The Minneapolis City Council unanimously passed a resolution on Friday “Declaring the intent to create a transformative new model for cultivating safety in our city.” One of the “whereas” clauses in the resolution reads as follows:
"Whereas, the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, by Minneapolis police officers, is a tragedy that shows that no amount of reforms will prevent lethal violence and abuse by some members of the Police Department against members of our community, especially Black people and people of color...”
NOT TRUE! It shows no such thing. The death of George Floyd DOES NOT SHOW “that no amount of reforms will prevent lethal violence and abuse…” The whole idea behind reforms in a governmental setting and of continuous improvement in a business setting is that we human beings are capable of analyzing results and, when we don’t like the results we’re getting, we can modify or change our actions in order to produce better, more acceptable results – not perfect results, but better ones.
Derek Chauvin, the fired police officer now under indictment for the second degree murder of George Floyd, had a long list of complaints against him for misbehavior on the job:
Derek M. Chauvin, badge #1087
Complaints
03-1999, Civilian Review Authority, DEMEANING TONE, SUSTAINED, ORAL REPRIMAND
03-1999, Civilian Review Authority, DEROGATORY LANGUAGE, SUSTAINED, ORAL REPRIMAND
03-1999, Civilian Review Authority, LANGUAGE--OTHER, SUSTAINED, ORAL REPRIMAND
12-3244, Office of Police Conduct Review, Closed - No Discipline
13-09814, Office of Police Conduct Review, Closed - No Discipline
13-10527, Office of Police Conduct Review, Closed - No Discipline
13-32189, Office of Police Conduct Review, Closed - No Discipline
14-14106, Office of Police Conduct Review, Closed - No Discipline
14-23776, Office of Police Conduct Review, Closed - No Discipline
15-12394, Office of Police Conduct Review, Closed - No Discipline
That lengthy set of complaints could have and should have resulted in Chauvin’s retraining, reassignment, probation, or termination, but it didn’t. The other officers present could have and should have taken action to stop Chauvin from continuing to press his knee on Floyd’s neck. Perhaps they needed training and support in determining when to intervene against a fellow officer. In short, more could have been done by the Minneapolis Police Department that might have prevented Derek Chauvin from killing George Floyd.
There will never be a perfect police department or a perfect alternative to police departments. Singular incidents of abuse may be unpreventable, but patterns of abuse can be identified, interrupted, and stopped. To the extent that the death of George Floyd is a result of one or more patterns of abuse by Minneapolis police, whether that abuse is race-based or about excessive use of force, or both, those patterns can be addressed.
We shall see if the Minneapolis city council has the will, the long-term commitment, and the smarts to do the work necessary to improve police performance, curb police abuses, and save lives.