MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis has entered uncharted territory.
Following the murder of George Floyd, the city signed a state settlement agreement earlier this summer and will soon enter into a federal consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, both of which will mandate sweeping policy changes to the Minneapolis Police Department. After the negotiation of the consent decree, it is believed that Minneapolis will become the first city in American history to come under both state and federal oversight for policing practices.
To carry out these changes, MPD created a new Implementation Unit this year, comprised of both sworn officers and civilian staff such as data analysts and compliance experts. The unit works within the newly-created Constitutional Policing Bureau inside of the division of Community Trust, under the new structure announced by Chief Brian O'Hara last week.
To lead the Implementation Unit, O'Hara tapped Commander Yolanda Wilks, who started as a community service officer with MPD in 2007 before rising through the ranks on specialty units.
"Interesting story, what drew me to this career. I had no [inclination] of being in law enforcement. Didn't want to be a cop," Wilks said in an interview with KARE 11 this week at City Hall. "But one day, I was going to school to get my associate's degree and there was a recruiter from Minneapolis who came. She said some magical words to me, that stuck with me, and have stuck with me to this day."
That recruiter, according to Wilks, told her to "be the change that you want to see."
"And from that day forward, I found myself filling out the application and I've been with Minneapolis ever since," Wilks said. "The same change I was looking for — to be frank — years ago, I see that process starting right now."
This week, the city and Minnesota Department of Human Rights launched their first round of community engagement sessions related to the state settlement agreement. The events on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday, held at various locations throughout the city, are focusing on use of force policies within MPD. Later this month and next, the meetings will shift gears to "Stop, Search, Arrest" policies and "Non-Discriminatory and Impartial Policing." The DOJ has been leading its own separate community meetings on the anticipated federal consent decree.
"I'm asking the public to have faith and trust the process. What we have to do is solicit feedback from the community first, and then bring that back to the drawing board," Wilks said. "Once we get that back, we have to take all of those things into consideration."
The implementation of the settlement agreement and consent decree will be massive undertakings for MPD.
Both the state and federal investigations found a pattern of racial discrimination within the department and specifically faulted training procedures. For example, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights found "deficient training and guidance for [MPD] officers, which exacerbates a pattern of discriminatory, race-based policing," while the DOJ investigation cited "persistent deficiencies in MPD's accountability systems, training, supervision, and officer wellness programs, which contribute to the violations of the Constitution and federal law."
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, MPD must bring in outside "community-based trainers" to enhance overall training policies.
"We're going to be trained on adult learning principles, a technique we believe everyone should have," Wilks said. "Our instructors in Minneapolis will have to be certified instructors. It won't be Minneapolis training Minneapolis. It will be outside trainers, coming into facilitate the trainers... to ensure we're having outside input."
The process to overhaul training, use of force, and other policies will take a significant amount of time. Technically, the state settlement with MDHR lasts four years, but if MPD does not gain compliance by then, the agreement would continue indefinitely. The DOJ consent decree, meanwhile, has yet to be written, so the time frame is unclear.
The city expects to have one independent monitor to evaluate whether MPD is complying with the state and federal court orders. Several groups have submitted bids to serve as the independent monitor. Ultimately, the city and MDHR will release finalists to the public before making an official selection.
Last week, MPD Assistant Chief of Operations Katie Blackwell acknowledged that some rank-and-file officers may be skeptical of such widespread changes to the department, and that leadership must communicate through the ranks to make sure they understand the expectations.
Wilks agreed.
"It's going to start one day at a time," she said. "The farther you go up, the more disconnected you get from boots on the ground. In order to make that a success, we're going to have to reconnect and stay connected, and make sure all lines of communication are open."
These changes are also taking place at a time when MPD is reeling from staffing shortages, having lost hundreds of officers over the past three years.
"It's going to be a challenge and it's going to take all of us to put in extra hours, long days. But I think that we can operate," Wilks said. "The improvements indicated by the settlement agreement will give us the tools and resources we need to sustain. But that's going to be with time."
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