Minneapolis police continued to use excessive force and commit racial discrimination following the killing of George Floyd by one of their officers, according to an official report released Friday.
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Law enforcement agencies in this northern U.S. city “frequently use excessive force,” including deadly force, and “unlawfully discriminate against black and Native American people,” the Justice Department wrote in a damning investigative report.
“It is to the credit of the police and city government that significant changes have been made since the tragedy,” but “much work remains to be done,” Justice Secretary Merrick Garland said at a news conference.
The report contains 28 recommendations, and local and state authorities will now negotiate a reform plan, the implementation of which is subject to court oversight, he said from Minneapolis.
Democratic President Joe Biden, who promised during the campaign to reform the police force without achieving it, called the report “disturbing”. He again urged Congress to legislate, but without a chance to be heard.
On May 25, 2020, white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin suffocated black man George Floyd, in his mid-forties, by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes. His agony, filmed by a passerby and posted online, sparked major protests across the United States.
Nearly a year later, the Justice Department launched an investigation to determine whether there was a structural problem with the police force in this city of 425,000, one of the most unequal states in the United States, beyond individual acts. -United States.
“Punish”
For two years, investigators pored over reports of incidents between 2016 and 2022, examining police camera footage and listening to thousands of witnesses. And their conclusions, summarized in an 89-page document, are final.
“Many police officers carry out their difficult tasks with professionalism, courage and respect. Still, our investigation concluded that systemic issues made what happened to George Floyd possible.
“For years, the Minneapolis Police Department has used dangerous techniques and weapons against individuals who have committed little or no crime,” they note, specifically referring to the now-banned choke wrenches.
They also note that officers sometimes use their service weapons in moving vehicles for no reason or in a dangerous manner.
They “use violence to punish people who anger or criticize them,” the report’s authors further claim, and deplore the use of tear gas or rubber bullets against protesters or journalists.
“Cowboys”
Additionally, they “patrol the neighborhoods in different ways based on their ethnic makeup,” with “cowboys” volunteering to go into the predominantly African-American neighborhood.
“Minneapolis officers screen black and Native American people six times more often than white people,” Merrick Garland said, with no arrests made.
According to the report, since the death of George Floyd, officials have often failed to identify the ethnicity of suspects in their reports, “making discrimination more difficult to uncover and address.”
Finally, the authors regret that the police are used too often in the event of a dementia crisis, even though they are not able to calm the sick.
At the structural level, the system of internal controls is “an opaque labyrinth with many dead ends, so that many legitimate complaints are dismissed,” it said.
All of this comes at a price: First, because it complicates relations with the population and makes the police less effective. Then because the city had to pay $61.5 million between 2016 and 2022 to put an end to civil lawsuits against its agents.
In order to counteract this violence and discrimination, the authors of the report recommend clear rules, increased training or even more control.
However, attorney Ben Crump, who had defended the Floyd family, said in a statement “his skepticism about Minneapolis’ willingness to change.”