WASHINGTON – Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey pushed back Thursday on Trump administration plans to review a newly negotiated police-reform agreement with the city.
“Regardless of the Trump administration’s announcement, we will be moving forward with the terms outlined in the consent decree,” the mayor said in a statement. “Our city worked hard on this agreement, we are prepared to implement the reforms and we are going to get this done.”
The consent decree between the city and the Justice Department aims to curb excessive force and racial discrimination in the Minneapolis Police Department and is a reaction to the police killing of George Floyd more than four years ago.
But Kathleen Wolfe, President Trump’s new supervisor of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, which negotiated the agreement when President Biden was still in office, issued a memo that puts the implementation of that consent decree in question.
The memo – first reported by the Washington Post— says that the civil rights division must notify the Justice Department’s chief of staff of any consent decrees the division has finalized within the last 90 days.
That would include the one regarding the Minneapolis Police Department, which was finalized and approved by the City Council earlier this month, as well as similar agreements the Justice Department has negotiated with Louisville and Memphis, which also could be in jeopardy.
Minneapolis’ consent decree is now before U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson in Minnesota for final approval. Magnuson was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan.
It’s unclear if Magnuson can or would reject the agreement, which took years in the making. The Minneapolis police department on Thursday joined Frey in their defiance of the Justice Department’s plans to review the deal.
“We’re moving forward,” said Sgt. Garrett Parten, a spokesman for the department.
The city added in a statement that the reforms would happen “with or without the federal government.”
The consent decree would usher in new policies regarding the use of force and how Minneapolis police officers interact with members of the community. It would also expand a behavioral crisis response team that would handle emergencies in which a police officer is not necessary.
And millions of dollars would be spent on the reform efforts and on new staff and technology to carry out the agreement’s requirements.
In a separate action, the Justice Department has issued a freeze on new civil rights investigations and litigation. It’s unclear how long this freeze will last.
MinnPost reporter Winter Keefer contributed to this story.
