A couple of weeks after city and state human rights officials announced they had agreed on terms on a court-enforceable settlement agreement to reform the Minneapolis Police Department, some have taken to the community to answer questions and gather feedback. 

Joined by more than a dozen residents, Minnesota Department of Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero and Ward 10 Council Member Aisha Chughtai fielded questions Thursday night at a Bryant Square Park forum ranging from how the agreement differs from past reform efforts to how the courts will be involved. 

Though many of the questions revolved around how the agreement would be implemented and the community’s involvement in that process, some forum goers expressed concerns over how city funds would be spent to execute the agreement and officers’ willingness to build relationships with community members during the process. 

The court-enforceable order is a 13-part document that includes changes to MPD policies and procedures of all kinds, including use of force, field training and body worn camera use, as well as how officers conduct stops, searches and arrests. It also features several provisions on nondiscriminatory policing.

The 144-page document is the culmination of a yearslong investigation that began in the days after George Floyd murder, which found that MPD had engaged in a pattern of practice of discriminatory race-based policing for at least the last 10 years.

The city faced some criticism for not involving members of the community in the process of drafting the agreement, though City Attorney Kristyn Anderson said the process did not allow for the public to be at the negotiating table.

Lucero has defended MDHR’s process, pointing to the 30 listening sessions her team held last summer for residents and officers. On Thursday, she recounted the investigation process and the requirements for change that sprang forth from it, emphasizing the role of MDHR’s engagement of both community members and officers in crafting the document. 

“Community members want a culture that prioritizes humanity that prioritizes de-escalation, and is more creative and expansive with public safety approaches,” she said. “Community members want strong systems in place for accountability, which is essential to transparency and to building trust.”

Aneesa Parks, a teacher and Ward 11 resident, echoed that desire for trust but said that in her experience, officers rarely share that same desire to get to know residents. 

“I don’t know a single Minneapolis Police officer,” she said. “If we’re going to get to the other side and build trust, you have to humanize everyone in the situation and not just humanize the people that I really, really want to humanize: the victim. We also have to humanize police officers.”

Another Ward 11 resident, Kate Vickery, said she’s concerned MPD may use the settlement agreement as a means to increase the department’s budget — which some criticize for its size — by tying compliance with the changes outlined in the document to more funds than needed to carry them out. 

“It feels really important to me that this reform document not become an excuse for pouring more money into an institution that is fundamentally racist and harming people, regardless of how this will play out in the end,” she said. 

Vickery asked how the council and its legislative powers could help combat that possibility. 

Chughtai said the solution is for the council to be thorough and require police officials to detail how the implementation funding will be used before approving the funding. 

“When MPD comes in to present their budget, (we’ll) ask them very specifically to point out which sections of the consent decree need to be funded, and if we are on track to meet those timelines and what parts of the MPD budget are going towards fulfilling them,” she said. “So we have a very clear understanding as a council — but as a community beyond that — of which of this money is going to pay for what things.”