Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke Delivers Remarks on the Agreement with the City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis Police Department to Reform City’s and Police Department’s Unconstitutional and Unlawful Practices

Remarks as Prepared for Delivery

Good afternoon. My name is Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice. I am pleased to stand with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) Chief Brian O’Hara. Today, the Justice Department and the City of Minneapolis have agreed to a court-enforceable consent decree addressing the United States’ findings that the city and police department engage in a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the Constitution and federal law.

The Justice Department’s investigation found that police used excessive force, unlawfully discriminated against Black and Native American people in its enforcement activities, violated the rights of those engaged in protected speech; and — together with the city — discriminated against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to calls for assistance. These are severe problems that require a strong remedy.

The consent decree that we are announcing today is robust and comprehensive in scope. The decree focuses on four central goals: promoting constitutional policing; strengthening trust and public confidence in law enforcement; promoting public safety; and ensuring freedom from discrimination and bias. The decree sets forth remedies to address the problems identified in our findings. These remedies include:

• Limiting uses of force, closely regulating or eliminating some types of force altogether, and adopting a system to thoroughly and fairly investigate uses of force;
• Ensuring officers intervene to prevent unlawful uses of force, and seek prompt medical care as needed;
• Avoiding unnecessary stops by focusing traffic enforcement on improving public safety;
• Regularly assessing whether MPD’s enforcement programs are causing racial disparities and taking action to avoid them;
• Protecting journalists from retaliation by law enforcement and safeguarding their right of access during demonstrations so that they can report to the fullest extent possible;
• Protecting the right to engage in demonstration and protest by focusing on de-escalation, limiting the use of militarized tactics and restricting use of force, including by barring the use of CN gas (a dangerous type of tear gas);
• Supporting the city’s non-police behavioral health response program with the goal of not using police officers to respond to people with behavioral health needs where there is no need for a law enforcement response; and
• Avoiding use of handcuffs on children under the age of 14.

I want to turn now to next steps. Today, the Justice Department is filing a complaint in federal court that outlines the violations of law identified in our investigation. We are asking the court to issue an order approving the terms of the decree. We are also seeking designation of an independent monitor and have asked the court to appoint Effective Law Enforcement for All — which is evaluating the city’s compliance with a settlement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights — to monitor implementation of the federal consent decree. This appointment will promote efficiency in monitoring and enable the city and MPD to keep building upon the work they have been doing to comply with the state settlement.

We believe that these reforms can be instituted swiftly. The Justice Department will move to terminate provisions of the decree as full and effective compliance is achieved.

We are confident that Minneapolis will comply with the decree’s requirements. The city has already taken several important steps along the path of reform. For example, MPD policy now prohibits neck restraints, and officers cannot use certain crowd control weapons without approval of the MPD chief. Following the 2022 death of Amir Locke during a “no-knock” warrant execution, MPD banned their use. And the city has already launched a promising behavioral health response program so that trained mental health professionals will respond to calls for service that do not need a police response. Building upon this momentum, we have every confidence that the Minneapolis Police Department will emerge from this process a more trusted and more effective law enforcement agency.

Let me be clear: policing is a dangerous and difficult job. Most officers serve with honor and with great personal sacrifice. With this decree, we have the opportunity to see that they get the tools and support they need to do their jobs safely and effectively. For example, the decree requires the city to provide confidential mental health wellness services to all officers.

The people of Minneapolis have made clear that they deserve constitutional and lawful policing. We urge the public to remain engaged in this process. Public input on policies, comments at hearings, and involvement on advisory groups will be key in the road ahead, and essential to ensuring those reforms are enduring and long-lasting. The consent decree is not a ceiling on reform — it is just a starting point. Community members can and should continue to advocate for reforms beyond the scope of this decree, and push for change deemed necessary for a safe and equitable Minneapolis.

We all remember the tragic events of May 25, 2020, when Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd while three other officers stood by and failed to intervene or act to save him. I took an oath to office as Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division, just one year after George Floyd’s death. George Floyd’s death was not just a tragedy; it was a galvanizing force for this city and for our nation. All eyes remain on Minneapolis. With this consent decree, we now have a roadmap for reform that will help this community heal while strengthening trust between law enforcement and the people they serve. There can be no question that this consent decree marks a new day and represents a critical step forward in our work to ensure constitutional policing.

A word on consent decrees.

Consent decrees in the policing context are important vehicles for protecting the civil and constitutional rights of those living in communities where we have identified pattern and practice violations. They help us avoid contested litigation and put communities immediately on the path to reform and transformation.

When entered by the court, the Minneapolis consent decree will be the 16th policing pattern or practice consent decree and settlement agreement that the Justice Department is currently enforcing. Thirty years of experience make clear that consent decrees continue to be successful in achieving policing reform.

Cities that have worked collaboratively with the Justice Department have made important, tangible progress toward better, safer, and lawful policing. For example,

• The Seattle Police Department has reduced the use of force in crisis incidents to less than two percent of such incidents, and the majority of force used (65%) is low-level.
• In Portland, the police department has significantly reduced its use of Tasers, and when officers do use them, they comply with police and national standards.
• In Newark, officers now conduct stops in compliance with constitutional standards, and the City developed promising and successful public safety systems that include the community, like a Community Street team of non-police responders. These efforts have been successful at reducing the burden on law enforcement and reducing crime, which is down 40% since we entered the consent decree.
• In Albuquerque, nearly 5% of the call volume to the Albuquerque Police Department is now diverted to Albuquerque Community Safety, which sends teams of civilian responders to assist people with behavioral health needs.
• And in New Orleans, the police department went from a high of 22 critical incidents in 2012 to a low of five critical incidents in 2023.

I want to close by thanking Mayor Frey and Chief O’Hara for their tremendous leadership. I also want to recognize my team, the dedicated career attorneys and professionals in the Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Minnesota, for their work on this important matter. They worked closely with police professionals and experts at every stage of this process. They are, and have always been, the true backbone of the Justice Department.

At this time, Chief O’Hara will offer remarks. Thank you.