University of Minnesota committee wants campus cops to stop assisting other police at protests

The University of Minnesota is considering changes to its campus police force operations in response to concerns from students and employees who want to see the department held to higher standards.

A campus safety committee tapped by U President Joan Gabel has called for the school to stop deploying its police force to assist other law enforcement at police brutality protests away from campus. The committee also wants U leaders to evaluate the campus police department's weaponry and emphasize the use of less-lethal alternatives.

"There's no question that we all want a safe campus environment, but we want it to be safe in every sense of the word," Gabel told the Board of Regents on Friday, nodding to the university's efforts to both reduce crime near campus and take seriously the concerns of students who fear police.

More students began scrutinizing the University of Minnesota Police Department after the the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis officers raised awareness of police brutality. Some students have called for the U's cops to be disarmed and subject to citizen oversight.

An outside expert hired by the U found some students and employees feared being harmed by campus cops, while others expressed support for police and concern about crime near campus. Among many recommendations, the expert suggested the U consider an "unarmed policing approach" and better distinguish when its officers should be deployed off campus.

The campus safety committee, which consists of students, employees, community members and some police, is charged with recommending specific actions based on the expert's suggestions.

Kathy Quick, an associate professor who co-chaired the committee, said the university's police department should "set itself apart from police brutality" by avoiding involvement in off-campus protests.

The UMPD is part of a group of law enforcement agencies in Hennepin County, known as the West Command Task Force, that offer aid to one another when needed. U police were sent to help quell some of the protests in Brooklyn Center last year after former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter killed Daunte Wright. Students swiftly criticized the off-campus deployment.

"Having UMPD officers deployed in large numbers to defend police headquarters in Brooklyn Center, when protesters were there specifically to gather in grief … is the opposite of standing aside from and against police violence," Quick said.

Amelious Whyte, assistant dean for diversity, equity, inclusion and public engagement in the U's College of Liberal Arts, said students would also prefer campus police show less force at peaceful protests.

"A key impetus for calls for demilitarization may stem from a desire to reduce or eliminate what are perceived as military-grade weapons at protests and rallies," said Whyte, who was a leader on the committee.

The panel is recommending that U police "eliminate and avoid future acquisition of military-purpose weapons," and publicly post descriptions of the trainings officers take each year.

Other recommendations call for the university to collect data on potential racial disparities in the department's arrests and citations, and to consistently take feedback from students of color and other groups who are fearful of police.

Ken Powell, chair of the Board of Regents, told the committee leaders that the university should also communicate its police department's reputation to students.

"The university has a very highly trained, very skillful and very diligent force who kind of know their role and really do it well," Powell said. "That is not always well-understood or well-communicated as broadly as it should be."

Regent Darrin Rosha cautioned against making "subjective" changes to how the university decides when to respond to requests for assistance from neighboring law enforcement agencies.

"If each department is making a subjective analysis of whether that fits their perspective, it's really not a mutual aid program," Rosha said. "It's really just a request for help and some will show up and some won't."

Regent Mike Kenyanya was supportive of the recommendation to stop campus cops' participation in off-campus protest response. Students protesting police brutality away from campus understandably may feel betrayed by seeing U officers opposite them, he said.

"You can understand why, right or wrong, for that student this relationship is severed," Kenyanya said.