"They're not quick, they're not easy": How MPD consent decree may play out
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Department of Justice report unveiled by Attorney General Merrick Garland in Minneapolis Friday morning lays out 28 recommended changes for the city and its police department. Now the city and MPD will negotiate a consent decree focused on accountability and improving use-of-force policies.
How easy or long that pathway is remains to be seen.
"They're not quick, they're not easy, and they're not overnight," political analyst and lawyer Abou Amara said. "And so I think we have to be committed to the work for the long haul. This is going to have to have change at all levels."
Amara says that process starts with policing the police.
"Policy changes within the department, whether that be reporting misconduct among other officers, and then when you don't do those things, there's going to have to be some type of accountability mechanism to make sure that actors within the department who are not following the rules are held accountable," he said.
Amara says that Minneapolis hired Police Chief Brian O'Hara from Newark, where he was in charge of implementing a consent decree, was likely in anticipation of this day.
"We have the leadership in place to deliver on it. Doesn't mean it will. We have to hold them to account, but I think because he has the knowledge and expertise, it puts us a bit ahead of where any other city would be," Amara said.
Among those other cities is Seattle, which next month will hit its 11th year under a consent decree
"A lot of people were expecting the Department of Justice to come in, and we were expecting killings to go down. We're expecting culture to change," Joel Merkel, of the Seattle Community Police Commission, said.
Merkel is also an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Washington. Both he and Amara say collaboration will be key in the months and years ahead.
"You can change the policies with respect to policing. But it's difficult to really have a lot of meaningful change unless you have transparent accountability provisions," Merkel said.
They also say the community will be an important part of the conversation.
"A lot of the policy changes and culture changes, that's not something that a consent decree is going to do on its own. That's something that has to come from the community," Merkel said. "The more that community is engaged, the more the community's elected leaders work with the community, the I think the better it's going to go."
in the months ahead, city leaders will work with the Department of Justice to iron out the details of the consent decree, including how it will coexist with a separate consent decree between the city and the state. An important part of that will be working with the police union through collective bargaining, making sure all parties are on board with the reforms.
