MINNEAPOLIS — Two members of the Community Commission on Police Oversight in Minneapolis have departed from their positions in recent days, leaving important vacancies on a civilian board tasked with reviewing MPD policies and discipline.
The resignations were confirmed publicly for the first time during the commission's meeting on Monday night. According to emails provided to KARE 11, the members are Ward 6 Representative AJ Awed and Ward 8 Representative Fartun Weli. Awed did not respond to requests for comment, while Weli said that "I am no longer a Commissioner — resigned and I can't say more about it."
The commission, known by the acronym CCPO for short, works under the umbrella of the Minneapolis Civil Rights Department. That department has been rocked by turmoil lately, after Mayor Jacob Frey fired Civil Rights Director Alberder Gillespie last month. His administration accused Gillespie of "threatening the City's ability" to carry out police reforms mandated through a state settlement agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. At the same time, another top civil rights official — Office of Police Conduct Review Director John Jefferson — also left his post.
Chair Mary Dedeaux-Swinton opened Monday night's CCPO meeting by saying she would not allow any discussion of the departures within the Civil Rights Department, citing "personnel matters which are not within the purview of this body."
That led to immediate pushback from Ward 9 Commissioner Stacey Gurian-Sherman.
"It does affect us," Gurian-Sherman said. "It's the biggest upheaval we've had, and plus we have two commissioners that resigned! Are we just going to ignore what's in front of us?"
Margaret Anderson Kelliher, the City Operations Officer who serves in Mayor Frey's cabinet, has taken over interim duties as the temporary leader of the Civil Rights Department following Gillespie's firing. She addressed the commission on Monday evening to update members on the hiring process for the new civil rights director and provided more data on the backlog of police discipline cases in the Office of Police Conduct Review, which was mentioned in a city memo as part of the reason for Gillespie's firing.
Anderson Kelliher also declined to address the specific departures within the Civil Rights Department, but she said the Frey administration plans to begin interviewing candidates for the director position after the job posting closes Monday night. The city hopes to have a new director installed next month, she said.
As for the future of the civil rights division in Minneapolis, she said this uncertainty would not interfere with the department's work in implementing the state settlement agreement on police reform. She also noted that the city is working with the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement to create a training plan for civilian oversight commissioners in Minneapolis, to help them carry out their duties.
"This commission has not always been given the support that it needs," Anderson Kelliher said in an interview with KARE 11. "We really are committed to getting justice for people who are filing complaints against police officers... we're very committed to meeting the settlement agreement."
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