Local News

Fatal Officer-Involved Shooting Calls Attention To Demand For Changes To MPD

December 31, 2020 / 5:33 PM CST / CBS Minnesota

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MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Wednesday's fatal officer-involved shooting comes at the end of a year with a major focus on the Minneapolis Police Department and their handling of violent incidents. Recent changes have been made to increase transparency.

After the death of George Floyd in May, there was outrage and demands for change.

One now in effect is that police officers involved in a shooting are no longer allowed to review the body camera footage before giving their report of what happened. After Floyd's death, it took weeks for the body camera footage to be made public, compared to the expected day-after in Wednesday's incident.

Earlier this month, the City of Minneapolis also agreed on a new budget plan that will reallocate $8 million from the MPD toward violence prevention and other programs. But per Mayor Jacob Frey's request, the department will not reduce the number of officers on their force. Frey threatened to veto the city budget if the number of 888 officers were reduced.

Frey responded to the shooting last night, saying in part, "Events of this past year have marked some of the darkest days in our city. We know a life has been cut short and that trust between communities of color and law enforcement is fragile. Rebuilding that trust will depend on complete transparency."

Finally, a new search warrant policy also went into effect, requiring Minneapolis police officers to announce their presence before entering a home on a warrant under most circumstances.

Shortly after Floyd's death, the Minneapolis City Council made national headlines over a vow to dismantle the police. Obviously that did not happen, but the city did launch a pilot program that puts what are called violence interrupters on the streets to try to deescalate situations before they become violent.

Over the summer, the Minnesota State Legislature also passed sweeping police reforms. They included a ban on chokeholds and incentives for officers to live in the communities they serve.