MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Department of Human Rights announced plans to file a civil rights charge against the Minneapolis Police Department Tuesday, following the death of George Floyd.
The state's investigation will look into MPD practices and policies dating back at least a decade.
"This is the first time the state is launching a civil rights investigation into the systemic discriminatory practices of the largest police department in the state," Gov. Tim Walz said.
While it's a first for the state, this is not the first time a police department has come under this kind of scrutiny.
Around the country the federal government has conducted multiple civil rights investigations of police departments, often leading to court mandated agreements to reform.
It's the same kind of weight Gov. Walz promises this state investigation will have in Minneapolis.
Ferguson, Missouri and Cleveland, Ohio are two cities cities still under the reform agreements with the federal government.
Six years after the uprising in Ferguson, a recent review of reforms there said results from the civil rights investigation are mixed; and what has worked has been largely because of legal mandates.
Officer training and 'use of force' policies have improved, but other findings of the civil rights investigation, like broken community relations and lack of resources for officer well-being, still need work.
When the feds investigated the Cleveland Police Department in 2014, it found a pattern of excessive force, and the city agreed to a number of fundamental changes to its policies, practices, and training. But department critics say change has been slow and some worry the Trump administration won't fully enforce agreements made under President Obama.
Gov. Walz said he's going to take action at all levels from the neighborhood on up, to affect any real change.
The review of the Ferguson investigation said the only real changes came in the areas where there was the most public scrutiny.