BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. — After serving 16 months in prison, former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter was released Monday morning. Since the killing of Daunte Wright, the city has been operating on the promise of change.
For two years, Daunte Wright's memorial off of 63rd Avenue North in Brooklyn Center has grown. It now bears a white sign that promises a permanent memorial, created in collaboration with the city and Wright's family, as well as Juxtaposition Arts.
But for Wright's family, those nearly two years flew by.
"Even though we were 16 months prepared for this, there was no preparing for it," Wright's mother, Katie Wright, said, regarding Potter's release.
Wright said they never got notifications about whether Kim Potter would be leaving prison on Monday.
"We didn't receive anything," Wright said. "I knew from watching the news this morning that she was released at 4."
And also in the two years since her son's killing, Wright said changes within the city have been slow.
"Unfortunately, Brooklyn Center made a lot of promises that were supposed to be upheld," she said. "We're going to be in good faith of changing policing in Brooklyn Center. We haven't seen a whole lot of change."
Following Daunte's death, the city passed the Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Resolution. With that, a committee was formed with two working groups to work toward police reform.
Since then, some changes have surfaced, including a "cite and release" policy that was updated in September 2021.
"If somebody really is doing something that is a low-level offense, you give them a ticket and they can have their day in court," said former Brooklyn Center Mayor Mike Elliott back when it passed.
Brooklyn Center's new mayor, April Graves, agrees the process has not been moving quickly.
"I think some of the processes could be sped up," Graves said. "But at the same time, when we're making drastic changes to policy that can affect thousands of people's lives, we have to be very intentional about it — to make sure there are not any unintended consequences. I do think the part of the slowness, too, has been due to overturn in staff in our city."
Graves explained that in the past 18 months, the city has lost six out of seven director positions. They've worked on refilling those positions, but it has taken them time to do so.
Graves expressed that she empathizes with Wright and that she was also frustrated at the pace of government before she was elected.
But with the successful filling of those positions now, Graves said the city is moving forward with putting the resolution into tangible changes.
Plus, Graves said they have been working on other tangential things that would ultimately lead to the well-being of the city, including healing circles and programs like Emerging BC, which draw upon a cohort of residents to make the city a more equitable place to live and work.
"It may not be directly related to the recommendations of the implementation committee, but I think it does speak to the larger shift in culture within the city enterprise and the staff that work here," Graves said.
Kim Potter was released Monday morning as a part of a procedure that is afforded to all those who are convicted. Anyone in Minnesota serving a sentence is eligible for parole after having served two-thirds of their original sentence.
KARE 11 has reached out to Kim Potter through her attorneys for comment, but she declined to be interviewed.
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