Coalition turns in signatures for Minneapolis ‘community control of police’ ballot measure

Minneapolis activist groups are hoping to put a proposal before voters to create a new civilian police oversight organization to control the department’s budget, appoint the chief and discipline officers. A coalition of groups say they turned more than 10,000 signatures over to the Minneapolis City Clerk's office on Wednesday. 

The proposal seeks to create an elected Civilian Police Accountability Commission that could hire and fire officers, including the police chief. The commission would also investigate complaints against officers and publicly release the findings. 

The police department has held off real change for too long, said Jae Yates, an organizer with Twin Cities Coalition for Justice.

"We are saying that this reign of terror is over. We will not pay for racist cops who patrol our streets,” Yates said. “We will not allow anyone, Black, Native, Hmong or Somali, to be murdered with impunity. And we will not allow an ineffective and corrupt police force to control their oversight process any longer.”

The proposed 13-member commission would also set police policies and have the authority to negotiate the city’s collective bargaining contract with the police union, according to organizers.

Members would be required to have a minimum of two years experience in “protecting civil or human rights or be a survivor of police misconduct, or a family member of an individual killed at the hands of law enforcement,” according to the amendment. Candidates related to police officers would not be eligible to run. 

Stacey Gurian-Sherman, founder of Minneapolis for a Better Police Contract and a sitting member of the Community Commission on Police Oversight established last year, said the current civilian oversight system is ineffective. The commission has struggled with an extensive backlog of complaints, although outside law firms have been brought in to help work through them. 

“The need is obvious for an entity that provides effective, independent and fair police accountability,” Gurian-Sherman said. “Without that, no reforms are real.”

The minimum number of signatures needed to get a citizen referendum on the ballot for this year is 8,943.  That is based on a percentage of votes cast in Minneapolis during the 2022 state general election. 

The city clerk will need to verify the signatures before both the 15-member Charter Commission and the Minneapolis City Council finalize the language of the proposed ballot question. 

Some previous attempts to get changes to the city charter on the ballot have died in the Charter Commission, which is appointed by the chief judge of Hennepin County District Court. A proposal to revamp the city’s public safety system was rejected by the Charter Commission in 2020.

Organizers said they aren’t worried that some of the provisions will be preempted by state law, which only allows civilian oversight councils to make recommendations about discipline, because the new oversight body would be elected.