The city of Minneapolis has agreed to make systemic reforms to its police department after a federal investigation sparked by the 2020 murder of George Floyd found a pattern of civil rights violations including unjustified deadly force and discrimination.

The city, its police department and federal officials reached a court-enforceable agreement known as a consent decree, the Justice Department announced this week. The agreement aims to prevent excessive use of force and racially discriminatory policing and to protect the public’s First Amendment rights. An independent monitor will be appointed to assess whether the requirements of the decree are being met and report publicly on the city’s progress.

“Through this consent decree, the City and the Minneapolis Police Department have committed to instituting reforms that will make Minneapolis a model law enforcement agency that respects everyone’s civil and constitutional rights,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

The announcement in Minneapolis comes after the Justice Department reached a similar agreement in Louisville, Kentucky, where the 2020 police killing of Breonna Taylor sparked major protests. The Justice Department has been enforcing more than a dozen such agreements over the past four years after Attorney General Merrick Garland reversed a Trump administration policy limiting the use of consent decrees.

Here’s what to know about consent decrees:

What is a consent decree?

The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act gave the civil rights division of the Justice Department the power to investigate systemic police misconduct. Of nearly 70 investigations conducted between 1994 and 2016, 20 resulted in the creation of court-enforced consent decrees, according to a 2017 report from the Justice Department.

These decrees are legal agreements requiring changes which are overseen by a federal court and an independent monitor. Conducting the investigations, negotiating the agreements and implementing reforms often take years to complete.

The Justice Department is currently enforcing 15 existing agreements and has opened 12 new investigations into law enforcement agencies since Biden’s term began.

The DOJ wants to oversee MPD: What impact does the incoming Trump administration have?

Do consent decrees work?

Consent decrees have been credited with successfully improving some of the country’s 18,000 police departments. In October, the Justice Department and the city of Albuquerque sought to end certain portions of their consent decree after its independent monitor found the city and police department have fully complied with 99% of the consent decree’s terms.

In Ferguson, Missouri, which became an epicenter for police reform after mass protests following the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in 2014, there were major changes eight years later. Ferguson monitor Natashia Tidwell reportedly cited significant progress in officer training and community policing. The mostly all-white police department is more racially diverse. Traffic stops are less frequent and systems have been set up to hear resident complaints.

But some officials have criticized the court-enforced plans for being expensive, time-consuming and ineffective. Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, previously told USA TODAY consent decrees can exacerbate tension between police and the communities.

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The union representing Louisville Metro Police officers filed a motion in federal court opposing the city’s recently signed consent decree, which has not yet been approved by U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Beaton and enacted. The River City Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 614 argued the 242-page agreement alters working conditions of officers and has the potential to erode the union’s collective bargaining capabilities.

The city of Memphis told the U.S. Department of Justice in a letter last month it will not enter into a consent decree with the government following the completion of its pattern-or-practice investigation into the Memphis Police Department. The investigation was announced months after Tyre Nichols was fatally beaten by officers with the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION Unit, though the DOJ said it did not start the investigation solely because of that incident.

“We believe there are better ways to reimagine policing that do not slow the process or cost the taxpayers millions of dollars,” the letter read.

What happens next in Minneapolis?

The consent decree in Minneapolis is pending court approval. If enacted, it will require officers to emphasize de-escalation techniques, limit pretextual stops and avoid handcuffing children under the age of 14. The department must also prioritize non-police response to calls involving behavioral health issues, thoroughly investigate complaints and hold officers accountable.

The agreement comes after a 92-page Justice Department report found Minneapolis police used excessive force, unlawfully discriminated against Black and Native American people, violated the rights of people engaged in speech protected by the First Amendment and discriminated against people with behavioral health disabilities.

The investigation was launched nearly a year after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes. Floyd’s death sparked in May 2020 sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism.

“Our commitment to securing a federal consent decree has never wavered – it has been a top priority of my administration, and we are ready to act,” said Mayor Jacob Frey.“This agreement reflects what our community has asked for and what we know is necessary: real accountability and meaningful change. I’m grateful to the Department of Justice for their partnership and urgency in helping us finalize this decree, ensuring we didn’t lose this critical opportunity to advance reforms and build on the important work already underway.”

Contributing: Reuters; Bart Jansen, Kelly Puente, and Terry Collins USA TODAY; Lucas Finton, Memphis Commercial Appeal; Josh Wood, Louisville Courier Journal

MINNEAPOLIS — There are mixed feelings about a long-awaited agreement between Minneapolis and the federal government to bring reform to the city’s police department.

The city announced Monday it had agreed on a consent decree, or legal agreement, with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Some of the reforms outlined include changes to the use of force policy, limiting military-style tactics during protests, and banning handcuffing children under 14.

City leaders have said a key purpose of the consent decree is to rebuild the community’s trust in the police department.

KingDemetrius Pendleton, a Minneapolis photojournalist, says it will take more than legal documents and policy changes to do that.

“One of the biggest things is communication and listening to the people in the community,” he said. “If you want us to listen to you all [the police] and trust you all, you all have to be trustworthy. [MPD] can make a change, but it starts with being truthful.”

Pendleton also owns Listen 2 Us Studio, a community gallery near George Floyd Square that displays social justice-themed photography and art.

The consent decree process started after a police officer killed George Floyd in 2020, sparking global protests.

A Department of Justice report released in 2023 found that the Minneapolis Police Department engaged in systematic racial discrimination and unconstitutional policing for years.

Pastor Ian Bethel with the Unity Community Mediation Team worked with the DOJ on the consent decree and co-chairs the city’s Police Community Relations Council.

“I was so grateful and tearful today,” he said.

Bethel says real change will come through diligent community oversight.

“Compliance is the key,” he said. “The community’s going to do it, and the community’s given trust to us, because we’re tried and proven.”

The Minneapolis Police Department is also under a court-ordered agreement with the state of Minnesota, so some reforms are already underway.

A judge still has to approve the consent decree.

It’s unclear what will happen if President-elect Donald Trump takes office before then. He’s been critical of consent decrees in the past.

The Biden administration secured an agreement to implement police reforms in Minneapolis ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The consent decree agreement Monday with the Minneapolis Police Department follows a similar decree that the department agreed upon with Louisville, Kentucky, police last month. The agreements follow the Biden administration’s initiation of 12 investigations in 2021, which probed possible “pattern or practice” of civil rights abuses by police departments around the country following the anti-police riots that took place after the death of George Floyd in 2020. 

Both decrees await approval by the courts. The 171-page Minneapolis agreement would overhaul the city’s police training and use of-force-policies, while requiring officers to “promote the sanctity of human life as the highest priority in their activities.” The decree also mandates that officers must not allow race, gender or ethnicity “to influence any decision to use force, including the amount or type of force used.”

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Other elements of the Minneapolis agreement include bolstering protections for protesters, new data collection requirements aimed at reducing racial discrimination, guidelines restricting officers from going after fleeing subjects, new interrogation requirements, a mandate against racial profiling in investigations, traffic stop reforms and more.

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division was asked repeatedly during a Monday press conference from Minneapolis whether the Trump administration could derail the agreement.

“I can’t predict the future,” Clarke said. “What I can tell you is that the findings we identified in Minneapolis are severe. These are real issues that impact people’s lives. The community wants reform. The city wants reform, the police department wants reform, and the Justice Department stands here today as a full partner in the effort of achieving reform and transformation for this community.”

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Minneapolis Police Chief Brian OHara addresses more than 100 uniformed law enforcement officers while waiting for the release of an officer who was shot in the line of duty in north Minneapolis, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023. (Photo by Aaron Lavinksy/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, in an email to constituents, Minneapolis City Council Member Robin Wonsley said she has no faith that the incoming Trump administration will be a “serious partner” in supporting the recently agreed-upon consent decree.

A similar consent decree agreed upon by the Biden administration and the Loisville police roughly three weeks ago also compels the department to revise its use-of-force policies, places new restrictions around traffic stops and police searches, and challenges how law enforcement deals with protesters. 

A local police union in the city is challenging the reforms, calling on a judge not to approve the agreement. Meanwhile, the conservative Heritage Foundation has argued that the point of the consent decree coming so late in Biden’s term is “to bind the Trump 47 Administration and future elected Louisville administrations who may well vehemently and categorically disagree with the Proposed Consent Decree.”

Protestors demonstrate outside a burning fast-food restaurant on Friday, May 29, 2020 in Minneapolis. (John Minchillo)

Both Minneapolis and Louisville were flash points for debates around police reform after both cities saw the high-profile deaths of Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020. Both cities, and numerous others, saw protesters rampage through the streets following their deaths, leading to multiple fatalities and billions of dollars in damage that year.  

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department for comment, but they declined to comment.