Minneapolis city attorneys: No council authority on 'less-lethal' weapon regulation

The Minneapolis City Council does not have the authority to regulate the Police Department's use of less-lethal weapons for crowd control, the City Attorney's Office says.

The council expressed interest in either banning or constraining less-lethal weapons, such as rubber bullets and tear gas, by passing a resolution after a University of Minnesota study in January found that Minneapolis police seriously injured protesters with the weapons during demonstrations after the murder of George Floyd in May 2020.

But in a memo released Wednesday, city attorneys said that's not the council's call to make because the city charter gives the mayor "complete power" over the Police Department.

A City Council ordinance regulating less-lethal weapons "would impermissibly intrude upon the authority of the mayor and the police chief to direct the daily operations of the police department," according to the memo, which was issued in May but approved by the council for public release this month.

"An ordinance intruding into the functions and responsibilities of the police department or an ordinance that constrains or divests the Mayor's control over the police department are inappropriate intrusions by the City Council into the executive branch and an encroachment on the Mayor's authority," the memo reads. "Such action would exceed the powers provided to the City Council and violate the Charter."

Since last summer, several lawsuits have been filed against the city alleging people were injured by less-lethal weapons during protests, including a class-action suit by the American Civil Liberties Union.

"I want to make clear that this has real-life impacts," Council Member Cam Gordon, who wrote the council's resolution, said in a Facebook post about the memo. "We should put much more stringent limits on the use of these weapons — but cannot do anything more about it until and unless the charter is changed."

The council passed the resolution in April in a near-unanimous vote. Council Member Linea Palmisano cast the only "no" vote, citing concerns the council was moving too quickly and acting outside of its power.

"To me, this was a publicity stunt to take advantage of the moment," Palmisano said in an interview. "The really sad thing to me is that it was being presented as a promise to the public that we had no authority to make."

The charter provision that places the Police Department under the mayor's authority was last amended in 2015 and will be a ballot item in the upcoming November election.

In a statement, Mayor Jacob Frey's office said the city already has addressed the use of less-lethal weapons. Shortly after Floyd's death, Minneapolis agreed with the state Department of Human Rights to make several changes, including a restriction on when "crowd control" weapons" can be used. Additionally, changes made last March further regulated the use of less-lethal munitions.

"Mayor Frey has enacted several policy changes restricting the use of 'less-lethal' munitions, including putting restrictions on how they can be used and by which officers," a spokesperson said. "A short conversation with the mayor could have clarified this for Council Member Gordon, who instead made the time to draft a lengthy and inaccurate social media post."

While the city has adjusted less-lethal weapons policy to require the police chief's approval for use and limited which officers have authorization, such changes were made through an agreement with the state and with City Council approval.

Staff writer Liz Navratil contributed to this report.

Christina Saint Louis • 612-673-4668