Minnesota continues to inch forward on much-needed public safety reforms.
Police reform is a work in progress in Minnesota
An assessment of what was accomplished by the Legislature and what needs further attention.
July 1, 2021 at 5:00PM
Progress has been halting and too slow for many. But as this year's legislative session finally grinds to a close, months of House hearings, protracted negotiations with the Senate, and executive action by Gov. Tim Walz have culminated in measurable gains.
The public safety bill puts sensible limits on the use of no-knock warrants and informants. It requires 911 operators to refer mental health calls to mental health teams. It will reform civil asset forfeitures, which some departments have relied on too heavily. It dials back fines and fees that disproportionately hurt low-income Minnesotans.
There is a desperately needed boost for funding public defenders and legal aid. The bill ends the barbaric practice of juvenile shackling in court. Police will no longer be required to arrest low-level offenders just for missing a court date.
Rep. Jamie Long, DFL-Minneapolis, who sits on the public safety committee, said the bill contained "important steps toward justice that will save lives, improve fairness." He's right, and it's important not to lose sight of the good that will come from these efforts.
Rep. Cedrick Frazier, an attorney from New Hope, said in a series of tweets that while the bill "didn't go nearly far enough on important police accountability and reform measures … there are a few great things that will move Minnesota forward." Among the most important is a provision Frazier carried that will allow the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) board to build a database of problem officers so that they will no longer be able to job-hop to other agencies.
These are all valuable initiatives, yet Frazier is right that the task of reforming criminal justice and holding law enforcement accountable is not over. It wasn't over last year, despite serious reforms that followed George Floyd's murder by a Minneapolis officer. And neither will this year be the final installment.
Walz added another important piece with executive actions earlier this week. Although the House and Senate failed to reach agreement on quick release of bodycam footage to victim families in deadly force cases, Walz declared that it will, indeed, be the new standard for state law enforcement officers. And, he noted, it can't just be in instances where departments believe the video exonerates their officers. "It has to be uniform," he said. "That goes a long way toward letting people know what happened and building trust."
Walz told an editorial writer he hopes the state can lead the way with model policy that other jurisdictions will be able to follow. He pointed to the shooting of Winston Smith by members of a U.S. Marshals Service task force who were not permitted to wear bodycams as an incident "that breeds massive mistrust." He also ordered $15 million in federal funds spent on community violence intervention and a new level of public access for some of the data collected by the POST board.
State Republicans rightly pushed for money to fund violent-crime enforcement teams, but also blocked attempts to ban so-called pretextual stops, such as those for expired license tabs. It's true that some of those encounters lead to discoveries that may prevent crimes, but they also pose a hazard for ordinary motorists, particularly those of color, and can easily escalate. That is a serious, complicated issue that the Legislature should revisit.
"There are no easy fixes here," Walz said of police reform in Minnesota. "It's an ongoing process, and we have much more to do."
The state’s U.S. House delegation remains evenly split between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans’ strong showing in Minnesota House races puts DFL state government trifecta in peril.
