Minneapolis agrees to federal oversight of police after pattern of excessive force

Police officers in Minneapolis routinely use excessive force and discriminate against Black and Native American people, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday after a two-year investigation sparked by the police killing of George Floyd. The investigation was launched in April 2021 after a white former police officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of murdering Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes after he had been handcuffed.

Police officers in Minneapolis routinely use excessive force and discriminate against Black and Native American people, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday after a two-year investigation sparked by the police killing of George Floyd.

The investigation was launched in April 2021 after a white former police officer, Derek Chauvin, was convicted of murdering Floyd, a Black man, by kneeling on his neck for more than nine minutes after he had been handcuffed. The city has agreed to negotiate an agreement with the Justice Department on reforming the police department, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said. The agreement, known as a consent decree, will be overseen by a federal judge.

"We found that the Minneapolis Police Department routinely uses excessive force, often when no force is necessary, including unjust deadly force and unreasonable use of tasers," Garland told a press conference at the city's federal courthouse. Garland, who was joined by Mayor Jacob Frey and Police Chief Brian O'Hara at the press conference, said police officers fire guns at people without assessing whether there is any threat.

"We observed many MPD officers who did their difficult work with professionalism, courage and respect, but the patterns and practices we observed made what happened to George Floyd possible," he said. The killing of Floyd in May 2020, captured in a bystander's cellphone video, sparked protests across the US decrying police brutality and racism in the criminal justice system. In Minneapolis, protesters damaged property, including a police precinct house that was set ablaze.

Many people in Minneapolis complained that Chauvin's excessive use of force against Floyd was not an exceptional case, but rather that the city's police officers had long abused the rights of Black residents. Garland said the investigation found that there were several incidents in which city police officers "were not held accountable for racist conduct" until there was a public outcry.