As the city of Minneapolis weighs which organization should oversee court-mandated changes to the Minneapolis Police Department, community members say they want to be involved.

During a public forum Tuesday night, representatives of the three finalists spoke about their experience and approach and also fielded some pointed questions from activists. 

The monitor, or independent evaluator, will support and record the city’s progress as it begins to implement measures set forth by the settlement agreement between the city and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice. The settlement agreement lays out a roadmap for revisions to MPD policies on use of force and de-escalation tactics, as well as stops, searches and arrests.

The finalists include the nonprofit Effective Law Enforcement for All, law enforcement consulting firm Jensen Hughes and civil rights law firm Relman Colfax. Representatives from all three, none of which are based in Minnesota, presented how they would ensure the city complies with the agreements. 

After the three teams presented their cases, and as questions fielded by city officials ahead of time were about to be asked of the candidates, a handful of attendees stood up, including local activist Al Flowers, and demanded the finalists to meet with community members. 

“I can’t afford to let my community suffer one more time with another dog and pony show,” Flowers told the finalists. “Our community wants to meet with y’all.”

Minneapolis resident and former Ward 4 Council candidate Angela Williams stood up and asked some of the finalists to explain their track records helping to reform other departments, including the prevalence of issues like misconduct complaints after working with those departments.

Effective Law Enforcement for All has helped oversee consent decree processes in New Orleans and Baltimore, Jensen Hughes conducted the After-Action Report following the unrest in the days after George Floyd’s murder, and Relman Colfax primarily represents victims of discrimination but has also conducted several civil rights audits. 

“I did the research because I want to know who I’m dealing with,” Williams said in an interview after the forum. “We just can’t let outsiders come into our city, get a check for millions and just throw something together and say they did something but the culture didn’t change.”

Sydney Roberts, deputy monitor with the Jensen Hughes team, told attendees that a lot of early work for monitoring teams is to help create systems of accountability, which appear to be lacking in many departments. Monitoring work takes a long time and there may be some backsliding, Roberts said, referencing challenges with other departments, but changes ultimately stick with continuous effort.

“Unfortunately, during that time, use of force incidents may continue to occur,” she said. “But over time, once the systems are in place, and the involved individuals have been trained, all while building that cultural change where they want these policies they will leave in these policies, we start to ultimately see change.”

In addition to the Minneapolis After-Action Report, Jensen Hughes also did an assessment of the Louisville Police Department after the killing of Breonna Taylor and serves as the monitor in federal agreements with the Bakersfield, California, and U.S. Virgin Islands police departments.

Attendees also asked the finalists what relationships they have already established in Minneapolis to help in their work, and how they will ensure better outcomes in Minneapolis than in the cities they’ve worked with in the past. Community members also wanted to know how they plan to keep the community engaged and informed during the process. 

“This is a process that started before us, and if we do it right, it will last beyond us,” said Effective Law Enforcement for All President David Douglass. “We offer expertise, we offer commitment, we have a mission, but communities here have a role they play with us to help us make (the police department) work better. And that’s the way we propose to do it.”

Reed Colfax with the Washington, D.C.-based law firm Relman Colfax echoed the importance of community involvement, citing the lack of robust engagement in other monitorships around the country. The  team includes former Minneapolis officer and Brooklyn Park Police Chief Mike Davis and Cincinnati activist Iris Roley, who helped spearhead the movement to ensure community involvement in the agreement between her city and the DOJ. Colfax said the team intends to prioritize community engagement, should they be selected.

“We believe that having the community participate early, throughout and even after the monitorship process is the way to have a successful collaboration between the community and police department and have long term and sustainable change toward more fair and equitable policing,” Colfax said. 

Another forum is scheduled for Wednesday at 6 p.m at Plymouth Congregational Church in south Minneapolis. The chosen monitor team is expected to begin work by March 9 after the Minneapolis City Council votes to approve their contract.