Mpd150 - a 150 year performance review of the minneapolis police department
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a 150 year performance review
of the minneapolis police
department
mpd150
TOTHOSEWHO'VE LEDTHEWAY The initiative that we have named MPD150 stands on the shoulders of the activists and organizers, community organizations and street protesters, whistleblowers, families of loved ones lost to police violence and the numerous others who have led the fight for truly safe communities in the past and still today. Their contributions over the years have made this undertaking possible. For this we honor them. MPD150 is an independent association of organizers, activists, researchers, and artists that came together in the spring of 2016 in anticipation of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD)'s 150th anniversary. We are not the project of any organization, although we recognize the contributions many of them have made over the years. Some of them have shared leads and material for this report. Enough is Enough is one component of a multi- faceted effort that includes public art, educational activities, political action, cultural activism, and more. We hope to inspire and support new community initiatives that contribute to a shared vision of a police-free future. TABLEOF CONTENTS 1: Intro ......................................... 3 2: Where We've Been.................... 4 3: Where We're At ........................ 14 4: Where We're Going .................. 25 5: Findings ................................... 33 6: Credits ..................................... 35
M PD 150
Enough is Enough!
Enough is Enough! That is both the The US police system, we contend, is not outlines of the police-free communities
conclusion and the title of this report, reformable. Efforts to reform it - aimed of the future. We have no shortage of
a 150-year performance review of at addressing recruitment, training, ancient cultural traditions, innovative
the Minneapolis Police Department discipline, oversight and transparency social programs, and community
(MPD). The report is the product of - are quickly and effectively neutralized resilience strategies from which to draw.
an investigation into the conduct of by the organized opposition of police
the department over the fifteen decades departments and their unions and The transition to a resilience-based
since its founding in 1867; a survey of professional associations. In fact, these Minneapolis will not come overnight.
its current role and impact especially cycles of reform - looking remarkably It will require a succession of steps that
on marginalized communities; and an the same from one decade to the next - starts with limiting the harm caused
exploration of viable alternatives to serve to temporarily pacify resistance daily by police power, and beginning
the policing model. The purpose of this from victimized communities without the orderly transfer of resources from
report is to take the idea of police-free altering police business as usual. They the police to projects, programs,
communities out of the realm of fantasy also reassure white communities, who and grassroots initiatives that meet
and place it firmly in the public agenda are spared the mistreatment directed people's emergency and long-term
as a practical necessity. at their darker-skinned neighbors and needs. Neighborhoods with good jobs,
often turn to the police for security. In affordable homes, healthy food, and
Our analysis locates the roots of police the short term, reigning in police abuse green places to play produce less conflict
brutality, corruption and racism in its by demanding reforms can provide only and fewer mental health crises than ones
history and founding mission. This is limited relief. that feature empty lots, under-funded
where our attention should be directed, schools, and starvation wages. Like
not at frivolous arguments such as Part two speaks of the present. It features any process of change, the transitional
whether "all cops are bad." The presence interviews by MPD150's interview team period will raise new questions and pose
of officers with good intentions, recruits and by partner organizations. We share new problems. It will, naturally, meet
who join the force to make things better the reflections of professionals (in areas with concerted resistance. The solutions
or even reform-minded chiefs does not such as mental health, domestic and that result, however, will be designed
actually alter the oppressive behavior of sexual violence, emergency response, to help all our communities thrive, not
police agencies. and homelessness) whose work is contain and divide them.
impacted by the police. They report
The report is organized according to the that the militarized, combative presence The material presented here turns the
three areas of focus that have guided of police is not the medicine needed in common wisdom on its head. The idea
its preparation: the past, the present, our traumatized communities. Even the of a police-free future is neither naive
and the future . This outline is followed, social service functions absorbed into nor unrealistic. It is the only pragmatic
both in the printed version and on the police system over the years would solution to the challenge of a police
MPD150's website, with the addition of be better-served by removing them from system rooted in the era of slavery and
case studies, community interviews, and department control. We also hear from Indian removal which has defeated every
alternative resources. community members who contend with reform effort thrown at it. To believe
police intervention in their daily lives. that we are just one or two reforms away
The first section will establish that the The constant reality of intimidation, from turning the police into a trusted
MPD, far from being an agent of "public harassment and bullying are the wide partner of the very communities it has
safety" or even "law enforcement," has base of the police misconduct iceberg of treated like enemies to be conquered
always acted as the enforcement arm of which murder by police is just the tip . for a century and a half... that is the
the economic and political elite. Like its ultimate in magical thinking!
fellow departments around the country, In the third section, we turn to face
it is at the front end of a system of mass the future. What might it look like if It is time for Minneapolis to look this
incarceration that devours black, brown we addressed our communities' needs problem in the face and begin a new,
and indigenous peoples, stripping them as neighbors and creative problem more courageous, conversation about
of voting rights, job prospects and solvers instead of relying on force and our future, a conversation that includes
dignity, keeping wages low and people imprisonment? Here we draw on the possibilities that the police, media
divided. insights from our interviews, the promise pundits, and corporate lobbyists tell
of existing alternatives, and examples us are out of bounds. This report is a
from other places to begin sketching the contribution to that discussion.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 150 YEARS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE
Where We've Been:
A People's History of the Minneapolis Police Department
INTRODUCTION particularly illustrative stories from rebellious commumt1es in occupied
MPD's history. These pieces served as the Ireland. From their very beginnings
The Minneapolis Police Department basis for the incomplete history we're in London, police departments were
(MPD) was established in 1867, going to tell here. If you're interested rooted in colonialism and the protection
150 years ago. On the department's in learning more about a particular of property - policing's origins in the
website, they describe their mission incident in this section, and it has a ill United States, though, are even darker.
as "to protect with courage, to serve next to it, that means there's a longer
with compassion." Unfortunately, they piece about it, including citations, on Though the 13 colonies imported a
have failed in that mission many times the timeline section of our website: system of elected sheriffs and constables,
over the last century and a half: even a www.mpd150.com. who were empowered to enforce some
cursory look at MPD's history reveals laws, formalized American policing
patterns of brutality, systemic racism, One more note: the past cannot be really began with slave patrols. Made
and failed reform. changed. The weight of the tragedy that up of local militias and slaveowners
the Minneapolis Police Department who patrolled the countryside stopping
In this section of the report, we will has caused can't be dismissed. But Black people and forcing escaped
examine that history from its beginning, that doesn't mean there's not hope: slaves back into bondage, slave patrols
starting with the origins of the concept in our present and future sections, enforced white supremacy from some
of policing itself. We'll look at the first we'll be discussing the current state of of the earliest days of the European
fifty years of the Minneapolis Police community safety in Minneapolis and occupation of the Americas. These
Department, and the department's early how we can strengthen it by building patrols (and their Northern equivalents,
history as a corrupt political tool. Then real alternatives to the police. It's town watches) were empowered to
we'll move into the middle years, 1918 up to us to build a way to keep our enforce cur£ews against Black and
- 1967, and MPD's increasing violence communities vibrant and healthy. But to Native folks, search and confiscate
towards Black and Native communities, imagine where we're going requires an their property, and brutalize them, with
immigrants, union members, and other understanding of where we've been. So or without cause. 2 These groups were
marginalized groups. Finally, we'll look let's get started. gradually granted additional powers
at the most recent fifty years - a time of and jurisdiction, eventually evolving
disgrace, militarization, and countless UNDEVELOPED: directly into modern police departments.
failed reforms at the Minneapolis Police One example of this can be seen in
THEORIGINS
OFPOLICING Charleston, South Carolina, where
Department.
a town watch created in 1671 for the
We often talk about police as if they've explicit purpose of keeping Native and
There are too many stories for us to tell. existed for all of human history, when
So much of the story of the Minneapolis Black people in line eventually turned
in reality they're a relatively recent into the city's first police department. 3
Police Department exists not in invention. The first modern police force
newspaper clippings and city council in the world was established in England
records, but in the lived experiences The City of Minneapolis wasn't formally
in the 19th century - before that, established until 1867. Its first leader
of our communities. We can't possibly communities were largely kept safe by
provide a full accounting of the practically begged for a police force
informal institutions. In 1829, growing to oversee, saying "a mayor without
harassment and brutality at the hands of levels of property crime caused by
the police - too many people have been a police force to appoint and regulate
urbanization and the creation of urban would hardly feel that he was Mayor." 4
intimidated into silence or killed for us poverty led to the creation of a police
to tell every story. Even if we could write The city council agreed, and on March
force in London - the Metropolitan 9th, 1867, the first four officers were
a comprehensive history of misconduct Police Department. 1 Home Secretary
in the department, it would be too long appointed to the Minneapolis Police
Robert Peel was the creator of the Department.
and too depressing for anyone to read. department, and based it on the model
of the Royal Irish Constabulary, a It's important to note the historical
But we did our best: over the past year "peacekeeping" force designed to
and a half, we've written a collection context here: the Minneapolis Police
maintain British rule and control Department was established less than
of more than twenty short pieces on
1 Kr~s~an W~ll!ams,Our Enem!es in Blue: Police and Power in America (Baltimore: AK Press, 2015) , 59.
2 Knsnan W,lhams, Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America (Baltimore: AK Press 2015) 74.
3 Ibid. 75 - 77 . ' '
Ibid.
4 4
MPD 150
thirty years after Dred Scott and his ratified in 1865, had prohibited chattel The department continued developing
wife Harriet were held a slaves at slavery, it had allowed for involuntary into the 20th century: in 1902, five police
Fort Snelling,5 only five years after the servitude "as a punishment for crime," 10 precincts were established, and in 1909,
hanging of 38 Dakota men at the hands and the city made huge profits out of the department bought its first paddy
of the U.S. government following the that loophole. The city forced inmates to wagon, which helped the department
U.S. Dakota War of 1862, only two do a variety of work, including farming, round up "undesirables" under the
years after the end of the Civil War. making clothing, and working in the city state's recently passed vagrancy laws. 15
quarry. In the first four years alone, the
Perhaps, given the department's city made almost $9,000 ($244,000 in At the turn of the century, MPD often
beginnings, the history that was to 2017 dollars) from inmate labor.11Early used its increasing power on behalf of
follow was predictable. Minneapolis had even more brutal ways the Citizen's Alliance, a far right group
of dealing with crime, too: the city's first of powerful businessmen established in
UNPROFESSIONAL: hanging was held in 1882. 12 1903. The Citizens' Alliance used MPD
to harass, infiltrate, and attack labor
MPD,1867- 1917 By 1889, the police force had grown to groups, preventing them from building
169 uniformed officers patrolling a city political power and organizing unions. 16
In its early years, the Minneapolis Police of 200,000 people. 13 That year, tensions The 1889 streetcar strike had provided
Department grew rapidly, with each between industrialist Thomas Lowry one example of how to use violence
new mayor appointing more officers to and streetcar workers erupted into a to force workers into obedience,
the police force as the city population massive fifteen day strike, with strikers and the 1909 Machinists' Strike
skyrocketed. At the time, mayors were and strikebreakers brawling for control provided another: police protected
elected annually, and often the entire of the streets. The Minneapolis Police strikebreakers as they crossed picket
police department would change every Department came down hard on the lines, and helped to crush the strike
year as the new mayor fired their strikers, arresting dozens and helping without any compromise on behalf
political opponents and appointed their Lowry break the strike while avoiding of employers.17 Despite their frequent
friends, family, and political supporters offering any concessions to his workers. mobilization against labor organizers,
to police jobs, 6 a common practice Minneapolis police officers established
across the country at the time. 7 These By 1900, Doctor A. A. Ames had been their own union, the Police Officers
early police were completely untrained, elected to his fourth term as mayor of Federation of Minneapolis, in 1916, 18
didn't wear uniforms, and drank on duty Minneapolis. Unlike in his first three and were eventually welcomed into the
so often that in 1875, the city council terms, this time Ames decided to use his American Federation of Labor. 19As the
ordered the mayor to prohibit police political power for personal gain. He Minneapolis Police Department drew
from entering saloons while on duty appointed his brother, Fred Ames, to be close to its 50 year anniversary in 1917,
except for when they were conducting the chief of police, and quickly turned the department numbered more than
official business. 8 Often the laws that the Minneapolis Police Department 300 officers, without training, exerting
were enforced changed from year to into one of the most effective tools for power and control over a city of more
year as well, particularly those around corruption in the city. Under Ames, MPD than 300,000 residents. 20 ,21 MPD had
sex work: although brothels were mostly officers committed graft, extortion, and made the city a lot of money, shut down
allowed to operate without too much burglaries, finally being stopped by a several massive strikes, and been deeply
trouble, the first fines were imposed group of civilian activists in 1902. MPD implicated in the corrupt administration
upon "the women of the town" in 1878. wasn't the only bad department at the of Mayor Ames. If anything, the next
In the first year alone, the city collected time - many early police departments fifty years would be even worse.
$34 70 in fines from sex workers (more were deeply complicit in corrupt political
than $80,000 in 2017 dollars).9 machines 14 - but it did become infamous
across the nation for the boldness of its
The city workhouse was completed in cnmes.
1886. Though the 13th amendment,
5 "Slavery at Fort Snelling (1820s - 1850s) ," Historic Fort Snelling, accessed No vember 03, 2017 , http://www.historicfortsnelling.org/history/slaver y-fort-snelling .
6 Michael Fossum, History of the Minneapolis Police Department, (Minneapolis, Minn .: s.n., 1996) , 1.
7 Kristian Williams, Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America (Baltimore: AK Press, 2015), Chapter 3.
8 Augustine Costello, History of the Fire and Police Departments of Minneapolis (Minneapolis, MN : The Relief Association, 1890), 252.
9 Augustine Costello , History of the Fire and Police Departments of Minneapolis (Minneapolis, MN: The Relief Association , 1890), 261.
10 U.S. Constitution , Amendment XIII
11 Minneapolis Police Department, 1872 - 1973: 101 Years of Service (1973), 8.
12 Ibid. s, 9.
13 Michael Fo ssswn, History of the Minneapolis Police Department, (Minneapolis , Minn.: s.n. , 1996) , 3.
14 Kristian Williams , Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America (Baltimore : AK Press, 2015) , 89 - 100
15 Michael Fossum, History of the Minneapolis Police Department, (Minneapolis, Minn .: s.n., 1996), 4.
16 William Millikan, A Union against Unions: the Minneapolis Citizens Alliance and its Fight against Organized labor, 1903-1947 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001), xxvii.
17 Ibid., 37.
18 "History ," Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis , accessed November 01, 2017, http://www.mpdfederation.com/about-us/history/ .
19 William Millikan, A Union against Unions: the Minneapolis Citizens Alliance and its Fight against Organized labor, 1903-1947 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001 ), 206.
20 Michael Fossum, History of the Minneapolis Police Department, (Minneapolis, Minn .: s.n., 1996), 12.
21 "Minneapolis, Minnesota Population History 1880 - 2016." Minneapolis, Minnesota Population History 11880 - 2016. October 3, 2017. Accessed October 31, 2017. https://www.biggestuscities.
com/city/minneapolis-minnesota.
5
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 150 YEARS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE
UNRESTRAINED: officer tried to shoot a Black man in Department, along with the Hennepin
•,
MP 1917- 1967 the Mill City district after he refused
to "move on," only to be disarmed by
County Sheriff, deputized hundreds
of civilians aligned with the Citizens
the man, who ran from the scene with Alliance and encouraged them to use
The Minneapolis Police Department
the officer's gun. Members of the Black violence against strikers. The deputies
became larger, more sophisticated,
community, notably the Minneapolis were poorly trained and armed, though,
and increasingly brutal as the 1920s
NAACP, mobilized to demand reform and were defeated by the strikers in a
approached. By this time, the Citizens'
of the Minneapolis Police Department. massive battle downtown. This didn't
Alliance was a deeply entrenched
The calls for police accountability were stop MPD from trying to end the strike;
force in Minneapolis politics, and they
largely ignored, and racism in MPD on July 20th, they ambushed a group
continued to use MPD and other law
continued to be a major problem. of seventy strikers, shooting them in
enforcement agencies to push their
the back with shotguns as they ran
anti-union agenda. In 1917, supposedly
The Citizens' Alliance continued away and killing two of them. In the
looking to support troops fighting in
to mold the Minneapolis Police end, the strikers won the right to form
World War I, the Citizen's Alliance
Department into a more effective tool to a union, and the Minneapolis Police
formed their own private army, fully
do their bidding; in the mid 1920s, they Department's streak of successfully
supported by local law enforcement.
waged a public relations war against crushing strikes was broken.
When another streetcar strike broke out
the police union, pressuring officers to
in 1917, the Hennepin County Sheriff's
say whether their loyalties lay with the When the United States entered World
Office quickly deputized the private
American Federation of Labor or the War II in 1941, the Minneapolis Police
army and deployed it onto Minneapolis'
city government. In 1926, the police Department quickly took on the role
streets. With the Citizens' Alliance
union severed their ties once and for of controlling public opinion. Working
troops armed with rifles and bayonets,
all with the national labor movement, a with J. Edgar Hoover and his recently
the strikers didn't stand a chance, and
separation that remains to this day.25 formed Federal Bureau of Investigation,
were quickly defeated. 22
MPD established the Internal Security
The late 1920s led to other changes Division to gather intelligence on the
In other arenas of community control,
in the department as well; the first people of Minneapolis. The ISD's
the Minneapolis Police Department was
MPD training ever was held in 1929, duties included investigating people
much less effective: during prohibition
62 years after the establishment of who might be subversive, confiscating
(1920 - 1933), MPD attempted to arrest
the department. 26 The training was contraband equipment, and resettling
community members for possession of
indicative of a larger trend across the Japanese and German nationals who
alcohol, but was often held back by the
country: professionalization, where were paroled from internment camps.
Minnesota Supreme Court. The Court
police departments worked hard to At one point, anti-immigrant sentiments
refused to uphold convictions of alcohol
establish the idea that they were the led to MPD regularly "checking on"
possession; only those directly involved
foremost experts on crime prevention in over 10,000 "enemy aliens" .28 The fears
in the sale of liquor were punished. 23
the community. 27 At the time the entire that led to this political witch hunt were
police academy consisted of a day or completely unfounded - "enemy aliens"
Meanwhile, a deep and unrelenting
two of lectures - hardly enough to make living in the United States didn't take a
strain of white supremacy was
anyone a professional. single life throughout the whole war.
growing stronger in Minneapolis and
across the state. The Klu Klux Klan
One thing the police were experts at The 1960s led to a host of changes in
established more than fifty chapters
was fighting labor movements, and they the department. From 1960 to 1965,
across Minnesota beginning in 1917,
had another chance to demonstrate MPD hired more than 150 new officers
and a growing Black population in
their skills in the 1930s. In 1934, five and civilian staff, increasing its total size
Minneapolis was subject to racism of
years into the Great Depression, unions to 809 employees. 29 They also created a
many varieties. 24 Police brutality was
were starting to gain a foothold in number of new departments, including a
a constant threat to the Minneapolis
Minneapolis. On May 16th, 1934, narcotics unit and an early form of SWAT
Black community of the 1920s.
thousands of truck drivers went on strike team known as the "Special Operations
as part of the Teamsters union, leading Division." 30 In 1966, they also
On June 20th, 1922, MPD officers
to months of protests, negotiations, established the school liaison program,
savagely beat and arrested four men
and street fighting in Minneapolis. known today as the School Resource
for allegedly inv1tmg some white
In response, the Minneapolis Police Officer program, to "create a favorable
women to a dance. That same day, an
22 William Millikan, A Union against Unions : the Minneapolis Citizens Alliance and its Fight against Organized labor , 1903-1947 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001 ), 125-126
23 Michael Fossum, History of the Minneapolis Police Department , (Minneapolis , Minn. : s.n., 1996), 4.
24 Johnson, Kay. "When the Klan came to Minnesota." Crow River Media, (October 24, 2013) Accessed November 01, 2017. http://www.crowrivermedia.com/hutchinsonleader/news/lifestyle/
when-the-klan-came-to-minnesota/anicle _a08b33 90-cf3d-5 419-afc6-486ac0e634 7 5.html.
25 William Millikan, A Union against Unions: the Minneapolis Citizens Alliance and its Fight against Organized labor, 1903-1947 (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001 ), 206 - 207
26 Minneapolis Police Department, 1872 - 1973: 101 Years of Service (1973), 29.
27 Kristian Williams, Our Enemies in Blue: Police and Power in America (Baltimore: AK Press, 2015), 212.
28 Michael Fossum, History of the Minneapolis Police Department, (Minneapolis, Minn.: s.n., 1996), 5.
29 Ibid., 7.
30 Ibid., 20, 22.
6
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ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 150 YEARS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE
rapport between the juvenile community a lack of meaningful change - would their cars and talk with residents, and
and the police department." 31 Of course, become a constant feature of policing in the Police Resource Team for Education,
the school liaison program ignored the Minneapolis for the next fifty years . an effort to get cops into classrooms to
real problem - in many cases, students talk with students about their work .3435
didn't have a "favorable rapport" with Unreformable:
the police because officers were brutal, Meanwhile cops were working to
unaccountable, and racist . MPD,1967- 2017 undermine the reforms of the late 1960s.
In 1971, Mayor Charles Stenvig, who
Tension between the Black community As the 1960s came to a close, demands had previously served as head of the
and the police was a constant in for police accountability grew louder, police union, revoked the Civil Rights
midcentury Minneapolis. Black people and city officials proposed a set of Commission 's authority to investigate
were systematically excluded from reforms in response . One reform MPD complaints against police officers, once
every part of the city except for the implemented was the "Community again making MPD the only local
north side, denied access to well-paying Relations Division," a public relations agency authorized to investigate MPD. 36
jobs, blocked from homeownership, and effort to improve the department's
routinely attacked by police officers. image in communities of color through Without real accountability, "police-
The Black community's frustration with outreach. 33 community relations" efforts did little
white supremacy came to a head in two to repair the relationship between MPD
riots on Plymouth Avenue: a smaller one Another reform discussion centered and communities of color. In 1974,
in August 1966, and a larger one in July around investigating police misconduct . the Minnesota Advisory Committee to
1967 .32 The first riot was in response Prior to the late 1960s, there was the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
to a number of factors including no formal process for investigating found that MPD was enforcing laws
employment discrimination, but the complaints against police officers, and unfairly in the Native community,
later uprising had one particular cause: the city scrambled to put one together . and in 1975, eleven incidents of
police racism . In the last few years of the decade, police brutality led the Minnesota
MPD created the Internal Affairs Unit Department of Human Rights to begin
In four days in July 1967, police refused to conduct internal investigations, and an investigation of the Minneapolis
to intervene when buses wouldn't the City Council created a Civil Rights Police Department, eventually finding
bring Black people back to the north Commission with the authority to that MPD's recruitment and hiring
side following the Aquatennial parade, investigate civilian complaints about practices were deeply racist. In response
police allowed a white crowd to throw police officers. Both would become to the accusations, the department once
glass bottles at a Black crowd, police notorious for their inability to hold again instituted surface level reforms in
watched on as a group of four white police accountable for brutality and their recruitment and training practices,
boys savagely beat a Black boy, and misconduct. reforms that failed to fix the culture of
police violently threw Black community the department .
members to the ground while breaking Not everyone had faith that the city's
up a fight. The community was fed up, reforms would bear fruit. In 1968, Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, MPD
and on July 19th, 1967, the north side community patrols emerged in Black had a reputation for being one of the
erupted into rioting. The uprising led and Native communities to keep people most homophobic police departments
to a massive police response and the safe, deescalate conflict, and prevent in the country . MPD harassed queer
deployment of the National Guard, with police violence. These programs were people, enforced sodomy laws against
several community members arrested. enormously successful, and their legacies them, failed to protect them from
continue today. homophobic violence, and conducted
In response to the riots, the mayor raids on popular gay bathhouses.37
proposed a number of police reform The Minneapolis Police Department Though the last raid on a bathhouse
initiatives, none of which solved continued its charm offensive into the occurred on February 10th, 1980, police
the underlying problems in the 1970s, instituting more "community harassment of queer folks remained
department . What neither the mayor policing" initiatives based on the idea frequent . In one 1982 example, cops
or the community could know was that relationships between communities showed up at the Saloon gay bar only
that the pattern established by the and the police were bad not because to find a two homophobes attacking
1967 riot - police brutality leads to of police misconduct, but because of two gay men, who were fighting back .
community outrage, leads to protests, miscommunication. The programs Rather than protecting the gay men, the
leads to promises of reform, leads to included the "Model Cities" initiative, cops arrested them and charged them
which encouraged officers to get out of
31 Ibid., 25-26 .
32 Camille Venee, '"T he Way Opportunities Unlimited, Inc.': A Movement for Black Equality in Minneapolis, MN 1966-1970 " (Hono rs Thesis, Emory University, 2013, http ://pid.emory.edu/
ark :/25593/d6v0d)
33 Michael Fossum , Histor y of the Minneapolis Police Departm ent, (Minneapolis, Minn .: s.n. , 1996) . 7.
34 Michael Fossum , History of the Minneapolis Police Department , (Minneapolis , Minn .: s.n. , 1996). 8.
35 Minneapoli s Police Department. 1872 - 1973: 101 Years of Service. 1973. Pg. 26
36 The Police Civilian Review Working Committee, A Model for Civilian Review of Police Conduct in Minneapolis: a report to the Mayor and City Council (Minneapolis, MN, 1989).
37 Anthon y V. Bouza, Police Unbound : Corruption , Abus e, and Heroism by the Boys in Blue, (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2001) Ebook locations 2734-2749.
8
MPD 150
with assault, disorderly conduct, and
resisting arrest.
The 1980s didn't bring an improvement
in the attitude of the Minneapolis Police
Department - if anything, they made it
worst. Upon being appointed police chief
in 1980, Tony Bouza characterized the
department as "damn brutal, a bunch of
thumpers." 38 Bouza was hired as a police
reformer, but even he later recognized
that he had little effect on the culture of
the department, describing himself as a
"failed police executive" and writing in
2017 that he "did affect their actions ...
but changed nothing permanently - look
around you." 39
Michael Quinn was a Minneapolis
police officer from 1975 to 1999, and
has also spoken out about MPD's
departmental culture, telling stories of
officers drinking on the job, committing
burglary, savagely beating sex workers, Photo by Red Power Media
and more. In each of those cases, the
"code of silence" required that officers "In 1968, community patrols (the Soul Patrol,
never report each other's misconduct,
and the officers involved went Black Patrol & AIM patrol) emerged in Black and
unpunished. 40 Quinn faced his share of
derision from officers for violating that Native communities to keep people safe, deescalate
code of silence, including threats from
current police union head Bob Kroll. 41 confiict, and prevent police violence. These pro-
As Tony Bouza put it, "the Mafia
never enforced its code of blood-sworn grams were enonnously successful, and their lega-
omerta with the ferocity, efficacy, and
enthusiasm the police bring to the Blue cies continue today."
Code of Silence."42
the Civil Rights Commission, and was he paid less than the full fare to ride a
ultimately ineffective in holding officers bus. Late that night, a group of youth,
By the end of the 1980s, the devastating furious about the man's treatment,
accountable.
wars on drugs and gang activity had
ambushed and killed Minneapolis
led to increasingly militarized police The newly established Civilian Review Police Officer Jerry Haaf. The police
departments being turned loose on Authority wasn't able to prevent a host union took the opportunity to demand
communities of color. In 1989, this led of tragedies from happening throughout more money for drug enforcement and
to a number of tragedies at the hands
the 1990s as police continued to gang control, organizing rallies accusing
of the Minneapolis Police Department:
brutalize communities of color. In late the police chief, mayor, and city council
the brutal arrest of a group of Black of causing Haaf's death by being soft on
1990, police killed Tycel Nelson, a Black
youth at an Embassy Suites downtown, 17-year-old, while he was running away crime. Meanwhile, the Black community
and the deaths of Black elders Lillian from them, provoking a new round of was being terrorized - the investigation
Weiss and Lloyd Smalley during a into Haaf's murder was swift and
protests and demands for reform. But
botched SWAT raid. The incidents led the relationship between the police and brutal, targeting many community
to a number of protests demanding
the community was about to get even members who had nothing to do with
police accountability, which led to
worse. the shooting.
the creation of the Civilian Review
Authority (CRA) in 1990. The CRA
On September 25th, 1992, Metro Transit The Black community wasn't the only
fared no better than its predecessor police beat an elderly Black man after community of color being attacked by
38 "Drug Enforcement in Minority Communities: The Minneapolis Police Department," Police Executive Research Forwn/Narional Institute of Justice, 1994, p. 7.
39 Tony Bouza,. "America's Police Are Still Out Of Control," Southside Pride (Minneapolis), August 21, 2017.
40 Michael Quinn, Walking with the Devil: the Police Code of Silence- the Promise of Peer Intervention, (S.l.: QUINN & ASSOCIATES, 2017) Ebook locations 64-67.
41 Ibid. Ebook location 60.
42 Anthony V. Bouza, Police Unbound: Corruption, Abuse, and Heroism by the Boys in Blue, (Amherst , NY : Prometheus Books, 2001) Ebook location 157.
9
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 150 YEARS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE
effort to repeal residency requirements
for police officers and other public
employees around the state . The bill
passed, making it illegal for local
governments to require that police
officers live in the city limits.43 That
law is still in force in 2017, and
Representative Stanek has since become
Hennepin County Sheriff Stanek.
In 2003, another round of community
protests erupted after 11 year old Julius
Powell was hit by a wayward police
bullet on the north side. Community
members asked the federal Department
of Justice (DOJ) to intervene, and a
mediator was sent to Minneapolis to
try and resolve the conflict between the
community and the police. The DOJ
helped to broker a landmark agreement
between community members and the
Photo courtesy of the Star Tribune police, creating a group called the Police
Community Relations Council (PCRC)
"The Minneapolis Police Department was built to try and improve police-community
on violence, corruption, and white supremacy. rapport. In addition to creating the
PCRC, the agreement also required that
Every attempt ever made to reform it or hold it the police chief institute over a hundred
reforms in the department. The PCRC
accountable has been soundly defeated." or "It's was gradually undermined by the city
and forced to disband against their
time for us to face the reality - if we want to build will in 2008. At the time of the PCRC's
dissolution, more than forty of the
a city where every community can thrive, it will promised reforms remained incomplete.
have to be a city without the Minneapolis Police Even while the PCRC was active, there
were a number of horrifying incidents
Department." of racism by MPD against Minneapolis
MPD in the early 90s - brutality against assault for forcing a woman to perform residents . In 2006, MPD officers beat a
Native people was also frequent and oral sex on him to avoid a traffic ticket. Native-Latino man and locked him in
horrifying. In one case, two passed out Parent was eventually convicted in 1995, a swelteringly hot squad car for more
Native men were taken on a "rough the first MPD officer to get sentenced to than half an hour. Less than two months
ride" in a squad car's trunk in 1993, and prison in over twenty years. later, Minneapolis police officers shot
in another case the same year, police and killed 19-year-old Fong Lee after
officers working on a case at the Little In 1998, a group of protestors known chasing him down outside of a school.
Earth community shot a 16-year-old as the Minnehaha Free State attempted The officers maintained that Lee had
playing with a toy gun. Another case at to stop a proposed reroute of Highway been carrying a gun and posed a threat
Little Earth in 1994 led to community 55 that would destroy a site sacred to to officers, but evidence suggested that
outrage when two MPD officers the Dakota people. Their camp was the gun was actually planted by MPD
kidnapped an East African man and raided by more than 800 officers, many officers.
tried to extort $300 from him. of them from the Minneapolis Police
Department. At the time, it was the 2007 proved that even some police
Misogyny was also a major problem largest law enforcement action in state knew the department had serious
in the Minneapolis Police Department. history. problems with racism: that year, five
In September 1994, Officer Michael Black police officers, including current
Ray Parent was charged with felony The next year, Minnesota State MPD Chief Medaria Arradondo, sued
kidnapping and third-degree sexual Representative Rich Stanek led an the department for racial discrimination,
43 Rich Stanek, "Stanek Residency Freedom Bill becomes Law," Representative Rich Stanek Press Release. Accessed March 15, 1999. http://www.house.leg.state.rnn.us/GOP/goppress/
Stanek/0309rsresidency .htm .
10MPD 150
demanding departmental reforms and Civil Rights Department. Heights Police Department, prompting
hundreds of thousands of dollars. The an occupation of the street outside the
city ended up settling the lawsuit for $2 In 2013, the Minneapolis Police Governor's Mansion .
million - and no reform requirements. Department killed two people in one
afternoon: Terrence Franklin was MPD's legacy of corruption, brutality,
In December 2007 , the police department cornered and shot to death in a South and murder continues in 2017. Earlier
showed their reckless disregard for the Minneapolis basement, and Ivan this year, a Minneapolis Police Officer
lives of north side residents again when Romero was killed less than an hour shot and killed Justine Damond, an
officers mistakenly executed a "no later when a squad car ran a red light unarmed Australian woman, after she
knock" raid on the house of an innocent and hit his motorcycle. called 911 to report noises outside her
Hmong family. Three police officers home. The officers were wearing body
were nearly killed when the father shot Meanwhile, MPD was undergoing a cameras, but the cameras hadn't been
them with a shotgun, assuming they public relations makeover : Mayor activated, and so the only accounts of
were burglars. Luckily, no one was Betsy Hodges and Police Chief Janee the shooting were those of the police
seriously injured . Harteau created yet another civilian officers. Mayor Hodges demanded the
oversight group, the Police Conduct resignation of Police Chief Harteau
Another major scandal around police Oversight Commission (PCOC), and following the shooting, promoting
conduct came to light in 2009 when it instituted a program called MPD 2.0 Medaria Arradondo to become the first
was revealed that an interdepartmental calling for officers to treat community Black police chief in the department's
unit called the Metro Gang Strike members exactly like they would treat history.
Force had been surveilling, brutalizing , members of their family.44 Like so many
and stealing from people of color in before them, these reforms did little to But the history of policing in
Minneapolis . The unit was disbanded transform the department: the PCOC's Minneapolis and across the country
in the chaos, but none of the officers recommendations are largely ignored to has taught us that it doesn 't matter
involved, many of whom worked for this day. who the chief is, or even who runs the
MPD, were held accountable for their city: the police can't be controlled. The
cnmes. 2014 saw one of the strangest moments Minneapolis Police Department was
in the history of the department. That built on violence, corruption, and white
The 2010s brought new tragedies: year, Mayor Hodges was pushing for supremacy. Every attempt ever made to
unarmed 28-year-old David Smith was body cameras on officers as a solution reform it or hold it accountable has been
killed by police in September 2010 to police misconduct, a plan that the soundly defeated . The culture of silence
while having a troubling mental health police union hated . In an attempt to and complicity in the department,
episode. In November 2010, Jason discredit her politically, they fed a story along with the formidable political
Yang was found dead under suspicious to local news station KSTP that she had power wielded by the police union, will
circumstances following a chase with been caught throwing gang signs in continue to preserve the status quo as
police officers. In 2011, MPD officers a photo with a community activist. In long as we keep placing our faith in the
helped convict Cece McDonald of reality, the photo just showed the two reforms that have failed us for the last
manslaughter after she was attacked by pointing at each other. The story went 150 years. It's time for us to face the
a transphobic white supremacist and viral, and millions around the country reality - if we want to build a city where
killed him in self defense. got a good laugh out of the absurdity every community can thrive, it will have
of the claims. But once again, the police to be a city without the Minneapolis
union had reminded an elected official Police Department.
With incidents of brutality a near of their considerable political power.
constant in Minneapolis, the police
union decided there was only one thing In 2015, Minneapolis police officers
to be done: destroy the Civilian Review shot and killed Jamar Clark, an
Authority . In 2012, they went to the unarmed Black man, while responding
state legislature and lobbied successfully to a 911 call in north Minneapolis .
for the passage of a bill prohibiting In response, hundreds of community
Civilian Review Boards from issuing members occupied Plymouth Avenue
statements on whether officers had outside the Fourth Precinct for 18 days,
committed misconduct, effectively demanding the release of video footage
taking away the limited power they had. of the incident and the prosecution
In response, the City Council moved of the officers involved. Massive
to creat e the Office of Police Conduct mobilizations against police racism
Review (OPCR), an equally ineffective continued into 2016 when Philando
police review agency based in the city's Castile was murdered by the Falcon
44 Minneapolis Police Department , MPD 2.0: A New Policing Mod el (Minneapolis, MN, 2015 ).
11THEIDEAOFA POLICE-FREE
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MAGICALTHINKING!ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 150 YEARS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE
Where We're At:
A Community Report on the Minneapolis Police
Department of 2017
This section reviews the present state of the barrel of cops. Today, Minneapolis in Minneapolis - we're one of six cities
policing and interviews from community Police Department vehicles deceptively participating in the DOJ's National
members on how the Minneapolis display the words, "to serve with Initiative of Building Community Trust
Police Department functions in people's courage, to protect with compassion." and Justice. MPD is currently in its third
lives today. When it comes to police That slogan actually came from the year of the three-year, $4.75 million
brutality, the typical response from marketing company Kazoo when they project. This is just one in a long line of
politicians across the spectrum in were hired in 2009 to help clean up reform programs marketed to, "increase
Minneapolis is a demand for more cops. the image of the Minneapolis Police trust between communities and the
Many conservatives call for the hiring Department. The director for the MPD criminal justice system" 3
of more cops, while many liberals and marketing account, Tom DuPont stated,
progressives demand different kinds "Kazoo set out to create recruitment These efforts have done little to stop
of reforms. Neither of these responses materials that emphasized service. But police brutality. 2016 saw an all-time
address police terror at its roots, nor when the rank-and-file got wind of high in deaths caused by police
do they address the systemic economic, the new emphasis on 'compassion,' a shootings according to the Minnesota
social and racial injustice that commonly fairly rough pushback ensued." 1 As an Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. The
brings marginalized people into contact alternative, Kazoo created the line "Be crime index hit a historic low in 2016
with MPD. While mitigating the harm looked up to,''which was added to posters that hasn't happened since 1966, and
MPD causes is worthwhile, community that were subsequently distributed in even in densely populated urban areas
interviews show us the dangers of target-market communities via schools, the violent crime rates by community
pushing the false narrative that MPD churches, community centers, and more. members have been steadily declining
is capable of being reformed. Reform as violent crime committed by MPD
by any name boils down to more cops- This is a good example of how the continues to rise.4•5 It's clear that
community oriented policing services. system protects itself - when confronted community oriented policing services
with evidence of police terror, the aren't the answer we need.
The data, as well as the personal and government responds with public
professional day-to-day experiences of relations campaigns. One example of Even the most helpful statistics fail
Minneapolis residents shows us that the police image management can be seen to fully explain the harm and trauma
idea of community policing is just more in the Department of Justice's COPS that the police cause marginalized
lip-service from the establishment. (Community Oriented Police Services) commumt1es on a daily basis. Instead
program, presented in six pillars. These of trying to speak for the community,
It is not uncommon for people to pillars represent the typical public we've decided to let the community
respond to the latest police brutality or relations style responses used time and speak for itself.
fatality such as the homicides by MPD time again to pacify outcries from the
of Terrance Franklin, Fong Lee, Jamar community regarding police brutality
Clark, Justine Damond, and countless around the country. One of these pillars
others with words like, "but the police is community policing. According to the
are supposed to protect and serve!" Let's official US Department of Justice COPS
take a closer look at the myth that police website, "since 1994, the COPS Office
are here to protect and serve everyone has invested more than $14 billion to
and that police violence is simply the "help advance community policing." 2
product of a few bad apples that spoil Some of this money has been invested
Mullman ., Jeremy. "Minneapolis Police Turn to Branding to Burnish Reputation." Ad Age. February 19, 2009. Accessed November 14, 2017. http://adage.com/article/news/minneapolis-po-
lice-turn-branding-burnish-reputation/134748/.
2 COPS Office: About COPS. Accessed November 14,2017. https://cops.usdoj.gov/Default.asp?ltem=35.
3 National Initiative for Building Community Trust & Justice . "Minneapolis, Minnesota." Minneapolis, Minnesota. Accessed November 14 , 2017 . https://trustandjusrice.org/pilot-sites/info/minne-
apolis-minnesota.
4 Gottfried, Mara H., and Josh Verges. "Minnesota shooting deaths by police highest ever recorded. Dangerous year for cops , too." Twin Cities. November 25, 2016. Accessed November 14, 2017.
http://www.twincities .com/2016/11/25/minnesota-shooring-deaths-by-police-highest-ever-recorded-dangerous-year-for-cops-too/.
5 Mannix, Andy. "Minnesota crime drops to the lowest rate since The Beatles were bigger than Jesus." MinnPost. July 2, 2015 . Accessed November 14 , 2017 . https://www.minnpost .com/
data/2015/07/minnesota-crime-drops-lowest-rate-beades-were-bigger-jesus.
14MPD150
The Interviews
Over the last year and a half, MPD150 and community partners have interviewed hundreds of
community members about their interactions with the Minneapolis Police Department. These interviews
were done with two groups of people: those likely to come in contact with police via their profession
- whether employed through Hennepin county, the city of Minneapolis, or nonprofit and grassroots
organizations - and those likely to come in contact with the police due to their skin color, social, or
economic status. We've included parts of these interviews below, and we invite you to read through
them, remembering that there is a human story behind every single one.
For the sake of privacy and security, the names of interviewees and identifying information about
employers have been changed or omitted. For more community quotes, full interviews, and information
about the interview process. we invite you to visit www.mpd150.com.
MPDFUNCTIONSTODAYAS not necessarily get all of the calls coming helpful. There is a lot of mistrust with
in from Domestic Violence (DV). The the community and the police. The
A FORCE
THATDOESNOT police do not contact us everytime. relationship is strained and there is a lot
PROTECTORSERVE
: When we do get calls from officers, they of uncertainty with making police calls."
don't always understand the nuances
MPDCRIMINALIZES
THECOMMUNITY
within DV. A huge piece of DV is
isolation. It was good that they asked "Well, twice during a meal, they came
"The police presence is all over. We
a question. Often there are officers that downstairs. Yeah. And that just creates
have so much surveillance inside and
genuinely care, and when I hear that I chaos. It's really hard to deal with
outside of the shelter. We have police
feel good that there is an officer that gets when it happens. Cause, like, it makes
officers stationed. Your right to privacy
it, but many are just doing it as part of everybody feel uneasy. And it actually
is voided. Everything is set up like a
their duty. The way the system is set up makes people scatter. Like, people
prison. People already feel 'criminalized'
is that most of the time we connect with actually leave the space. I mean people
and like they are being watched even
our clients through the police. They are will actually physically scatter. Like
if they have not committed a crime.
the first point of contact." they will leave the building, they will go
People would be more humanized if this
outdoors, they don't ever go in or out.
presence was voided."
"I've always wanted to provide a Like, um, folks will hide. And they'll
service to the community, growing up leave. And then, when you're trying to
"There is not always an understanding
in the Native American community, create community, it's heartbreaking.
from officers of the financial reasons,
I felt like it was my duty to give back And then, we'll be quiet that whole
children involved, love and affection,
to the community. I wanted to be a week, cause people just don't show up.
and investment involved. Lots of police
resource to someone and help prevent Cause the words gets out real quick that
do not understand why a victim would
and intervene when there were issues the cops were there on Monday, and
stay with their abuser. They often get
because the violence flows down to everyone assumes they're looking for
tired of going back to the same house
their children. Someone is stationed at them, even though they actually are not.
multiple times. It's really disheartening
the police station to answer calls and to A lot of my folks do have outstanding
from someone who is supposed to be
follow up on cases. It is not their area of warrants and stuff like that. But even
your partner and out there to serve
expertise so having advocates available the folks who don't, scatter. And they
the community and they have such a
to provide insight or assistance is very don't feel safe. And folks who are
harmful attitude. On our hotline we do
15ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! 150 YEARS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS POLICE
former felons, and folks who are still on going through the motions, getting the daughter got into this situation [... ]'
paper, and they just don't .. .if the police bullet points, collecting the reports ." 'Cause he has kids, right? Father figure.
are in that space, especially if they're in I was so proud of her, she's like 'Well I'm
uniform, and they're .. .it's no longer a "What we see is that homeless youth ... not your fucking daughter? Right? Am
safe space for them ." we see that the white kids get funneled I? No? I need help. Quit scolding me and
into mental health facilities and POC get the information.'[ ...] So, you know, I
"Queer and trans youth with whom we kids get funneled into the criminal haven 't heard from him since, I see him
work, especially queer trans youth of justice system which sets them up to every once in awhile, but, man. If I could
color have said time and time again that have a record which makes it very just sit him down for a few hours and
where they experience the most violence difficult for them to get a job." let him know what he's doing wrong in
is with the police." a way that's professional, I wish. I wish.
"I had a client who had been raped at But he's not forced to do that for me, or
"A lot of the time they're [the police] just the Metro Transit station, she was lured for anyone else.''
staying in their cars and just getting out into a parking garage and raped. So she
when something bad happens . Literally was really proactive [...] So her reaction "It's like what was y'all doing? If y'all
doing no prevention of any kind, and was 'Okay, I'mma go to the police, are so present, why aren't y'all really
if the community felt like they actually I'mma make a police report, I'mma go present? They're all out here, but what
cared about the safety of the community to the emergency room, get checked are y'all really doing? Like I said, it
and not just, like bad guys vs. good guys, out, and then I'm gonna go make an makes people look at police like, "Why
whatever dynamic ends up happening, I appointment with my therapist.' She are y'all here if y'all not going to really
think that it would impact crime rates had, like, she knew what she needed serve or protect how y'all are supposed
completely. But the way that they often to do [...] And I took her to the police to? Serving and protecting, it shouldn't
do it, and the way that the system is set station to make a police report. And the be something that's optional."
up, is like fear tactics, patrolling from officer who was there, that just happened
their cars with their tinted windows to be his beat. He was familiar- that's "There are a lot of male clients coming
and we're already afraid of shit going his route, this parking garage is on his in that feel like they wouldn't be believed
down in the neighborhood ...they're not route . He's familiar with that area. So by the police that they are being abused
making it safer, they're making it worse, he was coming from a place of 'We're because they should be this strong black
you know?" gonna get this guy,' he wanted to help man or that they might be viewed as the
her, it was good, but he was [...] almost aggressor.''
"I don't use that world as a resource parental about it. He was like 'Well, why
for support or safety. Only use as a were you there so late at night?' Yeah, "The police do not treat men or gender
last resort. Maybe I have called [the he didn't say 'What were you wearing,' nonconforming people in the same way
police] twice in 25 years. I work with which is the classic line, but he said (as they treat women). When they do
an organization where we do have to EVERYTHING else. 'Why were you call police, it sometimes takes two hours
partner with the police. The kids we there so late at night? Why didn't you for the police to arrive after a domestic
work with feel the most unsafe with the have a friend? Why are you taking the violence call is made. By the time the
police. Hosts also know that most of the bus to work so early in the morning? police do come the perpetrator might be
young people do not want to interface Why don't you take an UBER?'[ ...] I gone and it's really hard on the victim
with the police." had to keep telling him, I had to keep and it discourages them to call. It is not
bringing him back, he's like 'Well why always effective."
"Feeling like the police are not really did you do this, why did you do this,'
helpful. We often have to use the police instead of saying 'Where did you get "When a victim acts in self-defense,
to take someone to the hospital for raped, what time, what did the person often the victim will get arrested. It's
mental health etc. It feels more like a taxi look like, what did he do after,' that often difficult for the police to pinpoint
ride versus a service. It's often written kinda interview. He was focused just, the primary aggressor especially in same
all over their body language that they like, entirely on her behavior, not on this sex relationships.''
don't want to be here, it's not a priority person . So I felt like I was running the
for them, it's written all over their body interview. And this guy was in his fifties. I
language which is why it's better to call was like 'Dude, how long have you been
someone who is trained to look at the doing this for? I just happened to sit in
situation for what it is. This is a person on your making a report for a sexual
having a mental health crisis, the proper assault, and you are doing it all wrong.'
response is to address the person's He was like 'Well I've had training, and
mental health. They are not trying to see I know where you're coming from, and
the truth of what is happening, they are I'm not trying to yell at you, but if my
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