T.O.U.C.H. Outreach, for example, deploys teams to break up fights, "interrupt" violent situations, and build relationships.

• Its founder, Moe Abdul-Ahad , says city funding has been inconsistent, cycling off and on between contracts.

Context: Other violence interruption vendors have complained of delayed city payments. A separate lawsuit argues the city illegally awarded some contracts .

• Council President Payne supports these alternatives but attributes some of the "complexities" to staff turnover, reorganization in City Hall, and contracting process issues.

"It's not just police, then us ; it's police and us," said Abdul-Brown, who runs a violence intervention and food shelf program that has also received city funding.

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