Minneapolis PD announces new partnership to deal with neighbor disputes
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minneapolis Police Department announced a new partnership with the NAACP on Tuesday that will aim to deal with neighbor disputes, before they turn violent.
Context
Officials say, already in 2024, the City of Minneapolis has had 2,000 calls for neighbor-to-neighbor or tenant disputes.
The problem for police is often the issues don't rise to the level of a criminal matter.
"Every situation is different," explained Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara. "Each has its own individual dynamics, but many of them have the potential to escalate, and all of them are difficult for police to deal with, particularly those that are civil and do not rise to the level of criminal issues or violence."
"We don't always have clear cut, probable cause that we oftentimes need in order to make an arrest," added O'Hara. "Or if we do take somebody into custody, there oftentimes isn't sufficient evidence to prove an offense beyond a reasonable doubt."
What's new?
The new program will target these issues, with hopes of smoothing over disputes before they turn violent.
Chief O'Hara says the new program is a "natural outgrowth" of work already being done by the Unity Community Mediation Team and the NAACP.
It's not exactly clear how the new program will function. But the police department is already working to identify situations where the new partnership could help and O'Hara says, no matter what, the program will be a collaboration between other community initiatives.
"MPD has already begun pulling data from our crime analysts to determine how many ongoing disputes exist across the city and identify those repeat locations," O'Hara explained. "Those repeat victims, repeat offenders, and identify those most likely to escalate and become potentially dangerous. We will continue to work very closely with the NAACP, with our crime prevention specialists, with our community navigators, with our mental health experts and our embedded social workers."
Background
Tuesday's announcement comes as the city is facing public backlash for failures related to the shooting of Minneapolis resident Davis Moturi by his neighbor.
Moturi made multiple complaints over months about his neighbor, John Sawchak, but nothing was done until after police say Sawchak shot Moturi.
It's unclear if the new program would have made a difference in the Sawchak case, since Sawchak was already accused of dangerous behavior, including making threats and pointing a gun at Moturi, prior to the shooting.
Chief O'Hara previously admitted the department had failed Moturi.
"Mr. Moturi called the police several times," the chief explained Tuesday. "He did everything he was supposed to do to try and get help, but unfortunately, the Minneapolis Police Department alone was not able to provide that help for him. And again, we are sorry for that."
Officials say the new program is part of the city's memorandum of understanding, an agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights that followed an investigation sparked by the murder of George Floyd.