Minneapolis City Council to vote on whether to approve police oversight commission nominees

The Minneapolis City Council is scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to approve the new police oversight commission, with 15 proposed members representing a range of professional experience — but not all races.

The nominees include eight white members and seven people of color, five of whom are Black. One member is Black and Native American, and another is white and Native American.

There are no Hispanic or Asian representatives on the committee, despite Hispanics making up nearly 10% of the city's population and Asians nearly 6%.

The commission's composition follows a major legal settlement with the state Department of Human Rights, approved by the city council in March, focused on racial discrimination involving police. Among many provisions, it required the city to create a police oversight commission and "to appoint a diverse group of community members that represent a cross-section of the Minneapolis community" including people with "different abilities" and "Black, Indigenous, and other individuals of color."

The nominees seem skewed toward a professional class. It includes five with law degrees, with at least 11 of the 15 members holding college or university degrees. Among the nominees of color, only one is a man.

The nominees were drawn from a pool of more than 160 applicants. Each of the city's 13 council members nominated one commissioner and two were nominated by Mayor Jacob Frey. The council's Public Health and Safety Committee approved the nominees last week.

The Star Tribune determined the racial composition of the commission by contacting nominees, council members and staff. The city clerk's office declined to release the data, citing state privacy laws.

Commission members will sit on rotating panels made up of three members and two police officers to consider complaints against police. They'll review investigative reports from the police internal affairs unit or city civil rights department, then vote on whether a complaint has merit. The police chief will decide then whether an officer should be disciplined and, if so, what the discipline should entail. The commissioners will meet at least four times a year to consider policy recommendations to the chief.

Based on interviews and the nominees' applications, here's a snapshot of the group:

Ward 1: Josh Loar, white, senior consultant for a company that designs performing arts venues. On the faculty of a university, he investigated a police response to a controversial rally on campus. "I am very invested in community and ensuring that the police force is working with the community and not in opposition to it."

Ward 2: Mara Schanfield, white, an educator, researcher, consultant, has training in psychology including a graduate degree in prevention science and practice coupled with a school counselor license.

Ward 3: Paul Olsen, white. Former legal counsel to the Seattle Police Department, he assisted drafting a police accountability ordinance and served as co-counsel for Seattle in a federal consent decree on police issues.

Ward 4: Melissa Newman, Black, an insurance underwriter who once worked at a juvenile probation office.

Ward 5: Jennifer Clement, white, a former school teacher in north Minneapolis who is now executive director of a home-care organization for people with physical and mental health disabilities.

Ward 6: AJ Awed, Black, East African, executive director of Cedar Riverside Community Council. Awed said he saw a "total breakdown of trust between the city's population and the police department" when he ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2021 and wants "to inject some trust in the system."

Ward 7: Mary Dedeaux-Swinton, Black, community volunteer. "I'm a logical person and can objectively look at things and apply rules as they are," she said. She served on a previous oversight board.

Ward 8: Fartun Weli, Somali American, CEO of Isuroon, a nonprofit serving Somali women and girls. "I am dedicated to fostering positive change between our community and the police, with a focus on increased accountability for law enforcement actions, particularly concerning people of color and the Somali community."

Ward 9: Stacey Gurian-Sherman, white, managing partner of a youth organization. "The disciplinary system within the Minneapolis Police Department has been abysmal. The system seems to be arbitrary, favoring some officers and discriminating against others."

Ward 10: Alexis Pederson, Native American and white, nanny. "I applied with the hope that this committee will be able to provide an additional level of accountability for individuals within MPD to uphold their oath of integrity, safety, as well as dignity and respect for human life."

Ward 11: Philip Sturm, white, has volunteered as a county special deputy and was on a police department workgroup to find alternative responses to 911 calls not requiring an armed police officer. He ran unsuccessfully for Minneapolis mayor in 2021.

Ward 12: James Westphal, white, attorney, primarily criminal defense. He said there were no consequences for the Metro Gang Strike Force, a police unit shut down in 2009 for misconduct. "There has got to be accountability, but it needs to be a fair process."

Ward 13: Nichelle Williams-Johnson, Black and Native American. Learning connections manager at the Learning Disabilities Association of Minnesota. "The main reason I applied for the commission is because I want to bridge the gap between the community and policing."

Frey's appointees:

Louis Smith, white, attorney. He has served on past boards including as president of Advocates for Human Rights. As a former deputy Hennepin County attorney he chaired a task force that made recommendations on racial composition of grand juries.

Latonya Reeves, Black, probation officer, vice chair of the Minneapolis Commission on Civil Rights. "We know we need reform, but we know we need responsible reform and that the community is heard, and I am someone who loves the community."