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Minneapolis poured millions into police reform after George Floyd’s death. Where do things stand now?
Minneapolis — More than 1,200 people died in the U.S. during interactions with police last year — the deadliest in the last decade, according to Mapping Police Violence, a nonprofit that tracks data from law enforcement agencies nationwide.
And no civilian death put a city’s police department under more intense scrutiny in that time than the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Since then, the Minneapolis Police Department has spent at least $2.5 million on training and recruitment, but some community members say that has not translated to trust.
“I don’t know that it’s going to get better, and I don’t really think that it will in my lifetime,” said Sayge Caroll. She runs a pottery workshop using funds that were shifted from the city’s police budget to expand artist-led community healing, among other services and programs.
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara says repairing what’s been broken requires a paradigm shift.
“I naively thought that this was a place ready for change, and it just wasn’t,” O’Hara said. “…Slowly, we began to make changes incrementally to address, you know, kind of getting the culture of the agency in line with the values of the community.”
He’s made a point of hitting the streets himself, showing up on scene, going on ride-alongs and meeting community leaders where they are.
“There’s no way law enforcement can bring crime down and keep it down if we’re also not trying to build trust,” O’Hara said. “…That’s why the biggest thing for me is not to just change policy here. It’s to change what cops actually do on the street.”
Months after O’Hara took the job in 2022, Minneapolis police entered into an agreement with the Justice Department to address a pattern and practice of abuse. Prior to that, in June 2020, the city banned chokeholds and restraining techniques like the ones used on Floyd.
At a training facility, O’Hara literally changes out posters like one that shows an officer being held hostage.
When asked if such imagery reinforces fear, O’Hara said, “Certainly. Sort of that ‘us against them,’ that very, very militaristic approach to policing.”
Michelle Phelps, an author and sociology professor at the University of Minnesota, says Minneapolis represents “both the promise of liberal police reform, but also its persistent failures.” Still, she has also seen positive strides.
“There have been a number of innovations about, how do we think about reducing that contact between police and community members? And you’re seeing other kinds of responders that can come into those situations that aren’t armed with a gun and that aren’t trained in how to deploy violence,” Phelps said.
Muhammad Abdul-Ahad, executive director of Touch Outreach, is one of those responders.
“Our work is more preventative. [Police are] more responsive,” Abdul-Ahad said.
Six nights a week, Abdul-Ahad leads a team of volunteers de-escalating conflicts before police are even called. Trust between his organization and the police is “much better” since O’Hara became the chief, he said.
Four years after Floyd’s death, Caroll says, “We’re going to get through whether or not the systems start to work for us.”
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As the weather cools down, dating heats up as people secure a cuddle buddy for “cuffing season,” but for some, taking a slower approach may be the best strategy.
A “slowmance” is the idea of taking an intentionally slower pace than what many might think of as “the norm” in the dating world, Mere Abrams, a therapist at FOLX Health, told CBS News.
“There can be a tendency to go really deep, really quickly,” Abrams said, but a slowmance focuses on “keeping things light and fun for a while before we get into those deep topics like family, past trauma, challenges in life.”
While anyone can try this strategy at any time, the added pressure and stress of the holidays can make this approach especially beneficial this time of year— and particularly for LGBTQ folks who may face unique challenges.
“There’s a lot of reasons why someone might want a slowmance — they might really want to build that foundation first before going deep. They might want to keep things light. They might also have parts of themselves so they’re not ready to share. If there’s someone who’s in the midst of gender transition, keeping things slow while they’re going through their own changes and process,” Abrams said, adding having that joyous connection may act as an escape to “get your mind off the harder parts of this season and the harder parts of life.”
In a report published by dating app Hinge earlier this year, the “slowmance” approach was identified as becoming increasingly popular among LGBTQ daters no matter the season.
“Dating can be especially complex for queer daters for many reasons. Opting for a slowmance helps LGBTQIA+ daters cultivate emotional intimacy and build the strong foundation necessary to navigate those complexities,” Moe Ari Brown, Hinge’s love and connection expert and licensed therapist, said in a news release about the report.
Abrams said this approach can be “beneficial for everyone,” however, by offering a different approach to the typical “rules” of dating.
“For cis and straight people, there’s also sometimes a pressure for the relationship to go at a particular pace, and sometimes that works for people, and sometimes that doesn’t. So having this term and this concept and this framework to do things differently, I think is helpful for everyone,” Abrams said.
Tips for approaching a slowmance
Communicate: Being open and direct about what you’re looking for is key, Abrams said. “Being on the same page about the rate at which they want things to go is really important for kind of setting yourself up for success in this area,” they said.
Keep convos light: Instead of bringing up topics that might be typical on a first date like family, exes and more, remember that you can steer clear of the serious stuff and keep the conversation casual.
Consider boundaries: Think about your own tendencies in relationships and the boundaries that you might want to set up, so you “don’t fall into the pattern of going deep too quickly if that is something that you have done in the past,” Abrams said.
Focus on fun: Remember the goal of a slowmance is to focus on joy, Abrams said, so lean into adventure, fun and flirtation.
