City council to weigh in on Minneapolis Police Department tentative contract agreement

[MUSIC PLAYING] NINA MOINI: Our top story this afternoon, Minneapolis Police could get a raise of more than 21% if their next three-year contract is approved by the City Council. By next summer, they'd be among the highest paid officers in the state. The union, the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, ratified an agreement with the city late Monday night, with a vote of 301 to 63.

The earliest that City Council members could vote on the contract would be next week. And in the past, their votes on police contracts have been split, with some members of the council pushing for reforms to hold officers accountable for misconduct.

The Minneapolis Police Department is currently working under a contract that was adopted in early 2022 and expired later that year. Joining me now to talk about the tentative agreement is councilmember Robin Wonsley, who represents Ward 2 on the East Side of the city. Councilmember Wansley, thank you so much for your time this afternoon.

ROBIN WONSLEY: Thank you so much for having me on.

NINA MOINI: Absolutely. So we don't know all the terms of the contract publicly yet, but what is your reaction to the pay increase that the mayor, Mayor Jacob Frey, Chief Brian O'Hara, and the police union have agreed on?

ROBIN WONSLEY: Yeah, so my initial reaction, of course, is I would prefer to see the contract in its totality. As of now, councilmembers have received bits and pieces. And even in your intro, you shared-- and especially amongst my constituents, the public, and as someone who led a lot of conversations about the police contract last term, I know there is a keen interest in really seeing what reforms are going to be integrated into this contract.

And we have to be able to see that in alignment with both the pay increases, as well as being able to pair that with the funding proposal that Mayor Frey is also suggesting council take up. So we won't be able to even give consideration to that full package until next Tuesday. And by then, hopefully, you know, we can have more information to be able to move forward with the legislative process around the contract.

NINA MOINI: Sure, and you've been among council members who've said, at times, that MPD can't be reformed as it currently exists. We know the department is under a court enforceable agreement with the state and the DOJ to make some significant reforms in the coming years. Do you still feel this way?

ROBIN WONSLEY: I think what I have always shared is really what has been reflective of what my constituents have expressed, which is just a deep sense of lack of seriousness when it comes to reforms amongst MPD that warranted to consent decrees in the first place, where outside agencies and entities had to mandate the mayor and prior administration to actually take reform seriously.

These are things that residents have came to council to advocate for, council members themselves have advocated for, and this particular administration has not taken this up. So, unfortunately, we're in a situation where residents are paying millions of dollars to have the DOJ and an independent evaluator actually hold MPD accountable to implementing reforms.

But we've also heard from this administration that the police contract is also a tool of reform as well. And that's why we're really looking forward to seeing what specific reforms were actually integrated. Mayor Frey is saying that there are some significant reforms that's been included, and council is really looking forward to seeing what are those specifically.

NINA MOINI: And you mentioned the public as well. The city said that the full details of the contract would be available in the coming days. Do you expect the public will be able to view and weigh in on this agreement as well before it comes to a vote at council?

ROBIN WONSLEY: So I know my office, as well as council leadership, have expressed that this is a non-negotiable. Actually, last term, when I vice-chaired the Policy and Government Oversight Committee, this was another concern of contention where, when it comes to police contracts, under this particular administration, the Mayor Frey administration, council has just been expected to rubber stamp the contract without any input, feedback, just say OK.

And then also, there's never been a precedent for those contracts to be released to the public. Thanks to the efforts of my office, alongside a number of my colleagues last term, we were able to make that contract be publicly available for the first time ever in type of negotiation. And then we also made sure we set a precedent for public input around it that led to listening sessions throughout that following summer.

So we absolutely have expressed we are going to continue upon the transparency that we initiated last term around the contract. Because this has significant implications for residents, not only financially, but also with policing in itself of how this is going to shape the changes of service that they're going to receive. Are they going to see a more equitable, ethical police service coming to respond to their communities?

So the public has to be engaged. And that does not mean giving them a last minute window of review for this contract. So we absolutely have shared with the Mayor Frey administration we expect it to be publicly available before we take any final votes on this contract.

NINA MOINI: OK. Minneapolis just lost Officer Jamal Mitchell in the line of duty. Chief O'Hara told KARE 11 News that if we want to have any hope of continuing to be able to attract people like Jamal in any sort of sufficient numbers, we absolutely need to get this agreement ratified. That's a quote. What do you say to people who say, we definitely need to have more officers to be safer as a city. We definitely need to be more competitive to be able to attract more officers.

ROBIN WONSLEY: Yeah, so first, I think it's important to acknowledge that the shooting and killing of Officer Mitchell, alongside the several civilians who also lost their lives last Thursday, was just a gross tragedy, that it's still rippling a lot of trauma amongst our constituents. And I think it's important to highlight that, but also highlight the fact that this contract is not a vote on Jamal Mitchell. It is not a vote on Officer Mitchell.

What this contract is reflective of is years and years of conversation around how are we building a comprehensive public safety system that includes law enforcement that is going to uphold high standards of equity and ethics. And that is what this contract really boils down to. How are we setting those mandates and making sure, yes, those standards are enshrined, that reforms are going to be in place that's going to protect the well-being of our constituents and residents as well.

And all of those components are going to be necessary in order for us to have a comprehensive public safety system that we're all committed to that is going to keep our community safer, that's going to be proactive in dealing with the gun violence that we're seeing spike throughout the city. And that led to the tragic shooting and killing last week.

So we absolutely understand this. This contract is a part of how we are approaching making our community safe. But again, I want to highlight that these are not simultaneous discussions. We want to make sure officers, as well as any city employee and resident, regardless of your profession, can make it home safe. And this contract is really about, OK, how do we enshrine standards for our officers so that they're going home safe, but so are our residents?

NINA MOINI: Yeah, and this was my next question. It's undeniable that gun violence is an ongoing issue that also led to Officer Mitchell's death. What are you and councilmembers doing about gun violence and to support other victims of gun violence? What policies is council looking at to try to get guns off the streets and better protect your constituents?

ROBIN WONSLEY: Absolutely. In fact, I will encourage the public to actually check out our Public Health and Safety Committee this afternoon. We're bringing a number of our gun violence community leaders and experts to come and give a presentation on what is needed for council to support them and mitigating any gun violence issues and spikes that will take place this summer.

What we have learned on the council side is, unfortunately, the prior administration has not been responding to specifically our gun violence experts in a serious matter. We've had concerns about our vendors not being paid. And these are literally people from our communities who are often, day to day, putting themselves in between bullets and shooters and de-escalating situations. And as a result of their labor, we've seen some of the substantial decreases in homicides and other violent crimes across the city.

So it's important that we do everything possible to make sure we're putting investments into those type of vendors who are doing substantial work alongside our law enforcement. And we're going to learn about that today. And we're continuing to try to hold the Mayor Frey administration accountable to say, you need to take this work serious.

We have national partners that we have jeopardized and several contracts with, who have long been part of our gun violence reduction strategy. Council is working hard to resume those partnerships, considering the Office of Community Safety and Neighborhood Safety Department leadership has allowed them to lapse and be severed.

So we're working overtime to make sure that we're doing what the Frey administration should be doing, which is supporting our gun violence reduction experts, solidifying our strategy for this summer and long-term, and then making sure we're funding it at a sufficient level, which we have not done in recent years.

NINA MOINI: All right. And you've mentioned that Public Safety Committee meeting coming up at 1:30 today. People can tune in to that on the city's website. We will also track any developments coming out of that. Councilmember Wonsley, thank you for your time.

ROBIN WONSLEY: Thank you so much.