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Crime, Law and Justice
Brandt Williams

Minneapolis makes steps towards compliance with policing agreement, obstacles remain

Six police officers stand behind cautionary tape.
Minneapolis police officers maintain a security perimeter in the East Phillips neighborhood on Feb. 1.
Tim Evans for MPR News

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The city of Minneapolis faces obstacles in fulfilling requirements included in its court enforced agreement on policing with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

Those issues came to light during last week’s meeting of the Community Commission on Police Oversight. Two city departments which play a central role in implementing changes mandated by the agreement need new leadership.

In February, both Civil Rights Department director Alberder Gillespie and Office of Police Conduct Review (OPCR) head John K. Jefferson, left their positions. The city has not released details about the separations.  

City Operations Officer Margaret Anderson Kelliher is serving as the interim head of the department. Carolina Amini, who has been working to help the city implement the court-enforced agreement, is the temporary head of the OPCR.

Despite the upheaval, Mayor Jacob Frey says Minneapolis is still on track to fulfill its end of the agreement.

“I don’t think that alone complicates our ability to comply,” said Frey at a separate public appearance. “We are moving forward expeditiously in hiring a new civil rights director.”

Kelliher said the city has been reviewing applications for a permanent civil rights director. However, she said the job description for the OPCR position needs to be updated.

During the March 11 meeting of the community oversight group, commissioner Stacey Gurian-Sherman noted the resignations of two commissioners later identified in the meeting as AJ Awed and Fartun Weli. A city attorney advised the commission that it was not able to discuss personnel matters during the meeting.

The agreement between the city and Minnesota’s human rights department requires that most police conduct complaints be completed within 180 days.

Minneapolis has more than 200 police misconduct complaints in the intake process. According to data from the city, the median age of cases in the backlog is 172 days.

There has also been progress. The city council has approved the contract with Effective Law Enforcement for All, Inc. to serve as an independent evaluator. And it is considering a contract with Wiley Reber Law for $1 million over three years to help the city eliminate the backlog.  

Commissioner Gurian-Sherman, who is also a lawyer, pointed out that one of the principals of the firm, Greg Wiley, represents the city of Minneapolis in its contract negotiations with the police federation.

“How in the world is there not a conflict of interest between that law firm getting this contract?” asked Gurian-Sherman at the committee meeting.

Minneapolis City Attorney Kristyn Anderson said the city found no conflict of interest. And she added that the contract is necessary to speed up the complaint process.

“I think everybody can agree that we really need to get justice for folks, we need to make our way through these investigations and we have deemed that the best way to do that is through outside investigative services,” said Anderson.

The council’s Committee of the Whole is scheduled to consider the Wiley Reber contract at its next meeting on March 19.

The city has also employed another outside law firm, Jones Day, to help it reduce its backlog of police misconduct complaints.

“We’re also working very hard to eliminate the backlog of cases — a backlog of complaints that are presently issued,” said Frey. “And so we’re working towards that right now.”

Part of the city’s agreement with the human rights department said the pact is “designed to facilitate an improved relationship between MPD and community members through increased transparency and public input.”

In past meetings of the Community Commission on Police Oversight, commissioner Gurian-Sherman has tried to amend the agenda to place the public comment section at the beginning of the meeting instead of the end.

In order to address the commission, people have to wait through meetings that start at 6 p.m. and can last around two hours.

“Having comments at the end of a meeting is not sufficient when we are in a state of urgency — given we are under a consent decree and we’ve had another scathing finding from the U.S. Department of Justice,” said Gurian-Sherman during a Sept. 2023 meeting.

“This city and this commission should have a vested interest in the public’s opinion on what we are doing and take the course that is most inclusive. Instead we are constantly putting obstacles up for public participation.”

The commission rejected Gurian-Sherman’s motion during that meeting. And at the most recent meeting, the motion failed to get a vote after no other commissioner would second it.