Legalectric

Back in 2015, after too many police shootings and killings, and too many reports of police misconduct, the Department of Justice was brought in to evaluate the Minneapolis Police Department. Police misconduct is again the subject of a lot of discussions, bytes, photos, videos, meetings, and this DoJ report from 5 years ago has come up frequently. Here it is so that it’s easily found:

What did they look at?

And the bottom line? The recommendations:

So that was 2015. What’s happened since then? Chief Arradondo was questioned about this at a press conference shortly after the murder of George Floyd. His response was essentially that yes, there has been some progress, some work on the recommendations, but not all have been implemented. When asked for specifics, he didn’t address the question. So the real bottom line is that there’s a lot of work to do and they’re behind and need to do some catch up. Some are saying that Arradondo hasn’t been chief for all that long, but it’s been three years since he was appointed, and he needs to get to it, particularly now.

I’d guess that these recommendations could be applicable to any police department. Which cities, which police departments, are going to do the work?

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, the Charter Commission and City Council are ramming something through to be put on the ballot next election, and it’s my understanding that they did something similar in 2018 (nevermind they didn’t get it together to get the requisite vote on the U.S. Bank Stadium on the ballot, SHAME!). When I find the resolution and whatever else is before their Charter Commission and Council, I’ll post it.

The Dept. of Justice’s report on its investigation of the Chicago Police Department practices is out, and the DoJ’s press release notes that its findings, linked below, include:

The Justice Department announced today that it has found reasonable cause to believe that the Chicago Police Department (CPD) engages in a pattern or practice of using force, including deadly force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution. The department found that CPD officers’ practices unnecessarily endanger themselves and result in unnecessary and avoidable uses of force. The pattern or practice results from systemic deficiencies in training and accountability, including the failure to train officers in de-escalation and the failure to conduct meaningful investigations of uses of force.

A consent decree is in the works.  We’ll see if that helps.

Primary documents:

• Chicago Police Department Findings
• Chicago Agreement in Principle
• Chicago Police Department Findings Fact Sheet
• Pattern or Practice Accomplishments Document

These are must reads for a cold winter day.

The Dept. of Justice released its “Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department” and Ferguson’s Police Chief Thomas Jackson resigned shortly thereafter, and then during a protest near the police station, to officers were shot, apparently from a very long distance away, fortunately not seriously injured and released from the hospital the following day.  There’ve been no arrests yet.  What a morass of death and upheaval…

Here’s the report, it’s a doozy, a report that should be read by anyone who has an opinion about this morass, anyone interested in race and class, law, policing, criminal justice.

Dept. of Justice: Investigation of the Ferguson Police Department