Report: Brooklyn Park should focus on violence prevention, police reform

Brooklyn Park should focus on stopping violence before it happens and figuring out where changes might be needed in its police department, according to a new report from the St. Paul-based Wilder Foundation.

The 115-page "Brooklyn Park: Improving Safety and Policing" report, completed over six months and presented to the City Council on Monday, also looked at root causes of violence and overall public safety in the north metro suburb.

"This timely report provides a thorough research-based foundation to better understand and address the root causes and conditions that result in a lack of safety in a community," said City Manager Jay Stroebel in a statement.

"The Brooklyn Park City Council and city staff are committed to work together with the community to create the conditions for safety to thrive in all corners of our city, and continue our ongoing work to provide the best public safety services for all our residents."

No action was taken Monday. The council will continue to discuss the report's findings at future meetings.

In late 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Brooklyn Park officials hired Wilder Research to uncover the likely root causes of violence in Brooklyn Park, create recommendations for violence prevention and develop a tool to assess the police department's performance.

Researchers reviewed existing research on community safety and policing, analyzed community survey data related to the root causes of violence and conducted interviews with more than 50 residents and city employees.

"Our research underscored there is a need to address the social and systemic conditions that lead to violence and disorder in Brooklyn Park, as well as a desire to improve interventions, including those by police," said Julie Atella, research scientist at Wilder and co-researcher on the study in a statement.

"We hope the data and community wisdom we gathered and reviewed for this study will provide valuable insight to guide the city of Brooklyn Park on what to focus their attention and resources on to improve safety and policing."

Among the key findings: The city should place more emphasis on crime prevention through early intervention programs and consider expanding restorative justice programs, exploring community-based mental health and substance use response, address inequities and increase ways for residents to connect with the city.

The report also suggested that police end consent-based searches or establish clear policies that officers give written and verbal instructions so subjects know they can refuse to be searched without consequence. Officers should identify themselves when arriving on scenes, be trained in de-escalation and have laws and union contract provisions to hold them accountable, the report said.

Council Member Terry Parks said the idea of "non-police telling police what their job is" concerned him.

"I don't want this body micromanaging our police department," he said. "I will stand by our police department, and I say our police department is top of the line."

But Council Member Susan Pha said she liked the suggestions the report laid out.

"I think this is just a start," she said. "I am looking forward to ideas and how we can implement that here."

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768