MINNEAPOLIS HIDES POLICE COMPLAINT STATUS; CUAPB SUES

MINNEAPOLIS HIDES POLICE COMPLAINT STATUS; CUAPB SUES CRA AND CITY

CUAPB initiated a lawsuit on Tuesday against the City of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Civilian Police Review Authority (CRA) challenging their position that the status of complaints against police officers is no longer public data.

In the past, the CRA routinely released information on complaints in response to requests under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. CUAPB, members of the media and the general public were permitted to know of the existence of a complaint, the status of the complaint anywhere along the process, whether the complaint was sustained or not sustained, whether the complaint was referred to the chief of police for discipline and, once the complaint has reached final disposition, any discipline imposed.

However, on May 2, 2007, the Minneapolis city attorney’s office issued a memo directing the CRA staff and board to cease releasing status information on cases. The CRA immediately reclassified all cases, including sustained cases from years ago as “closed” with no indication as to how the case was actually handled.

“People who make the effort to file complaints get the feeling their complaints have fallen into a black hole,” stated Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality. “The lack of information makes people feel their complaints are not being heard and deprives the public of any real accountability.”

The city ordinance that created the CRA also allows the complainant the right to request reconsideration of non-sustained complaints. However, Gross points out, “If the complainant cannot know the status of his or her complaint, that right is meaningless.”

“We must restore transparency in the CRA complaint process,” stated Gross. She continued, “An open process engenders accountability and trust, the cornerstones of good police-community relations. We hope our lawsuit will restore the openness that allows people to trust the process.”

The CRA board was all set last week to ask the city council to change the ordinance so that complainants would no longer have the right to request reconsideration of non-sustained complaints. By initiating this lawsuit, we hoped to stop any potential ordinance change and it appears that we have done so at this time.

The current CRA board, with a few exceptions, is way too friendly with the city and MPD and too easily cowed by the whims of the city attorney (who, for all intents and purposes, does the bidding of the police federation). The new chair, Don Bellfield, is rude and openly hostile to any community input while constantly deferring to city staff. The board was given every opportunity to address this data issue in a manner that would preserve the power of the CRA as well as the rights of community members but when they failed to do so, CUAPB was forced to take on this role. Interestingly, at their meeting last week, some board members acted offended that we have sued. They need to realize that CUAPB serves the community and this lawsuit is about standing up for what the community needs. They should be thanking us for taking this action.

We'll keep you informed of our progress with this lawsuit, which is all about restoring important provisions of the Minnesota Data Practices Act as well as the rights of complainants.