Of 439 cases involving Minneapolis police misconduct handled
by a new office created last fall, not one so far has resulted in discipline of
a police officer.
Police department officials say those numbers obscure gains
made in responding to citizen complaints about police behavior, but skeptics
say the few cases of actual discipline confirm that the new system is not
working any better than the one it replaced.
“I believe there has been considerable progress,” said
Medaria Arradondo, commander of police internal affairs, who reviews complaints
along with Michael Browne, director of the new conduct review office.
“The criticism was that it would not improve process and
lead to less discipline,” said Teresa Nelson, legal director of the American
Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. “The numbers show that those criticisms
were accurate.”
The question of how Minneapolis police disciplines its own
is facing fresh scrutiny after several recent incidents involving Minneapolis
police officers. Two of the incidents involved off-duty officers accused of
fighting with black men and using racial slurs in Green Bay, Wis., and Apple
Valley, and led Police Chief Janeé Harteau to convene a citizens advisory group
this summer.
In addition, the city of Minneapolis made $14 million in
payouts for alleged police misconduct between 2006 and 2012, but the
Minneapolis Police Department rarely concluded that the officers involved in
those cases did anything wrong, according to a Star Tribune analysis.
In the past, complaints against police could be lodged with
the Police Civilian Review Authority (CRA). The CRA board had criticized
then-Police Chief Tim Dolan for failing to impose discipline it had
recommended. The CRA was dismantled in 2012 and replaced with the Office of
Police Conduct Review by the Minneapolis City Council.
Under the new system Arradondo and Browne reviewed 439 cases
and sent 17 of them to a conduct review panel to see if discipline was
warranted. A big group of cases was dismissed because they were older than 270
days.
All 17 cases that were forwarded involved incidents
initially reported to the old CRA.
The new review panel, consisting of two police lieutenants
and two citizens appointed by the City Council, decided seven of the 17 cases
merited possible discipline and forwarded its findings to Harteau.
Assistant Chief Matt Clark concluded that five of the seven
were “nondisciplinary violations” and only eligible for coaching. That left two
for Harteau for possible discipline. She has yet to rule on them.
Harteau is on vacation and unavailable, her office said.
Arradondo said he was barred by the state Data Practices Act
from giving details of the five cases that Clark found were not subject to
discipline.
99 cases sent for coaching
Both Arradondo and Browne say it’s too early to judge the
new office, which consists of two civilian investigators and seven
investigators who are police officers. A complainant can request a civilian
investigator.
Browne said the office had taken big steps in clearing the
backlog of CRA cases.
He said a major change is that the office sent 99 complaints
involving minor violations to the precincts, where supervisors coach officers
to improve their interactions with the public.
Arradondo said the complaint process has been streamlined
but said, “we still have a lot of work to do to improve upon, both in the areas
of building public confidence in the process and infrastructure in terms of
staffing.”
Indeed, the lack of discipline resulting from the 439 cases
has raised eyebrows.
“It certainly would raise red flags about the objectivity of
the office,” said Brian Buchner, vice president of the National Association of
Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement. “People should be asking questions and
the council should be asking questions about whether it’s effective … Any time
you have as significant a revamping as has been done in Minneapolis, the
decisionmakers have an obligation to evaluate the impact.”
While he does not dismiss the role of discipline, Browne
said the focus on coaching officers is designed to change police culture. Among
the complaints referred for coaching are accusations that officers were rude,
he said.
Browne said he wants officers to think about “garnering
respect of the community, not because of the discipline, but what is best for
society. … If you only use the hammer you aren’t using all the tools in the
toolbox to effect the change.”
Slurs against a protected class, be it race, gender or
sexual orientation, are not minor violations and are subject to discipline.
‘Police-dominated process’
Samuel Walker, professor emeritus at the University Nebraska
Omaha and author of two books on police accountability, said coaching “has a
lot of merit to it.”
But he said it was “troubling” there had been no discipline.
“I am disturbed about that and that it is a police-dominated process with
citizen input.”
Both Walker and the Minnesota ACLU’s Nelson endorsed
Buchner’s call for an independent review of the new office.
Ron Edwards, a longtime civil rights activist, said the data
show that cases get “filtered” out before reaching Harteau. “I don’t think
citizens are getting much for their dollar,” he said.
Another layer of oversight is coming. A new Police Conduct
Oversight Commission consisting of seven civilians appointed by the mayor and
City Council will routinely audit the way complaints are handled. “With input
from the commission, the process will continue to be evaluated for
effectiveness and additional changes will be proposed to the mayor and City
Council when warranted,” according to the city’s website.
The Internal Affairs Unit investigates other complaints that
do not go through the conduct review office. In 2012, 29 officers were sent to
supervisors for coaching, 11 got reprimand letters, four were suspended and
three were terminated.
In 2013, only 25 cases, aside from the police oversight
unit, were investigated by Internal Affairs, leading to one reprimand letter
and one suspension, Arradondo said. He attributed the smaller number of cases
to coaching.
None of the cases filed since the oversight office opened
has gone to the review panel. In September four more citizens will be added to
the panel after a City Council hearing.
“We’re still putting in elements,” said Browne, who said
cases now move more swiftly and can be tracked far better. “Next year we will
have comparative data and we can look at different trends,” he said.