Minneapolis City Council approves policing overhaul after George Floyd murder

The Minneapolis City Council approved on Friday an agreement with the state to revamp its policing system, nearly three years after the murder of George Floyd.

The nearly 130-page settlement includes changes to the use of force; to stops, searches and arrests; using body-worn and dashboard cameras; officer training and wellness; and responding to mental health and behavioral calls.

It would also ban Minneapolis police officers from searching a person or a vehicle simply because they smell marijuana, and officers would no longer be able to pull over a driver for a broken tail light. The use of chemical irritants as a form of crowd control would also be banned. 

To ensure compliance, the settlement calls for appointment of an independent evaluator. Under the agreement, the city is required to create a new unit to implement the terms within 60 days.

City officials agreed to negotiate with the state after the Minnesota Department of Human Rights issued a scathing report last year that said the police department had engaged in a pattern of racial discrimination for at least a decade. 

According to the state’s Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero, Minnesota’s largest police agency stopped, searched, arrested, used force against and killed people of color at significantly higher rates than white people over a 10-year period, with Black people specifically making up a disproportionate amount of police encounters. 

The investigation also found that city and police leaders had been aware of the pattern of discriminatory behavior but failed to fix it.

The investigation came after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on Floyd’s neck for 9 1/2 minutes as he cried over and over that he couldn’t breathe. Floyd’s death, caught on video, sparked worldwide protests that eventually pushed the Minneapolis Police Department to begin an overhaul. Chauvin was eventually charged and convicted of Floyd’s murder.

Though the state’s investigation has wrapped, the U.S. Department of Justice is still investigating whether Minneapolis police engaged in a pattern of discrimination.