Data transparency and mediation top police reform priorities for Minneapolis consent decree

Major changes are in store for the Minneapolis Police Department.

The City Council approved the terms of the federal consent decree Monday, which will go into effect once a judge approves it. It follows a similar state-level agreement already in effect.

Michelle Phillips, director of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department, has been overseeing the implementation of the state-enforced order. She says this additional agreement is similar but “goes a little bit further.”

Phillips will be focused on data transparency and developing a mediation program when it comes to the federal consent decree. She sees both playing a role in rebuilding community trust.

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If all goes according to plan, she says the people of Minneapolis can expect to see “better relationships and partnerships, not only with the Minneapolis Police Department but also with the City of Minneapolis employees as a whole.”

To hear more of the interview with Michelle Phillips, use the audio player above or read the transcript below, which has been lightly edited for clarity.

There’s a state agreement in effect now. How do these new plans align?

Both documents are pretty similar. I would definitely say they're complementary. The consent decree document that is public definitely goes a little bit further. That provides more context. Both documents will help to move the city of Minneapolis forward.

What is job number one when it comes to implementing the federal consent decree?

I definitely believe that data transparency is very much at the top of the consent decree. And second, I’m really, really excited about the mediation program. The reason being that it is a catalyst to help to rebuild community trust and credibility within our city services.

I want to ask a little more about each of those. First, data transparency. What type of data?

If an officer gets a police-misconduct complaint, then that information will come through and be reported in an aggregate way as anonymized information.

And then we have the Community Commission on Police Oversight that is a part of our discipline process via the panel review. So, that information regarding how many cases go to them and then those outcomes as well will be made public — either through the CCPO meetings as well as on our data dashboards that we are working with the IT department to make sure are robust and in alignment with our compliance for the consent decree.

Tell me more about the mediation program and how it would work?

There are certain provisions in the consent decree that allow for certain types of allegations of police misconduct to fall under a mediation process.

As of right now, the best practice is that a police officer is voluntarily entering into a mediation process with a complainant so that they go in with good faith and try to discuss what the potential issues were. And then we’d likely have someone who has a great relationship with a police officer moving forward.

If this is a successful effort in a few years, what changes do you think the community in Minneapolis will see?

They will see better relationships and partnerships, not only with the Minneapolis Police Department but also with the City of Minneapolis employees as a whole. They will see timely responses as the civil rights department staffs up.

And I believe the chief as well as the mayor spoke about investments. So, we will definitely see constitutional policing, I believe, at its best.