On Friday morning the Department of Justice announced its findings in its investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department, revealing a pattern of "using unreasonable deadly force, discriminating against Black and Native Americans and violating the 1st amendment rights of protestors and the press" among many other unconstitutional and immoral practices. The DOJ's findings were no surprise to residents, activists and community leaders who have been actively working on policing issues in the State.
While some viewed this as a step forward, just the day before, the Minneapolis city attorney quietly filed a motion to dismiss the Federal lawsuit filed by the parents of Amir Locke. Amir, 22, was an innocent bystander who was fatally shot by a Minneapolis police officer during a no-knock raid in 2022.
“The DOJ can still bring criminal charges against MPD and the officer who killed Amir and they should. Especially in light of the new findings by Justice Garland,” says Andre Locke, Amir’s father.
The Department of Justice started their investigation of MPD in 2020 after officers murdered George Floyd and violated his civil rights, dozens of community leaders have been on the frontlines calling out the discrimination and often unjustifiable excessive and fatal force used by MPD well before then. They shared their response to the findings in a press conference Friday afternoon that was streamed by King Demetrius Pendleton with Listen Media. Many of them stating how the DOJ should also be investigating the Saint Paul Police Department and that the scope of their investigation, which was from 2016-2022, was too limited and should have dated back further.
In a joint issued statement, attorneys for the Locke family said “Unfortunately, our legal team remains skeptical about Minneapolis’ commitment to change and accountability." Attorneys Ben Crump, Jeff Storms and Tony Romanucci went on to say "we are deeply concerned that while City leaders appear to be cooperating with the DOJ directives to create change, the City is doing the opposite, and vigorously defending the conduct of the officers who shot and killed Amir Locke.”
The city of Minneapolis and the Department of Justice will spend the next few months negotiating the decent decree which will be spearheaded by the new police chief Brian O’Hara who has touted his success with turning around the Newark Police Department which was also issued a decent decree.
Overall the findings of the Department of Justice were very similar to the findings by the State Department of Minnesota Human Rights which was released months prior. DOJ Investigators found the department searches, stops and uses force six times more against Black and Native American people than White people. Despite discriminatory findings being revealed by both State and Federal Agencies the Minneapolis Police Officers Federation is in denial stating "study after study has demonstrated that the most significant factor that correlates to the likelihood of interactions with the police – whether as a perpetrator or a victim of crime – is NOT race, it is poverty."
With federal litigation still ongoing in cases like Amir Locke’s, attorneys say that these findings should be taken into account not just for the decent decree but in the courtroom where families are seeking justice due to decades of recklessness by the Minneapolis Police Department.
“The death of Amir included two of the four troubling behaviors found by the DOJ: excessive and unnecessary deadly use of force and discrimination against a young, Black man. The efforts by the City to try and dismiss this case should be a red flag for the community that city officials publicly stood next to and supported the Locke family in the aftermath of his killing, but the City now seeks to avoid ALL accountability for Amir’s death. This continued refusal to police from within is a textbook example of why the federal government must police the Minneapolis police.”
