Minneapolis Police Department: The Reforms Continue

In its first report, ELEFA noted that “the City and the MPD have made more progress toward building a foundation for sustainable reform in the first year of monitoring than nearly any other jurisdiction.”

By Catherine Shreves and John Satorius

Minneapolitans had a serious wake-up call in May 2020 when officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. Three other police officers watched and failed to intervene to prevent the murder.

Thousands of us protested, marched and demanded fundamental police reforms. Reforms began immediately and continue to this day, both at the city and state levels. It has been an “all hands on deck” effort for police reform for the past five years in Minneapolis.

What residents rejected was the demand by nine City Council Members to completely abolish the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). In 2021, there was a proposed charter amendment to have police only “if necessary,” which was soundly defeated. Three of the council members who sponsored that proposal were voted out of office.

Reforms from 2020 to 2024

Review of police policies began after the Floyd murder, but unnecessary police violence against protesters accelerated the process. Then-MPD Chief Medaria Arradondo made a number of revisions to the MPD’s policy manual, including requiring all crowd control weapons be approved by the Chief; expanding the definition and more tightly restricting use of force; giving first priority to de-escalation techniques; imposing a “duty  to intervene” on officers observing another officer using unreasonable force; banning chokeholds; prohibiting officers from speaking with police union officials at the crime scene; and placing restrictions on no-knock warrants.

In June 2020, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) began an investigation into MPD’s alleged racist policing. At the same time, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) began an investigation into MPD’s alleged unconstitutional policing. Hundreds of MPD officers began to resign or take disability leave in 2020, which continued over the next 3 years.

In July 2020, the Minnesota Legislature banned chokeholds; allowed cities to offer residency incentives to police officers; prohibited warrior style training; and created a panel of state-appointed arbitrators to reduce arbitrator reversal of police discipline decisions.

In its 2021 session, the legislature added restrictions to no-knock search warrants to these reforms.

In an unprecedented move,  in April 2021, Chief Arradondo testified in state court against Derek Chauvin, helping to convict him and get him sentenced to prison for 22.5 years for murdering George Floyd. Chauvin was also convicted and sentenced to a concurrent 21 year sentence in federal court for violating George Floyd’s civil rights. He is now serving these sentences in the Federal Correctional Institution Big Spring in Texas.

MPD reforms continued in 2021. The City embedded a city attorney into the police complaint process; prohibited temporary de-activation of body worn cameras; and gave greater priority to recruiting officers with Minneapolis residency and social service experience. Derek Chauvin had been a field training officer, and the program was transformed so no one with Derek Chauvin’s history of abuse would ever again qualify for this role. The City also limited pretextual traffic stops for minor offenses that do not impair safety; stopped prosecution for non-payment of tickets and fines not impacting public safety; and started a pilot program with Canopy Roots Mental Health for mental health response teams to replace armed police response for some 911 calls. Mayor Frey also launched a Community Safety Work Group (Mayor’s Work Group) to make recommendations for public safety and accountability reforms in December 2021.

In January 2022, MPD Chief Arradondo retired, and an acting chief stepped in during the search for a replacement. The next month, February 2022, an MPD officer killed Amir Locke during a no-knock warrant search. In response, Minneapolis immediately prohibited all no-knock warrants. Video showed Locke holding a gun and the officer was not disciplined, based on a Minnesota Attorney General and Hennepin County Attorney joint report that found a reasonable officer in that situation would have felt his life threatened.

In April 2022, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights Department (MDHR) released the results of its investigation of the MPD, finding that the “MPD has a pattern or practice of discriminatory, race-based policing that is caused primarily by an organizational culture…where officers are trained to be aggressive towards community members.” The City began negotiating with MDHR on a list of changes that the City needed to make in its policing. The Minnesota Justice Research Center held community meetings to get input on what community wanted to see in that agreement. Based on the report, recommendations from MDHR and recommendations from the community, a legal agreement, called a “Court Enforceable Settlement Agreement,” was created jointly by the City and MDHR. This agreement requires an independent monitor overseeing the implementation of additional police reforms to ensure that the requirements of the agreement are met.

In June 2022, the Mayor’s Work Group released its report with more reform recommendations, including a more coordinated structure for public safety. The city adopted and implemented this new structure the same year by creating the new Office of Community Safety. This new department incorporates all community safety departments: Emergency Management, Fire, Police, 911 and Neighborhood Safety. Toddrick Barnette, who had been Chief Judge of Hennepin County District Court, now serves as Commissioner of Public Safety.

The Mayor’s Work Group also recommended that MPD increase officer compensation to help recruit more officers, as over 300 officers had been lost since 2020. This reform was implemented in July 2024 with a new police contract. The number of officers began to increase and in January, 2025, added its largest and most racially diverse class of recruits in the last five years.

In response to the Mayor’s Work Group’s recommendation to expand the Canopy Roots pilot program for mental health response teams, the city made a permanent mental health response team.

In November 2022, Minneapolis hired Brian O’Hara to serve as Chief of Police, someone who previously had overseen the implementation of a consent decree in Newark, New Jersey. By July 2023, the City entered into a Court Enforceable Settlement Agreement with MDHR, which was approved and is enforced by the Hennepin County District Court.

Chief O’Hara reorganized MPD into two divisions: one focused on police crime-fighting operations and the other on implementing the reforms required under the Settlement Agreement.

Also in 2022, the Unity Community Mediation Team (UCMT) was formed by leaders from our most justice-impacted communities. They collaborated with MPD to create the Police Community Relations Council (PCRC), which has undertaken a host of reforms, and in 2025 opened sites in several justice-impacted communities to receive MPD complaints, mentor new officers, and mediate disputes.

The Settlement Agreement requires MPD to “fundamentally redesign, implement and maintain new use of force policies, as well as training, supervision, and accountability systems, so as to recognize the humanity, dignity and civil rights of individuals, to ensure non-discriminatory policing, to build community trust, and to reduce dangers for officers.” The Agreement requires officers to de-escalate; prohibits officers from using force to punish or retaliate; prohibits pre-textual stops; prohibits so-called consent searches during pedestrian or vehicle stops; and limits when officers can use chemical irritants and tasers.

The Agreement also has a number of other requirements. Culture change will be driven and sustained by new training, accountability and more robust data collection and reporting systems. Officer misconduct complaints must be processed within six months. MPD must provide officers with support services, including for mental health support. Finally, the Agreement requires MPD to engage with and collect feedback from both officers and community members (with an emphasis on marginalized communities).

In the 2023 session, the MN legislature passed additional policing reforms, including prohibiting any peace officer being a member of an extremist or hate group.

In February of 2024, the City and MDHR hired an independent monitor to oversee implementation of the reforms required by the Settlement Agreement, Equal Law Enforcement for All or ELEFA.  ELEFA’s role is to guide and report on MPD’s implementation of the required reforms for at least the next 4 years. ELEFA will be reporting twice annually in interactive public sessions, which began in the fall of 2024. In its first report, ELEFA noted that “the City and the MPD have made more progress toward building a foundation for sustainable reform in the first year of monitoring than nearly any other jurisdiction.”

Meanwhile, in 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) released its report on its MPD investigation finding a “pattern or practice of conduct that deprives people of their rights”, noting that “MPD uses excessive force and unlawfully discriminates against Blacks and Native Americans.” The City and the DOJ agreed to a Consent Decree in January 2025, but following Donald Trump’s inauguration, the DOJ pulled out of the agreement. Nevertheless, Mayor Frey has issued an executive order for MPD and all other city departments, to implement the DOJ reforms, regardless of the DOJ withdrawal.

Where Does Reform Stand Today?

ELEFA’s first reports have been encouraging. In November 2024, ELEFA told a community meeting that “[w]e have not really found any resistance to this process in the department or in  the city. Everyone knows that change is needed here and everybody wants to see change happen. “ In its March 2025 report, ELEFA said that “MPD and City are making steady, demonstrable progress toward establishing the foundation essential to sustaining compliance with the Agreement.”

But it is a city election year, and public safety reforms remain a hot topic. Two controversies recently have been challenging for MPD. The first is that city ordinances prohibit MPD from verifying immigration status, or even questioning anyone about immigration status. On June 3, 2025, an armored column of heavily armed Federal agents, including ICE agents, raided a restaurant on East Lake Street. Many community members mistakenly assumed it was an immigration raid and protested, some throwing items such as garbage cans at the Federal Agents. MPD had not received notice of the impending raid but was called in for crowd control—not for immigration enforcement – and escorted the federal agents and their armored vehicles out of the protest area, without anyone being hurt. Some individuals accused MPD of collaborating with federal agents just for ensuring no one in the crowd was hurt.

Another controversy came from a local news story noting that the MPD officer leading use of force training is the same officer who shot Amir Locke in 2022 while executing a no-knock warrant. Although the Attorney General and Hennepin County Attorney found the officer violated no laws, but many community members felt that this assignment fundamentally violated community trust.  Last week, the city removed the officer from this position in recognition of the priority that must be given to building community trust even though he had been performing this work at a high level.

Stay tuned. This is an election year, but the reform work continues!

John Satorius and Catherine Shreves, both retired from distinguished law practice, are co-chairs of the Plymouth Congregational Church Re-imagining Community Safety Group.

For 40+ years John was an attorney with the Fredrikson Law Firm, where he specialized in outside general counsel work for small and medium sized companies. He served as chair of Fredrikson’ corporate department for many years, and also for several years as Fredrikson’s president and board chair. Since his retirement he has engaged in a variety of volunteer civic activities, including as a political science instructor for Osher Life Long Learning Institute, and secretary and board member of MinnPost.

A civic activist, Catherine’s work has included chairing numerous major entities: these include the Minneapolis Charter Commission, the Park Board’s Chain of Lakes Renovations in the 1990s, the Minneapolis School Board, and R.T. Rybak’s transition team when he was elected mayor. She has served on many boards, including the League of Women Voters Minneapolis, Minneapolis Foundation, and Planned Parenthood. She co-chaired Charter for Change in 2021, recruiting 45 volunteers to educate Minneapolis residents on the Executive Mayor-Legislative Council charter proposal on the 2021 city ballot, which successful passed.