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Crime, Law and Justice
Matt Sepic
Minneapolis

After investigation reveals repeated civil rights violations, monitor chosen to oversee MPD reforms

Nonprofit organization will monitor compliance with court-enforced settlement agreement, expected federal consent decree

Demonstrators protest outside a police station.
Protesters calling for police reform and justice for George Floyd gather outside the 1st Precinct police station on June 11, 2020 in Minneapolis.
Stephen Maturen | Getty Images 2020

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Updated: Feb. 2, 11:15 a.m. | Posted: Feb. 1, 6:23 p.m.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the city of Minneapolis have chosen a nonprofit group to manage the court-ordered oversight of the Minneapolis Police Department.

Effective Law Enforcement For All, or ELEFA, will monitor the MPD’s compliance with both the court-enforced settlement agreement with the state as well as an expected federal consent decree.

The ELEFA team is led by attorney David Douglass, who has served for a decade as a deputy monitor of the New Orleans Police Department.

In a statement released Friday, state Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero described ELEFA as a “highly qualified, independent monitor.”

“With Minneapolis being the first city in the country to be subject to both a state and a federal consent decree to address discriminatory policing practices, this is an important moment in the long road ahead,” Lucero said.

Michelle Gross with Communities United Against Police Brutality said ELEFA is a good choice.

“The ELEFA team has shown that they are very capable of working with difficult departments that have serious culture issues,” Gross said.

The group was chosen from among three finalists. Besides Douglass, the ELEFA team also includes a former police commissioner, former Justice Department civil rights attorney and a data analyst.

The state-level settlement agreement is the result of a nearly two-year Minnesota Department of Human Rights investigation that began in the days after the police murder of George Floyd in 2020.

In the wake of the Floyd’s killing, the city created a new public safety structure including a commissioner with authority over the MPD as well as other emergency responders.

“The ongoing work to reform and rebuild the Minneapolis Police Department will demand a wholesale commitment to collaboration, accountability, and transparency from across this local government. With the selection of an Independent Evaluator, we’re continuing to advance the years-long work to build a more just approach to safety in our city,” Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement.

Police chief Brian O’Hara said he’s sure ELEFA “will learn exactly what I did about the people of the MPD today — they are a very small but highly dedicated staff who are deeply committed to getting this right. We will go beyond any court ordered reforms so that we truly make change real for all people in all of our communities. We will rebuild the Minneapolis Police Department to be the finest police service in America.”

The state’s investigators, after reviewing body camera video and discipline records and interviewing community members and officers, reported a pattern of racist and misogynistic slurs made by officers against suspects, community members and colleagues.

MDHR also found that police routinely violated residents’ civil rights, and that they arrested and used force against Black and Native American people more often than white residents during similar circumstances. 

In June, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland visited Minneapolis to announce the results of a federal probe into the MPD that reached similar conclusions. While the state-level agreement is in force, the Justice Department and city have yet to negotiate the terms of a federal consent decree.