3. MPD Has Failed to Sufficiently Address Known Racial Disparities,
Missing Race Data, and Allegations of Bias, Damaging Community Trust
MPD and City leadership have been on notice about the kinds of racial disparities and
missing race data we identify above for years. They have also been on notice about
other complaints of discrimination, including expressions of bias by supervisors. The
community, oversight officials, public defenders, government entities, researchers, and
the press have been vocal about these issues, filing complaints and sharing detailed
reports, qualitative analyses, and historical reviews. Nevertheless, MPD has not
adequately addressed the issue of biased policing.
This report is not the first to identify racial disparities in MPDโs law enforcement
activities. Over the last decade, multiple reports have identified racial disparities in
MPDโs data on stops, searches, and uses of force similar to those we identify in this
reportโincluding, for example, the 2018 Hennepin County Public Defender report
described above on stops and searches (see page 36), a 2021 presentation by a
Hennepin County public defender on 2020 stops and searches (showing that Black
drivers were more likely to be searched, but also more likely to be let go following a
search because nothing was found), and a 2015 ACLU report analyzing data from 2012
to 2014 on low level arrests (showing Black and Native American people were more
likely than white people to be arrested for low-level offenses).
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Several reports
contained recommendations for MPD to better track, assess, and reduce disparities.
City and MPD leaders admit they have known about MPDโs shortcomings in this area.
Mayor Frey told us after reviewing MDHRโs 2022 report that โ[w]e knew, and continue to
know, there is disparate treatmentโ of communities of color. Despite this knowledge,
however, MPD has not sufficiently addressed the racial disparities in MPDโs
enforcement practices, as discussed above. Perhaps more troubling, neither the City
52
See, e.g., Jay Wong, A Look at Racial Disparities in MPD Traffic Stops and Searches in 2020 (Apr. 22,
2021), https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/download/Agenda/1960/PCOC%20Traffic%20Stop%20Presentatio
n.pdf/55573/2396/PCOC%20Traffic%20Stop%20Presentation; Picking Up the Pieces: A Minneapolis
Case Study, American Civil Liberties Union (2015), https://www.aclu.org/issues/racial-justice/race-and-
criminal-justice/picking-pieces [https://perma.cc/D5T8-HD74]; see also Libor Jany, Hennepin County
Report Finds Stark Racial Disparities In Traffic Stops, S
TAR TRIBUNE (Oct. 5, 2018),
https://www.startribune.com/hennepin-county-report-finds-stark-racial-disparities-in-traffic-
stops/495324581 [https://perma.cc/N5XF-P3WV]; Andy Mannix, Black Drivers Make Up Majority of
Minneapolis Police Searches During Routine Traffic Stops, S
TAR TRIBUNE (Aug. 7, 2020),
https://www.startribune.com/black-drivers-make-up-majority-of-minneapolis-police-searches-during-
routine-traffic-stops/572029792/ [https://perma.cc/3P23-Y7AR]; Brandon Stahl, A.J. Lagoe, Steve Eckert,
KARE 11 Investigates: New Data Shows MPD Searches Black Drivers at 29 Times the Rate of Whites
After Minor Stops, K
ARE11.COM (May 6, 2021), https://www.kare11.com/article/news/investigations/new-
data-shows-mpd-searches-black-drivers-at-29-times-the-rate-of-whites-after-minor-stops/89-7d1498a6-
5fe3-4a9b-b1f9-a9dc72600829 [https://perma.cc/DAV5-MV3H].
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