Mayor Jacob Frey announced the City of Minneapolis has agreed to a federal consent decree with the United States Department of Justice. The consent decree outlines policy, resource, and training requirements that will continue to help guide the City’s and Minneapolis Police Department’s reform efforts over the next several years.

"Our commitment to securing a federal consent decree has never wavered – it has been a top priority of my administration, and we are ready to act,” said Mayor Jacob Frey. “This agreement reflects what our community has asked for and what we know is necessary: real accountability and meaningful change. I’m grateful to the Department of Justice for their partnership and urgency in helping us finalize this decree, ensuring we didn’t lose this critical opportunity to advance reforms and build on the important work already underway.”

Since June 2020, Mayor Frey and City leadership have implemented sweeping reforms in policing and investments in a broader community safety ecosystem to provide comprehensive, equitable, and constitutional safety services to Minneapolis residents. These early actions have built the foundation for further reform efforts through the federal consent decree that will lead to lasting change. They include: 

• An expanded Behavioral Crisis Response team, providing 24/7 support for emergencies where a police officer is not necessary. 
• New policies involving the use of force and how our police officers interact with our community members
• Strengthened violence prevention work and pilots for innovative, community-based alternative responses to policing.
• The creation of an implementation team that will lead compliance efforts for the settlement agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) and the federal consent decree.
• An investment of millions into reform, staffing, technology and programs that will support lasting change.

“Since becoming chief in 2022, my mission has been clear: reduce serious crime while earning community trust and rebuilding pride in the Minneapolis Police Department,” said Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara. “The federal consent decree supports that mission by providing additional structure to enhance the quality of service we provide. Together, with the dedicated members of the Minneapolis Police Department, I am confident we will set the standard for policing in America.”

Highlights from the consent decree

• Community engagement: MPD operational strategies to address crime will be developed to further emphasize collaboration between police and the community. See Section II.
• Use of force review: MPD will institute both a robust Force Investigation Team to review certain uses of reportable force and a Force Review Board to provide executive review of certain use of force incidents. See Section III.
• First Amendment: The MPD will adopt, train on, and sustain policies that facilitate the exercise of First Amendment rights of community members and journalists while enabling MPD to maintain public safety and order. See Section V.
• Behavioral health response: The City will continue to advance and build on its behavioral crisis response with additional training, policies, protocols, review, and coordination. See Section VI.
• Supervision: Changes to supervision requirements will facilitate more officer accountability and evaluation opportunities. See Section X.

The City and MPD have already begun to implement many of the agreed-upon changes, including enhanced community engagement, the overhaul of the use-of-force review process, new policies for First Amendment activities, and a new disciplinary matrix. The MPD will now work with the court-appointed independent monitor, Effective Law Enforcement for All (ELEFA), to evaluate these changes and work toward full compliance.

“I’m pleased that we were able to come to an agreement as the federal consent decree and the MDHR settlement agreement together will help guide us on our system change efforts,” said Community Safety Commissioner Barnette. “As a city, we all understand the urgency of this work, and most importantly, that the changes we make here must be sustainable and last beyond both the MDHR settlement agreement and this federal consent decree. We are off to a good start, and we are committed to doing the transformational work that both of these agreements require.”

Timeline and next steps

Negotiations between the City and DOJ on the federal consent decree began in July 2024, roughly one year after the DOJ released its report outlining its investigation into the City. The City and DOJ will now file the consent decree in federal court.

The consent decree will run concurrently with the MDHR settlement agreement, and ELEFA will be asked to serve as the independent monitor for both the state and federal agreements. The reforms outlined in both agreements are expected to take several years to fully implement.

The federal consent decree can be found on the City's website. 

The press release from the U.S. Department of Justice can be found on its website.