On behalf of a growing list of 67 diverse organizations, including religious, civil rights, labor, business, environmental, health, farmer, social service, child welfare, and disability advocate organizations, the following letter was sent to:

Senator Majority Leader Paul Gazelka,
Speaker Melissa Hortman,
and All Members of the Minnesota Legislature:

Whether you are a suburban mom, a rural grandparent, or an urban neighbor; Black, brown or white; or a newcomer, long-time resident, or Indigenous, every Minnesotan wants to be part of a healthy, thriving, and safe community. We all deserve to live in a state where communities of color, particularly those of us who are Black, are not targeted, harassed, brutalized, and murdered by our public servants.
 
On Monday May 25, 2020, a Minneapolis Police officer murdered George Floyd in broad daylight, while three other officers aided and abetted. The Minneapolis Police Department then lied to the public about what happened, writing in their official report that George Floyd died from a “medical incident.” When Minnesotans expressed their outrage through protest, MPD met this public grief with escalation and more violence. The MPD attacked peaceful protestors and turned our neighborhoods into warzones by shooting tear gas, flash grenades, and “rubber” bullets into crowds indiscriminately. The Minneapolis Police Department further shredded public trust by failing to keep the oath they swore to ‘protect and serve’ residents and visitors to Minneapolis. 

It must be stated: police officers are agents of the state. They have the ability to deprive people of their liberty. The  responsibility of having a badge and a gun requires  police officers conduct themselves with discipline and hold the public trust. Police officers take an oath  to serve the Constitution for all of us equally, but we have little recourse when they violate that oath. The actions of the Minneapolis Police Department, as well as other horrific killings such as the police shooting of Philando Castile, have shown those oaths and existing policies have proven woefully insufficient to guarantee equal justice for all Minnesotans.

The City of Minneapolis is beginning an essential process to move funding, resources and responsibilities from the unaccountable MPD to increased community-led solutions that create real safety. Across the state police have failed to keep us safe and are not equipped to respond to our most urgent crises, whether missing and murdered Indigenous women, or opioid addiction, or our failure to adequately fund child care, education, health and social services. We are grateful to the Minnesota House of Representatives’ People of Color & Indigenous Legislators Caucus, which has proposed a package of bills as the first of many steps that would bring much needed change to communities across the state. Among other things this package would:

Raise standards of conduct and police accountability

  • Change the laws governing agreements that impede discipline of officers who seriously betray the public trust 
  • Create a legal duty for officers to intervene in the wrongful use-of-force by fellow officers
  • Prohibit use of “Bullet-Proof Warrior” style use-of-force training
  • Change the Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) Board to strengthen oversight of officer licensure and training 

Strengthen the investigation and prosecution of officer-involved deaths and wrongful actions

  • Move primary investigation and prosecution of officer-involved deaths to the Attorney General’s Office 
  • Modify use-of-force laws to prevent wrongful deaths

Increase police accountability and transparency

  • Collect and centralize for public access, real-time data on deadly-force encounters
  • Establish law enforcement-citizen oversight councils to provide needed community involvement in policing 
  • Establish a Critical Incident Review process for officer-involved deaths to inform policy change and prevention 

Repair and build community trust and create community-centered public safety

  • Lift the state ban on local-residence requirements 
  • Increase investment in community-based mental health and trauma-informed services  

Our state is hurting right now. But the cycle of police violence is not inevitable. Together, we can change it. We get to imagine and build what public safety looks like. We get to have a state where we are all safe no matter what language we speak, where we come from, or what we look like. This package of legislation is a fiercely urgent step to begin putting us on that path. Please support each of these bills. 

Signed by:

100% Minnesota

Accord

Advance Consulting

Aliveness Project

Ampersand Families

Arc Northland

Autism Society of Minnesota

Barbershops Creating Change in the Community BCCC

Bold North Recovery and Consulting

Center for African Immigrants and Refugees (CAIRO)

Children’s Defense Fund – Minnesota

Christ on Capitol Hill

Clean Water Action

Climate Generation: A Will Steger Legacy

CWA MN State Council

Duluth Art Institute Association

Earthen Pot Ministries

East Side Neighborhood Services

Edina Indivisible

Edina Morningside Community Church

Education Minnesota

Elders for Infants

Falcon Heights Church United Church of Christ

Family Alternatives

First Congregational Church of MN, UCC

First United Church of Christ- Northfield

Foster Advocates

Frank Theatre

Friends of the Mississippi River

Gender Justice

Girl Scouts Minnesota & Wisconsin River Valleys

HOME Line

Imam Husain Islamic Center

Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota

Indivisible MN03

Indivisible St. Peter/Greater Mankato

Islamic Civic Society of Minnesota/ Dar-Alhijrah

Isuroon

Jewish Community Action

JustUs Health

Land Stewardship Action Fund

Land Stewardship Project

Legal Rights Center

Linden Hills UCC

Mayflower Community Congregational United Church o

Mayflower UCC

Meadow Park Preschool and Child Care Center

Minnesota Budget Project

Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless

Minnesota Communities Caring for Children, home of

Minnesota Conference, United Church of Christ

Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities

Minnesota Council of Churches

Minnesota Council of Nonprofits

Minnesota Environmental Partnership

Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light

Minnesota Moms Demand Action

Minnesota Nurses Association

MN Center for Environmental Advocacy (MCEA)

MN350 / MN350 Action

Muslim American Society of Minnesota

Muslim American Society, Blaine

Muslims of Minnesota

National Association of Social Workers, MN Chapter

Northeast Contemporary Services, Inc.

Our Justice

Our Stories. Our Health.

Phoenix Growth Systems LLC

Planned Parenthood MN, ND, SD Action Fund

Plymouth Area Indivisible

Pollinate Minnesota

Proof Alliance

ReleaseMN8

Robbinsdale Parkway UCC

ROC-MN

Safe Passage for Children of Minnesota

Saint Joan of Arc Peace & Justice Ministries

Simpson Housing Services

SEIU Healthcare MN

SEIU Local 26

SEIU Local 284

SEIU Minnesota State Council

St Joan of Arc Peace & Justice Ministries

St Stephens Human Services

St. Paul 350

TakeAction Minnesota

The Arc Minnesota

This is Medicaid Coalition

UFCW Local 6

Union Congregational United Church of Christ

United Church of Christ New Brighton

WaterLegacy

Wilderness in the City

Women’s March MN

YWCA Minneapolis

(list last updated at 11:00AM, June 17, 2020)

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