Mayor Frey on city action after George Floyd’s death: ‘This is about learning from our mistakes’

Thursday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Community Safety Commissioner Dr. Cedric Alexander and others outlined efforts to make sure the communication breakdowns that occurred during the civil unrest in the wake of George Floyd’s death aren’t repeated.

“We’re not looking away from the reality of what happened in late-May and early June of 2020,” said Mayor Jacob Frey. “In fact we’re acknowledging it, we’re recognizing it, but most importantly we’re doing the necessary work.”

A report was conducted by a third-party firm, detailing the city’s failures in responding to the civil unrest. One major takeaway was a breakdown in communication throughout the unrest.

In response, Minneapolis launched National Incident Management System Reset (NIMS) project, intended to “improve the city’s ability to use the Incident Command System, the Emergency Operations Center, the Joint Information System and Multiagency Coordination Groups to manage complex incidents.”

“This is about learning from our mistakes, this is about making sure we are prepared when an emergency strikes,” Frey stated.

Following the death of George Floyd and subsequent civil unrest in February of 2021, Mayor Frey asked the city to complete an after-action review and analysis of the city’s response. The findings and 27 recommendations were presented to the City Council on March 8, 2022.

Mayor Frey noted of 27 recommendations in the report, 17 have been completed and the other 10 are still being addressed.

RELATED: Report: Lack of communication, leadership in Minneapolis following George Floyd’s death

Frey’s office says the Office of Emergency Management has worked with the city to develop a plan to execute the recommendations. Since 2021, city leaders have given quarterly updates to the Committee of the Whole (COW), which addresses the work being done to implement the city’s findings.

CLICK HERE to access previous COW updates on the after-action quarterly reports.

CLICK HERE for KSTP’s full George Floyd coverage.

RELATED: Report: Failures by Minneapolis city leaders led to delay in MN National Guard activation following George Floyd’s death

RELATED: DPS releases independent review of state’s response to 2020 civil unrest

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE: