Minneapolis City Council approves contract formalizing nonprofit as evaluator of police reforms

The Minneapolis City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a contract with Effective Law Enforcement for All, officially greenlighting their work to oversee mandated reforms to the city’s beleaguered police force.

As the Independent Evaluator, the organization will have the power to determine when the city has achieved sustained, constitutional policing — as required under the state and eventual federal consent decrees. The process could take more than a decade, and cost up to $1.5 million a year.

Effective Law Enforcement for All (ELEFA), a nonprofit organization that specializes in reshaping police departments to reduce use-of-force incidents, was selected from a group of three finalists Feb. 2 following presentations before two packed community meetings. The group is led by David Douglass, deputy monitor for the city of New Orleans, which has been under a federal consent decree since 2013.

“Many communities across the country have had to deal with excessive force by police, killings by police, but none have been affected like Minneapolis,” Douglass told the Star Tribune last month. He touted his team’s experience in forcing systemic change and said they look forward to starting the work.

On Thursday, the Council passed the measure approving their contract 13-0 with little discussion.

“This is a fairly significant milestone,” said Council President Elliott Payne, noting that he has “all the faith and confidence in them” to dive into the investigative process and strengthen police protocols.

Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice investigated the MPD and found over a decade of civil rights abuses, particularly against Black and Native American residents.

Minneapolis entered a court-enforceable settlement agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights last summer. The Department of Justice is still negotiating terms of its consent decree with the city.

Within 90 days of assuming the job, ELEFA must come up with a plan to implement the first four years of reforms. If the U.S. Department of Justice is happy with their work, they may choose to retain them to oversee the impending federal consent decree. However, they have the power to install a new monitor and terminate that agreement.

“We will always only have one monitor,” City Attorney Kristyn Anderson told council members.

A provision in the contract also allows the city to terminate the agreement following a two-year performance review.

ELEFA’s team in Minneapolis will be co-led by Michael Harrison, a former Baltimore police commissioner and former superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department — the only chief in the nation with experience overseeing two departments under federal consent decrees, according to ELEFA’s application.

Members of the ELEFA team are slated to be in Minneapolis next week to meet with city and police officials, as well as select community groups.

Star Tribune staff writer Randy Furst contributed to this report.