In many respects, Minneapolis was ground zero of the “Summer of Love” and the Antifa/BLM riots that roiled the nation. That’s where George Floyd committed suicide by cop. At least 700 buildings were damaged or destroyed and more than 1500 businesses—some of the 700 likely among them—were damaged.  /www.newsweek.com/businesses-year-after-floyd-1596610  Money damages were estimated at $500 million, but are surely closer to a billion, and substantial parts of Minneapolis remain boarded up ghost towns, the inevitable result of the second most expensive riots in US history behind only the 1992 LA riots.  Many businesses trying to struggle back were killed for good by Covid shutdowns.

The Minneapolis City Council and Mayor have been relentlessly hostile to their Police Department, and Minneapolis was also one of the first “defund the police” hot beds, a sentiment that has only slightly cooled since 2020. As a result of that, and the verdicts against officers in the Floyd case, every officer that could has retired or fled the MPD, and recruiting efforts have failed. Minneapolis remains far below its legally mandated police manpower requirement. Remaining officers do as little as they can and absolutely avoid dealing with black criminals.

And now, with the more than willing insistence of the Mayor and Council, things have gotten even worse for the MPD and honest Minneapolis citizens. Scott Johnson at Powerline reports:

Graphic: Fox9 Screenshot

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke came to town and called a press conference yesterday. Joined by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, Clarke announced the city’s agreement to a federal consent decree governing Minneapolis police. I wrote about the federal consent decree when agreement was imminent last week. This is in addition to the first such consent decree with state authorities entered in 2023.

The decree gives the federal DOJ absolute power over the daily operations of the MPD. Kristen Clarke, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights division is virulently anti-police and not terribly fond of white, normal Americans either. She’s all for any and every leftist outrage.

Graphic: Fox9 Screenshot

The decree is posted online here. [skip]

The decree runs to 167 pages and exerts minute controls over the behavior of the Minneapolis police. To pluck just one trivial example from the press release, it requires the department to “[a]pproach youth in a manner that is developmentally appropriate, age-appropriate, and trauma-informed[.]” 

To take another example from the consent decree itself (paragraph 28): “MPD shall Prohibit officers from beginning a foot pursuit solely because a person flees upon seeing an officer. MPD shall develop and implement a foot pursuit Policy requiring officers to evaluate the risks the person poses to public safety and the risks of the pursuit itself.” 

This is going to get officers killed:

Graphic: Consent Decree, Public Domain

There are many occasions where officers legitimately need to draw short of a lethal force situation in case things go south. This rule will cause officers to hesitate and die.

Johnson waited to ask questions during the news conference but was purposely ignored.

I wrote [DOJ’s Julia] Hartnett following the press conference to ask why she had avoided calling on me. If she gets around to responding any time in the next few years, I’ll post whatever she has to say verbatim. It is amazing how obviously Hartnett went out of her way to avoid little old me.

I also forwarded my full set of questions for Frey and O’Hara to the gracious Ms. Gorman:

To Mayor Frey: 

Why the rush to enter into this consent agreement before January 20?

Why is it a good idea to subject officers to the minute regulation of lawful police conduct as this consent agreement does?

I believe the department is still well short of the minimum number of officers it is legally required to maintain. What is your estimate of the impact of this consent decree on recruitment?

Who in his right mind with decent alternatives would go to work for the MPD under these circumstances?

To Chief O’Hara: 

How many sworn officers do you have at present? It is my understanding that you are still well short of the legal minimum, let alone the 900 officers in the department as of May 2020. Will this consent decree make it easier or harder to recruit new officers?

Who in his right mind with decent alternatives would go to work for the MPD under the strictures of two consent decrees?

The federal consent decree minutely regulates lawful police conduct. Why is it a good idea to agree to it?

Who speaks for the MPD? Do you agree that you are running a racist police department? We haven’t heard from Chief Arradondo over the past two years. Have you checked with him to see if he agrees that he was running a racist police department?

Arradondo is black.  As Johnson notes, the media carefully avoided asking if Trump would vacate the consent decree, as any sane president would direct his attorney general to do. In any case, anyone planning to move to Minneapolis, or even to visit, would be well advised to reconsider.

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Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.