MPD chief: No future officer will wear Derek Chauvin's badge number
MINNEAPOLIS -- Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara says former officer Derek Chauvin's badge number will never be used again within the department.
O'Hara made the comments Thursday after the City Council settled two civil cases against Chauvin for nearly $9 million.
"The Minneapolis police have a tradition to recycle the badge numbers that are no longer assigned to a current officer. This badge, betrayed and so egregiously dishonored, will be destroyed, and the badge number permanently removed from our rosters so that no future Minneapolis police officer should have to wear it," he said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said the fact that no other officer will wear the badge "is a symbol, but an important one."
Both lawsuits allege that Chauvin used excessive force three years before George Floyd's murder, including on one person who was 14 years old at the time. Seven additional MPD officers and the City of Minneapolis are also named in the lawsuits.
O'Hara called Chauvin a "national embarrassment" for the policing profession.
"The notion that we're dealing with the bad actions of one employee is false," O'Hara said. "We're dealing with the ugly consequences stemming from a systemic failure within the Minneapolis Police Department that has allowed for, and at times encouraged, unjust and brutal policing."
Chauvin is currently serving a prison sentence of over 20 years for murdering Floyd during an arrest in May 2020. The City of Minneapolis settled with Floyd's family for $27 million.