Gov. Walz Calls On POST Board To 'Transform Policing In Minnesota'
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is calling on the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board to create "meaningful and transformational change" to policing in the state.
In a letter to the board signed Thursday, Walz made three specific requests.
He asked the POST Board to establish "sound practices and accountability for law enforcement response to demonstrations."
He also asked that peace officers be banned from belonging to "extremist organizations."
"Extremist ideology is at odds with law enforcement professionals' basic responsibility to protect and serve everyone," Walz wrote.
He lastly encouraged the board "to adopt requirements for more comprehensive complaint and discipline data collection and reporting."
"The POST Board has a monumental task ahead of it, but it also has an opportunity to transform policing in Minnesota," Walz wrote. "I ask you to continue the work of rebuilding, restoring, and reimagining the relationship between law enforcement professionals and the communities that they serve."
Walz's call comes two days after ex-Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd. The day after Chauvin's conviction, the United States Department of Justice announced it was launching an investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department.
The letter also comes on the day of the funeral for Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old shot and killed by former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter during a traffic stop.
Potter has been charged with second-degree manslaughter. The city's police chief, Tim Gannon, also resigned after Wright's killing.