Star Tribune
Three finalists selected for independent monitor overseeing Minneapolis’ consent decrees
The city of Minneapolis has winnowed the pool of applicants vying to serve as independent monitor of its state and federal consent decrees on policing to three finalists, all of which are out-of-state groups.
A monitor wields considerable power in enforcing consent decrees — one of the federal government’s most aggressive tools for intervening in police departments with histories of systemic misconduct. Minneapolis is thought to be the first American city subject to simultaneous court-ordered reforms by separate jurisdictions.
After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, both the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice investigated the Minneapolis Police Department’s patterns and practices, found extensive violations of state and federal civil rights and prescribed sweeping reforms that will take the city years to achieve.
Minneapolis entered into a court-approved settlement agreement, laying out a timetable of reforms, with the state in July. It has not yet reached a formal agreement with the feds.
One court-appointed monitor will oversee both consent decrees, evaluate the police department’s compliance, report the city’s progress to the public and mediate disputes. The role of the evaluator is crucial because only when the court agrees that the reforms have been fully met will the consent decrees lift. Some cities have remained under federal oversight for decades.
The finalists are:
Effective Law Enforcement for All: Created by David L. Douglass, the former deputy monitor for the city of New Orleans, this team combines expertise from a group of retired police chiefs, civil rights attorneys, data analysts and racial equity researchers to help “reinvent law enforcement” in the communities they serve. The nonprofit conducted an audit of the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland, issuing recommendations for how to reshape organizational culture and reduce use of force incidents.
Jensen Hughes Inc.: A global engineering, consulting and technology firm with 90 offices — one in Minnetonka. In 2021, one of their law firms conducted a sweeping assessment of the Louisville Metro Police Department amid the fallout from Breonna Taylor’s death during a no-knock raid. They analyzed Louisville police datasets, including traffic stops and arrests, to determine disparate outcomes based on race and reviewed training procedures, which led to implemented reforms. The U.S Attorney’s Office also hired them to evaluate the Seattle Police Department’s training unit, while that city was under a federal consent decree.
Relman Colfax: A Washington D.C.-based civil rights law firm whose cases deal with discrimination in education, housing and lending. It has conducted civil rights audits of the policies of Facebook, Airbnb and State Street Bank, and it is currently helping an 11-year-old transgender girl who was denied access to girls’ restrooms sue a small Wisconsin school district.
The state consent decree initially stated that independent monitor needed to be in place by Nov. 10. Six local and national groups applied for the job in time for that deadline. None made the final round.
The deadline was extended and another call for applications was issued in September. Fourteen additional groups — including firms already monitoring other cities’ court-ordered policing reforms — submitted bids, according to records obtained through a data practices request.
They were:
- ADP Consulting
- Aegis Collaborative Solutions
- Effective Law Enforcement for All
- Guidepost Solutions
- Hughes Hubbard Reed
- Jensen Hughes
- Jones Walker
- Mitchell Stein Carey Chapman
- Pivot Consulting Group
- Relman Colfax
- Ropes & Gray
- Squire Patton Boggs
- Tiffany Lacy Clark
- Womble Bond Dickinson
While other cities under consent decrees like Baltimore and Springfield, Mass. made compliance monitor applications available for public review from the start of the process, these are not public. Minneapolis, MDHR and U.S. DOJ reviewed the applications, interviewed teams and agreed on the three finalists.
Because the group ultimately chosen is expected to conduct meaningful engagement with the community in addition to providing technical assistance to the city, the finalists will appear at two public forums to present who is on their teams, how they’ll monitor the police department’s compliance and approve trainings and policies.
The forums are scheduled for:
Jan. 9 at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, (Cowles Auditorium), 301 19th Ave. S., from 6-8 p.m.
Jan. 10 at Plymouth Congregational Church, 1919 LaSalle Ave., from 6-8 p.m.
Afterward, one team will be chosen for the job. Their contract is subject to approval by the Minneapolis City Council, with an anticipated start date of March 9, 2024.
Two men are dead and one woman was injured in a shooting at a homeless encampment in south Minneapolis on Sunday afternoon, police said. It was the second shooting at a Minneapolis encampment this weekend.
At about 2:20 p.m. Sunday, police responded to a reported shooting in the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue near the railroad tracks at the small encampment between Snelling and Hiawatha avenues. At the scene, officers found two men with fatal gunshot wounds, said Sgt. Garrett Parten Minneapolis Police spokesman. Responders rendered aid, but both men died at the scene.
A woman was found at the scene with life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital where she was being treated Sunday night, he said. Police have yet to say whether the three were living at the encampment.
Officers detained three people, who Parten said have since been released after police found they were not believed to be involved in the shooting. No suspects had been identified as of 6:30 p.m. Sunday.
The shooting is the second at a southside homeless encampment this weekend. One man died and two were critically injured early Saturday at an encampment shooting near E. 21st Street and 15th Avenue S. On Sunday, the man was identified as Deven Leonard Caston, 31, according to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office.
“We don’t know if there’s a connection between this homeless encampment shooting and the one that occurred yesterday,” Parten said on Sunday. “That is a consideration of the investigation. We can’t rule it out.”
Ward 12 Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, who represents the area and lives nearby, was at the site of the shooting Sunday afternoon. She said officials need information about what happened to better understand how to address situations like this long-term.
“This is an absolute tragedy, and this type of violence should never occur within our city,” she said. “It really makes me think about how we need to look at this more systemically and not just take a whack-a-mole approach and expect the problem to go away.
During Sunday’s Twitch stream, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez played Madden while discussing making homebuying more accessible, building affordable housing, eliminating student loan debt and raising the federal minimum wage.
After the match, Walz showed off his Sega skills in a round of “Crazy Taxi,” the Y2K-era racing game where gamers play as a taxi driver picking up passengers and taking them to their destination for cash.
Walz called himself a “first-generation gamer” and recalled playing “Crazy Taxi” when he bought a Sega Dreamcast. He also mentioned the Minnesota Star Tribune’s coverage of how his old game console was sold and ended up with a Plymouth resident, who still has it.
Afterward, Walz and Ocasio-Cortez watched a short clip of Trump denying on Rogan’s podcast that he lost the 2020 presidential election. Democrat Joe Biden won that year.
Ocasio-Cortez during the livestream also showed viewers her farm on the cozy, indie game Stardew Valley. Walz said the game reminded him of Minnesota: “You’ve got mining,” he said. “You’ve got agriculture. You’ve got snow.”
Before Walz headed out to a rally in Nevada, he pleaded with viewers to vote. More than 12,000 viewers tuned into the livestream on Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitch channel. More watched from Harris’ channel.
”Hey guys, they’re now scrambling and trying to call us Nazis and fascists,” said Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, who draped a sparkly ”MAGA” jacket over the lectern as she spoke. ”And you know what they’re claiming, guys? It’s very scary. They’re claiming we’re going to go after them and try and put them in jail. Well, ain’t that rich?”
Declared Hogan in his characteristic raspy growl: ”I don’t see no stinkin’ Nazis in here.”
Trump has denounced the four criminal indictments brought against him as politically motivated. He has ramped up his denunciations in recent weeks of ”enemies from within,” naming domestic political rivals, and suggested he would use the military to go after them. Harris, in turn, has called Trump a ”fascist.”
The arena was full hours before Trump was scheduled to speak. Outside the arena, the sidewalks were overflowing with Trump supporters in red ”Make America Great Again” hats. There was a heavy security presence. Streets were blocked off and access to Penn Station was restricted.
In the crowd was Philip D’Agostino, a longtime Trump backer from Queens, the borough where Trump grew up. The 64-year-old said it was appropriate for Trump to be speaking at a place bills itself as ”the world’s most famous arena.”
”It just goes to show ya that he has a bigger following of any man that has ever lived,” D’Agostino said.
