A coalition of police accountability advocates is seeking other avenues for community control of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) after its citizen petition to amend the city charter was rejected for not having enough verified signatures.
The ballot initiative would have asked voters whether to amend the city charter to create the Civilian Police Accountability Commission (CPAC), an independent, elected body of commissioners with the power to change MPD policies, conduct investigations into police misconduct allegations and issue discipline that could include termination of any officers including the chief.
Jess Sundin of Twin Cities Coalition for Justice said the initiative was driven by listening to families who have had loved ones killed by police who feel there is a severe lack of accountability. She said the investigations into those fatal encounters also being handled by law enforcement constitutes a conflict of interest and lack of independence, which the initiative would aim to prevent.
“We felt like this was a path to actually change that and empower community members to lead those investigations and lead those determinations and really put that power back into the hands of community members,” Sundin said.
In order for a citizen petition to make it onto the ballot, it must have a minimum number of valid voter signatures that is equal to 5% of the total amount of Minneapolis residents who voted in the most recent election, which in 2024 was 8,943 signatures. The petition would then have to be approved by the Charter Commission before the City Council steped in to approve final ballot initiative language by a July 9 deadline for the initiative to make it into the ballot.
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That process was cut short, however, after the coalition turned in a petition with more than 12,000 signatures on May 1. Just more than a week later on May 9, City Clerk Casey Carl, whose office is tasked with verifying signatures for such petitions, told council members that his office could only verify around 5,500 of the signatures, leaving the petition almost 3,400 signatures short of the required threshold.
The coalition then had until May 20 to submit the remaining signatures to reach the required number. They gathered more signatures but not enough before the deadline expired.
The effort comes more than two years after another ballot initiative – Yes for Minneapolis – that aimed to shift authority over MPD from the mayor to the city council under a new Department of Public Safety. Minneapolis voters rejected the ballot question during the 2021 municipal elections, though it came close to succeeding, receiving about 44% of the vote.
Though the petition comes a few years after the Yes for Minneapolis initiative, the coalition began working on the CPAC idea years before in 2017. After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the idea evolved into a citizen petition and the coalition has been gathering signatures since.
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The commission is inspired by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) in Chicago, which was created in 2016 and has the power to conduct investigations into police misconduct complaints and killings by officers.
Michelle Phelps, a sociology professor at the University of Minnesota, said challenges to the Minneapolis charter to change the city’s power structure go back to the 1960s, but anti-police violence and police accountability groups using that method is relatively new. Phelps said the method is good for trying to force the city’s hand by putting the measure up for a vote but where it falls short is laying out what the commission would do and whether the community would be involved in shaping it.
“There’s not that much that goes into the city charter. It’s like a series of rules and protocols more than it is (a) fleshed-out policy that really gets into the nitty gritty of design,” she said. “And it’s a blunt tool in the sense that the public really only has the option of a yes or no vote once it gets to the point where it’s on the ballot.”
Sundin said the coalition is examining their options as they move forward, though they have ruled out legally challenging the city clerk’s analysis of the signatures.
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Due to the more progressive makeup of the City Council, the coalition is now considering asking council members to use their powers to put the initiative on the ballot. Though they did not meet the threshold number of signatures, the extra signatures collected before May 20 was to show council members that residents support the idea. The council can either amend the charter by ordinance, which requires unanimous support from the council and mayoral approval, or it can refer a proposed amendment to voters, which is still subject to review by the Charter Commission, but can make it on the ballot with a veto-proof majority.
“We wanted to convey to our elected representatives that there is broad support for this that hasn’t died down even though George Floyd was killed just over four years ago, that people still want to see real changes and don’t feel like waiting for consent decrees or appointed commissioners is enough,” she said.
Mohamed Ibrahim
Mohamed Ibrahim is MinnPost’s environment and public safety reporter. He can be reached at mibrahim@minnpost.com.
