A major part of reforms for the Minneapolis Police Department may never come to be. 

That part is the federal consent decree — which the city is still negotiating with the Department of Justice — given President-Elect Donald Trump’s track record surrounding this kind of action. 

“When President Trump came in, he shut the whole thing down,” Emily Gunston, a former deputy chief with the DOJ about the pending consent decree with the city of Chicago she was working on when Trump began his first term. 

“I think folks should expect that that’s exactly what President Trump will do in a second term, with regard to Minneapolis,” Gunston added. 

In her more than twenty years working in the area of police practices, Gunston says she spent 9 years in the DOJ, mostly under President Barrack Obama’s administration, investigating and negotiating several consent decrees. 

Following the murder of George Floyd, DOJ investigators said the MPD and the City of Minneapolis engaged in a, “pattern or practice of conduct in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law.”

Now months in the making, the city has been negotiating with the DOJ to finalize a federal consent decree. 

“Because a court is not yet involved. President Trump, the Trump administration and new attorney general could just decide that this is not a case that they are pursuing,” Gunston added. 

In a statement, Minneapolis attorney Kristyn Anderson shared the following.

City leadership has and will continue to prioritize negotiations with the Department of Justice and work toward a federal consent decree. Our commitment to reforming policing in Minneapolis and building a more just approach will not change based on who is in the White House.

Through the Settlement Agreement with the Minnesota Human Rights Department – which is modeled on a federal consent decree – as well as new initiatives led by the Office of Community Safety and Minneapolis Police Department, the City is moving with urgency to strengthen community trust and community safety in Minneapolis.

As mentioned in Anderson’s statement, the city and police department are already in the process of reform through the court enforceable settlement agreement with the state’s Human Rights Department. 

Through its separate investigation, state investigators found, “race discrimination in violation of Minnesota Human Rights Act” — a spokesperson with the department sent the following. 

The state consent decree between the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the City of Minneapolis and Minneapolis Police Department is here to stay regardless of what happens at the federal level.

The agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights provides the framework for lawful, non-discriminatory policing, reduces unnecessary dangers for officers, and results in better public safety for Minneapolis.

Still, the federal findings go beyond that of the state, given the DOJ enforces federal law — their findings also highlight that MPD violated people’s First Amendment and discriminated against people with behavioral health disabilities when responding to calls for service. 

“The findings that the Department of Justice made, it could be that they had additional evidence on some areas of the law, that perhaps the state investigators weren’t able to acquire that evidence, or didn’t make those same findings,” Gunston said. 

She added that if the federal consent decree were not to take effect, the reform may not go as far. 

MPD Chief Brian O’Hara also shared a statement.

Regardless of what happens with the DOJ consent decree, we do have a consent decree in place in state court that addresses all of the major topics covered in previous federal consent decrees: use of force, stop search and arrest, implicit bias, supervision and training. 

We are making tremendous progress enhancing trust with our communities as we rebuild the MPD to be the standard for policing in America.

The city is set to spend more than $15 million to manage both the state and federal oversight, with another $13 million set for next year.