Minneapolis and state agree to revamp policing post-Floyd

By Steve Karnowski

Associated Press

The city of Minneapolis and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights signed a “court-enforceable settlement agreement” Friday to revamp policing in the city where George Floyd was murdered by an officer nearly three years ago.

The agency issued a blistering report last year after an investigation found the police department had engaged in a pattern of race discrimination for at least a decade. The City Council approved the settlement in an 11-0 vote. Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero signed it soon after.

“The agreement isn’t change, in and of itself, but it charts a clear roadmap to it,” Frey said at a news conference.

Lucero said: “This agreement serves as a model for how cities, police departments and community members across the country can work together to address race-based policing and strengthen public safety.”

The state agency launched its investigation shortly after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes on May 25, 2020, disregarding the Black man’s fading pleas that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd’s death sparked mass protests around the world, forced a national reckoning on racial injustice, and compelled a Minneapolis Police Department overhaul.

Chauvin was

Biden

From 3 includes $2.6 trillion in new spending with Republicans’ plans for spending and economic growth. Republicans have rejected Biden’s budget

Trump

From 3 amounts to a remarkable reckoning for Trump after years of investigations into his personal, business and political dealings. The case is unfolding against the backdrop not only of his third campaign for the White House but also against other convicted of murder. He and three other officers on the scene are serving prison terms.

“We didn’t get here overnight, and change also won’t happen overnight,” Frey said. “This problem that we now face, it has taken hold over many generations, many administrations, mayors and chiefs, and clearly our Black and brown communities have taken the brunt of this.”

Lucero said the legally binding agreement requires the city and the police department to make “transformational changes” to fix the organizational culture at the heart of race-based policing. She said it includes measures to ensure force is used “only when it is objectively reasonable, necessary and proportional” and never “to punish or retaliate.” Officers must de-escalate conflicts when possible. There will be limits on when and how officers can use chemical irritants and Tasers. And training in the disputed condition of excited delirium — a key issue in the confrontation that led to Floyd’s death — will be banned. Stops for broken lights and searches based on the alleged smell of marijuana are banned.

Frey, Lucero and Police Chief Brian O’Hara said the agreement reflects feedback from and the concerns of the community and police officers.

“The courtenforceable agreement does not prohibit officers from relying on reasonable, articulatable suspicion or probable cause but have yet to bring forward a counteroffer to the Democrats’ blueprint, which is built around tax increases on the wealthy and a vision statement of sorts for Biden’s yet-tobe-declared 2024 campaign.

Other members of Biden’s administration are traveling to more than 20 states this week to buttress his investigations in Washington and Atlanta that might yet produce even more charges.

A silent and stonefaced Trump, his lips pursed in apparent anger, entered the courtroom shortly before 2:30 p.m. He left court about an hour later, also without commenting.

Before the arraignment, he narrated his feelings in real time, describing the experience as “SURREAL” as he traveled

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Photography photo/David Joles photo/David Joles Rebecca Lucero, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, front, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, arrive for a press conference announcing approval of a sweeping plan to reform policing that aims to reverse years of systemic racial bias Friday, March 31, 2023 at the Minneapolis Public Service Building in Minneapolis, The Minneapolis City Council on Friday approved an agreement with the state to revamp policing, nearly three years after a city officer killed George Floyd. of criminal activity to enforce the law. We want officers to do their jobs,” Lucero said. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and other lawyers who won a $27 million settlement for the Floyd family called the agreement “monumental” and the “culmination of years of heartbreak and advocacy by those impacted by the poor policies and practices of the Minneapolis Police Department.” message. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, for example, went to Connecticut on Monday for a fireside chat at Yale University on the economic agenda. While the president blasted Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for raising the deficit, Yellen panned them for failing to boost growth.

The treasury secretary said Trump’s signature from Trump Tower to lower Manhattan to face a judge.

It represents the new split-screen reality for Trump as he submits to the dour demands of the American criminal justice system while projecting an aura of defiance and victimhood at celebratory campaign events.

Wearing his signature dark suit and red tie, Trump turned and waved to crowds outside the building before heading inside to be fingerprinted and processed. He arrived at court in an eightcar motorcade from Trump Tower, communicating in real time his anger at the process.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey speaks during a press conference announcing approval of a sweeping plan to reform policing that aims to reverse years of systemic racial bias, Friday, March 31, 2023 at the Minneapolis Public Service Building in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis City Council on Friday approved an agreement with the state to revamp policing, nearly three years after a city officer killed George Floyd.

The U.S. Department of Justice is still investigating whether Minneapolis police engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination. That investigation could lead to a separate agreement with the city known as a consent decree. City officials couldn’t provide information on where that stands. Several police departments nationwide operate under federal consent decrees. Justice Department and city officials asked a judge Tuesday to end most federal oversight of the Seattle police achievement has “not been very successful, even at promoting investment spending and growth.” What the cuts did, instead, is tilt the tax code in favor of those with extreme degrees of wealth, according to Yellen.

“If you take something like the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017,” she said, “maybe that had some marginal said they were ready for large protests by Trump supporters, who share the Republican former president’s belief that the New York grand jury indictment and three additional pending investigations are politically motivated and intended to weaken his bid to retake the White House in 2024. Journalists often outnumbered protesters, though. photo/David Joles

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian department, saying its sustained, decade-long reform efforts are a model for other cities. impact on boosting private investment -- not obvious that it did. But it certainly raised the incomes of the wealthy individuals who received those huge tax cuts, and so it made the tax burden a lot less fair.”

O’Hara listened to a question during a press conference announcing approval of a sweeping plan to reform policing that aims to reverse years of systemic racial bias Friday, March 31, 2023 at the Minneapolis Public Service Building in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis City Council on Friday approved an agreement with the state to revamp policing, nearly three years after a city officer killed George Floyd.

The Minneapolis settlement, which requires court approval, also governs the use of body-worn and dashboard cameras; officer wellness; and response to mental health and behavioral crises. An independent evaluator must be appointed to monitor compliance.

Several council members criticized the police department and other city leaders.

First lady Jill Biden was in Colorado to promote Biden’s efforts to promote job training at community colleges

The investigation is scrutinizing six-figure payments made to porn actor Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal. Both say they had sexual encounters with the married Trump years before he got into politics. Trump denies having sexual liaisons with either woman and has denied any wrongdoing involving payments.

“The lack of political will to take responsibility for MPD is why we are in this position today,” council member Robin Wonsley said.

“This legal settlement formally and legally prevents city leadership from deferring that responsibility anymore. And I hope this settlement is a wakeup call for city leaders, who the public has watched rubberstamp poor labor contracts, have signed off on endless misconduct settlements, and then shrugged their shoulders when residents asked then why we have a dysfunctional police department.” and had other stops this week planned in Maine and Vermont. Her plans to visit Michigan later Monday were postponed because of an aircraft issue. Boak reported from Washington. AP writers Fatima Hussein and Hannah Fingerhut in Washington contributed to this report. a brief rally at the park, but the scene was so chaotic that it was hard to hear her over the crush of reporters and protesters.

Some activists were upset that the agreement wasn’t posted publicly until after the vote.

Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality, said she will ask the state data practices office whether the council acted legally. She said her group must study the agreement before commenting on its merits.

“This is not the way to start this process and vote on something the community’s going to have to live with for the next five or six years,” Gross said.

Even council members had only about a day to study and discuss the document.

“This is something we’ve been waiting for for a long time and my hope is the city will act with fidelity, the city will act with integrity, and the city will follow through.” civil rights attorney Nekima Levy Armstrong said.

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“Heading to Lower Manhattan, the Courthouse,” the voluble expresident posted on his Truth Social platform. “Seems so SURREAL — WOW, they are going to ARREST ME. Can’t believe this is happening in America. MAGA!”

Trump, who was impeached twice by the U.S. House but was never convicted in the U.S. Senate, is the first former president to face criminal charges. The nation’s 45th commander in chief was escorted from Trump Tower to the courthouse by the Secret Service and may have his mug shot taken.

“He is strong and ready to go,” Trump lawyer Joe Tacopina told The Associated Press. Earlier, Tacopina said in a TV interview that the former president wouldn’t plead guilty to lesser charges, even if it might resolve the case. He also said he didn’t think the case would make it to a jury.

New York police

Trump, a former reality TV star, has been hyping that narrative to his political advantage, saying he raised more than $8 million in the days since the indictment on claims of a “witch hunt.” His campaign released a fundraising request titled “My last email before arrest” and he has repeatedly assailed the Manhattan district attorney, egged on supporters to protest and claimed without evidence that the judge presiding over the case “hates me” — something his own lawyer has said is not true.

Trump is scheduled to return to his Palm Beach, Florida, home, Mar-a-Lago, on Tuesday evening to give remarks. At least 500 prominent supporters have been invited, with some of the most pro-Trump congressional Republicans expected to attend.

A conviction would not prevent Trump from running for or winning the presidency in 2024.

The indictment contains multiple charges of falsifying business records, including at least one felony offense, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press last week.

The arraignment unfolded against the backdrop of heavy security in New York, coming more than two years after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed bid to halt the congressional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s win. Trump was defiant ahead of his arraignment. He used his social media network to complain that he was going to court in a heavily Democratic area, declaring, “KANGAROO COURT” and “THIS IS NOT WHAT AMERICA WAS SUPPOSED TO BE!” He and his campaign have repeatedly assailed Bragg and even trained scrutiny on members of Bragg’s family.

Despite that, the scenes around Trump Tower and the courthouse where Trump will stand before a judge did not feature major unrest. Police tried to keep apart protesters supporting the former president and those opposing him by confining them to separate sides of a park near the courthouse using metal barricades.

Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Trump’s staunchest supporters in Congress, staged

“We’re the party of peace,” Greene said, thanking those Trump supporters present. “Democrats are communists.” Embattled Republican New York Rep. George Santos also showed up in solidarity with Trump, saying, “I want to support the president.”

“I think this is unprecedented and it’s a bad day for democracy,” Santos said, suggesting that future prosecutors could target Biden and other presidents with other cases, which “cheapens the judicial system.” New York’s ability to carry out safe and dramafree courthouse proceedings in a case involving a polarizing ex-president could be an important test case as prosecutors in Atlanta and Washington conduct their own investigations of Trump that could also result in charges. Those investigations concern efforts to undo the 2020 election results as well as the possible mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Tucker and Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press journalists Jill Colvin, Bobby Caina Calvan, Larry Neumeister, Karen Matthews, Larry Fleisher, Deepti Hajela, Julie Walker, Ted Shaffrey, David R. Martin, Joe Frederick and Robert Bumsted in New York and Colleen Long and Michael Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report.