Former LAPD chiefs offer advice on Minneapolis Police consent decree
LAPD shares lessons learned from consent decree
On Wednesday, the two most recent police chiefs of the Los Angeles Police Department spent time in Minneapolis; fielding questions from a room full of officers.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - On Wednesday, the two most recent police chiefs of the Los Angeles Police Department spent time in Minneapolis, fielding questions from a room full of officers.
Los Angeles consent decree
The backstory:
After the 1992 beating of Rodney King, and after findings of significant corruption and misconduct among their ranks, LAPD underwent a significant transformation under the direction of a federal consent decree.
Now, Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara hopes to replicate some of the success seen out west, as his department tries to rebuild trust after the murder of George Floyd.
What they're saying:
Charlie Beck and Michel Moore led LAPD from 2009 through 2024. The pair see consent decrees as an opportunity to grow, rather than a burden.
"The message is that there is a way forward. LAPD recovered. It took us a decade and a consent decree… everything in that consent decree made this a better police department. Was it hard? Yes. Was it expensive? Yes. Does it take resources? Yes. But is it worth it? Yes, yes, yes, yes," Charlie Beck said. "My advice is to concentrate on building community trust. That was a constant theme: police departments are effective when the communities trust them."
Listeners react
What they're saying:
The Minneapolis City Council approved a consent decree with the Department of Justice, which is working its way through the federal court system. However, the DOJ was granted a pause in court proceedings until at least mid-March while the newly appointed attorney general gets caught up in the case. The City of Minneapolis is also under a similar consent decree with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.
This week, Minneapolis leaders made clear they plan to move forward with the consent decree, regardless of support from federal leaders.
"When he was speaking, I got teary-eyed, because this is what we’ve been wanting since 2020," Minneapolis Police Procedural Justice Division Commander Monica Hanson said afterward.