Details emerge on Minneapolis Police Department reforms

Benchmark Analytics will be helping Minneapolis Police Department launch a research-based early warning and intervention program for officers, according to its CEO.

Minneapolis police said they hope to share specific details later in the week about the project.

Benchmark Analytics said they work with their research partners at the University of Chicago to use a series of predictive models and algorithms to identify patterns of police conduct from the department’s data on the subject.

"What that means is we work with their existing data to help them understand which Minneapolis police officers are doing exceptionally well, which Minneapolis police officers are off-track and need support," said Ron Huberman, CEO of Benchmark Analytics. "The whole idea behind what we do is to allow police leaders to get in-front of problematic situations before they occur."

Last week, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced the new program as part of his reform plan after the death of George Floyd.

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Huberman said Monday was the first kick-off of the Minneapolis project, which could possibly take three to nine months to implement.

"What makes it predictable is that officers who are engaged in problematic conduct rarely ever do we see it occur from a single incident, where they had one problematic incident," Huberman said. "Typically it’s a cluster or pattern of problems."

Police officials said they were in discussions with Benchmark Analytics before Floyd’s death.

Minneapolis Foundation Offers Assistance to MPD

"We think the Minneapolis Police Department needs serious reform," said R.T. Rybak, CEO and president of the Minneapolis Foundation.

Rybak, former Minneapolis mayor, said the foundation will help the department connect with experts on the police union contract negotiations and the new officer performance program.

"The Minneapolis Foundation is stepping up by saying ‘We want to help a reform-minded chief get the reforms he needs,’" Rybak said.

"There is a responsibility and an opportunity right now for everybody to say ‘This is a moment we can’t let it go away,’" Rybak said. "It’s quite possible that Minneapolis becomes a turning point."

At a news conference last week, Arradondo thanked the Minneapolis Foundation for their assistance.