2023-06-16 16:20:41
The police in Minneapolis, this city in the north of the United States in which George Floyd was killed by a member of the police force in May 2020, “frequently uses excessive force”including lethal, and “unlawfully discriminates against black and Native American people”establishes an investigation report published Friday, June 16.
This report is the result of the official investigation launched by the United States Department of Justice a year after the death of George Floyd, on May 25, 2020, suffocated under the knee of Derek Chauvin, who remained leaning on his neck for more than nine minutes. The investigation was to determine whether, beyond individual acts, there were systematic problems among the police in this city of 425,000 inhabitants, among the most unequal in the United States.
For two years, investigators combed through reports of incidents between 2016 and August 2022, studied footage from police cameras and heard from thousands of witnesses. And the conclusion of their report is final. “Many officers do their difficult jobs with professionalism, courage and respect. Nonetheless, our investigation concluded that systemic issues made what happened to George Floyd possible.”they write in the introduction.
Des « cow-boys »
“For years, the Minneapolis police have used dangerous techniques and weapons against people who have committed only minor offenses or no offenses”, they note, referring in particular to choke keys – now banned. Officers sometimes use their service weapon for no reason, they also note, citing the example of a man in custody who began cutting his throat with a knife and was shot four times by two officers .
Ils “use force to punish people who anger or criticize them”still assert the authors of the report, deploring the use of tear gas or rubber bullets on demonstrators or journalists. Furthermore, they “patrol the neighborhoods in different ways depending on their ethnic composition”with « des cow-boys » volunteers to go to the predominantly African-American borough.
Also listen How George Floyd’s death changed America
“Data shows that in non-arrest situations, Minneapolis officers screen black and Native American people six times more than white people”, for his part, said the Minister of Justice, Merrick Garland. However, since the death of George Floyd, officers often obscure the ethnicity of the people they interact with in their reports, “which makes it more difficult to detect and counter discrimination”.
Twenty-eight recommendations presented
Finally, the police too often remain deployed in the event of a crisis of dementia, although they are not equipped to calm the sick, which often results in violence, regret the authors of the report. At the level of the structure, impunity reigns, they write again: the system of internal controls is “an opaque labyrinth, with many dead ends, so that many justified complaints are dismissed without investigation or clear reason”.
All this at a cost for the city: firstly because it complicates relations with the population and makes the police less effective. Then because the city had to pay 61.5 million dollars between 2016 and 2022 to put an end to civil lawsuits against its agents.
“To the credit of the police and city leaders, significant changes have been introduced”more “There is still work to do”, declared Mr. Garland, during a press conference, presenting twenty-eight recommendations. The local authorities and the ministry will now negotiate an agreement on the reforms to be undertaken, the implementation of which will be subject to the supervision of a court.
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