The independent evaluator tasked with overseeing the Minneapolis Police Department has released its plan to ensure the agency complies with court-ordered reforms as part of its agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.

The city entered into the agreement with state officials last March after an MDHR investigation in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin found a pattern of discrimination by MPD over the past decade.

Some of MDHR’s findings included higher rates of force against Black residents, higher rates of traffic stops of vehicles carrying people of color, disparities in searches and citations, and a culture where officers and supervisors used racist and misogynistic language.

In April, Minneapolis and MDHR chose Effective Law Enforcement for All (ELEFA) as an “independent evaluator” to ensure MPD is implementing the necessary reforms to comply with the settlement agreement.

Now, ELEFA has revealed an 88-page, four-year plan for satisfying the terms of the settlement.

Most MPD policies will need to be updated, including those surrounding body-worn cameras, use-of-force incidents, stops, searches, citations and arrests. Officers also need to be retrained on all those new policies.

The four-year plan expects those updates to happen during the first year between March 2024 and March 2025.

“Everything that has to happen is founded on policy and that’s number one,” said Michael Harrison, co-lead for the independent evaluator team. “Then from policy, we train.”

During the first year, ELEFA  also expects MPD to eliminate the Internal Affairs and Office of Police Conduct Review investigations backlog.

“Catching up on the backlog of cases is something they should’ve done a long time ago,” said Dave Bicking, a board member for Communities United Against Police Brutality. “We hope the consent decree will get them to clean up their act.”

ELEFA plans to do quarterly community engagement meetings starting this year and continuing into the second year.

“One thing that I think is missing is more community engagement,” said Bicking. “The requirements of the consent decree are a floor not a ceiling, they can do more than that and maybe they will.”

The plan also includes implementing or overhauling MPD databases concerning internal affairs investigations, Office of Police Conduct and Review misconduct cases, use-of-force reports, vehicle pursuits and public-facing dashboards.

By the end of the second year, the document also calls for policy updates related to crucial incidents, supervisors and social media. ELEFA will also being doing audits to ensure compliance with the court-enforceable settlement agreement-mandated reforms.

During the third and fourth years, the plan calls for a continuation of audits and inspections, and community outreach and feedback. ELEFA has the opportunity to update the plan after two years in March 2026.

The document sets a goal for MPD to hit 95% compliance, however, it also acknowledges some requirements are more consequential than others and consistent 95% compliance may be unrealistic.

“It’s far more than a number, it’s about setting goals,” said Harrison. “While we shoot for 95% we want to make sure the agencies culture is evolving to make them a self-assessing and self-correcting agency.”

A Hennepin County District Court Official told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS on Friday that “the court has received the plan and is reviewing it” but it has yet to be approved.

“It’s very, very important work and sometimes it feels like it’s going slow but we’re building infrastructure that was either never built or infrastructure that was broken that has to be rebuilt or reformed,” said Harrison. “Next steps are to now begin to evaluate the work the city and police department are doing to bring about the reforms starting with policies.”

Members of the ELEFA team plan to travel to Minneapolis next week for that work.

Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette, whose office oversees MPD, said ELEFA’s role in this process is to “advise us on how to change systems,” while Police Chief Brian O’Hara “is responsible for culture change.”

“The reforms we seek will not be successful if they do not last beyond the settlement agreement,” Barnette said in a statement. “Our community is depending on us not to slide backwards. The path will be long, challenging, and fluid, but one to which the City is committed, and has already begin making investments to achieve real and lasting reforms.” 

O’Hara says MPD is committed to meeting those reforms.

“Since day one as the Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department, I have continually worked diligently to reform the culture of this department,” O’Hara said in a statement. “From patrol officer to executive staff, every member of this agency is working tirelessly to reduce crime while building community trust.  ELEFA’s publication of their evaluation plan is an important step as we reform and rebuild the MPD.” 

In a news release, a Minneapolis spokesperson said the city has already provided ELEFA with a list of action items that are still awaiting a compliance review. Some of those items include:

• Assessing city databases, training needs, facilities and equipment, and health and wellness needs.
• Audits of practices surrounding bodycams, dashcams, and “professional behavior.”
• Community engagement sessions and surveys.
• Draft policies for force reporting levels and use-of-force.
• Creating dashboards.

ELEFA and the City of Minneapolis asked the court to change the agreement’s effective date so it can align the timetable for compliance with the start of ELEFA’s appointment. Currently, the effective date is set as July 13, 2023, the date the court approved the agreement; ELEFA wasn’t named as the independent evaluator until eight months later, on March 18.

ELEFA raised concerns that the eight-month gap could unfairly place the city and MPD in non-compliance because no monitor had been appointed in time to review certain requirements according to the deadlines set forth in the agreement.

“In short, the unanticipated length of time between the Effective Date and our appointment led to practical, unanticipated consequences that burdened the parties and undermined public reporting concerning the City and MPD’s progress toward compliance,” ELEFA explained.

The request to change the effective date is still pending.

Bicking expressed frustration at the length of time it’s taking the reform process to proceed.

“I think the city is dragging its feet,” he said.