Minneapolis Mayor Frey's credibility on police battered by false claims about reform

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey entered his second term promising to bring together a coalition of allies and former rivals to enact meaningful change to the Minneapolis Police Department following George Floyd's murder.

Two months in, a series of bruising revelations are raising fresh questions about his credibility on police reform — the very issue on which he hinged his re-election bid.

Amir Locke's killing during a police raid highlighted the Frey campaign's false claims that he had banned no-knock warrants. The department said it had stopped teaching officers about the controversial theory of excited delirium — and a Star Tribune report showed that was false. A new workgroup the mayor convened to provide him with safety recommendations has already lost two members, including one who raised concerns about its private meetings.

"I've had plenty of time to talk to the mayor about how disheartened I have been and heartbroken that I have been," said the Rev. DeWayne Davis, co-chair of the group advising the mayor on safety issues. "He now has to show leadership and he has to do it without favor or fear."

Where Davis saw disappointments, some of Frey's most vocal critics saw something else: confirmation of their belief that the mayor was unfit to oversee the city's Police Department.

"Unfortunately, it pretty much holds to pattern for Mayor Frey," said Jae Yates, an organizer with Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar. "I think that he has a history of making a lot of promises during campaign time, but he never followed through on the ones that he made [during] his first campaign."

In an interview last week, Frey acknowledged that he had made mistakes and he needs to regain the public's trust. "I'm the mayor of Minneapolis. I'm responsible," Frey said. "This is on me, and I'm going to fix it."

Frey could face an uphill battle. He defined the second half of his first term — and his re-election bid — on a promise to improve policing and public safety, without replacing the department as his opponents wished. Right now, he appears to have "alienated himself" with both progressives who want faster, bolder changes and centrists who want a clearer solution for tempering violent crime, said David Schultz, a political science professor at Hamline University.

"If he becomes basically paralyzed because he doesn't have public support, Minneapolis is not going to be able to move forward under very many things," Schultz said. "That becomes a real difficulty that his fate and maybe the fate of Minneapolis become tied together."

Part of Frey's plan involves addressing concerns raised over the past two-and-a-half weeks. The mayor said his staff is drafting a new policy to ensure more people review press releases on police shootings to avoid a repeat of the scenario that led to MPD describing Locke as a "suspect" four times. There is no evidence that Locke was tied to the homicide that prompted police to raid the apartment where he was shot.

The mayor said he takes responsibility for the decision to say on his campaign site that he banned no-knock warrants — despite the fact he still allowed the controversial practice to be used in some circumstances.

"Like many of you, I believed that no-knock warrants had been banned in our city," Council Member LaTrisha Vetaw wrote in a recent newsletter to constituents. "I've been trying to understand how this happened and how we can make sure it never happens again."

Looking back, Frey said, "My attempt to seek brevity resulted in information that was incomplete, and I get it and I own it and we're going to do better."

The mayor said he instructed Minneapolis police to remove excited delirium — a controversial diagnosis for severe agitation rejected by many doctors — from their training. When the Star Tribune reported that the training had continued, Frey said he would cancel the city's contract with a Hennepin Healthcare doctor who he said "went rogue" and added his own "wrong" and "misguided" opinions.

A month after he was re-elected, Frey unveiled his public safety workgroup of 35 people, including Sheila Nezhad, one of his main opponents in last year's election. Nezhad quickly resigned over concerns the group's meetings were private. Another is gone after his name surfaced in an unrelated fraud investigation. It nearly lost co-chair Nekima Levy Armstrong, who in an emotional news conference after video of Locke's killing was released, accused officials of engaging in a cover-up, whitewashing details of the shooting and failing to fulfill promises of transparency and accountability.

The work group members who remain all expressed a commitment to their work, Davis said. They've been receiving briefings from experts on multiple issues and are looking at everything from how to improve police accountability and working conditions to how to better intervene to stop cycles of violence.

"We are not shrinking back from anything that we think needs to happen. We are going to submit real recommendations that will bring real reforms and that work continues," Davis said.

But, he added, "I made it clear to the mayor: We are not electeds and we are not a crisis response. We are not going to try to make his short-term political problems go away. What we are going to try to do is recommend things that he can implement."

Frey said he's already working on efforts of his own. The city has boosted police recruitment efforts as it faces a looming court deadline to hire hundreds of officers to comply with minimum staffing provisions in the charter — or explain to a judge why it can't.

The mayor said they are narrowing in on a firm to conduct a national search for the next police chief, and he hopes to seek an exemption from state-imposed salary caps in hopes of recruiting the highest quality candidate. Interim Chief Amelia Huffman — who expressed interest in the position — hasn't been ruled in or out, nor has any other candidate, Frey said.

The mayor said he plans, too, to push for changes to state law that would allow for the wider and more consistent release of police body camera footage.

Some activists say they're not counting on Frey to bring about the changes they're seeking. Yates' group is working to collect signatures for a proposal that would create a new, elected commission to oversee Minneapolis police.

"We are making progress and we're still going to try to get on the ballot for 2022, but if we don't get enough signatures, we will try for '23," Yates said. "We think that it really is the real path forward for people to actually have control over policing and actually get to self determination."