[George Floyd\Chokeholds]
Mayor Jacob Frey: “This is a moment in time where we can totally change the way our police department operates. We can quite literally lead the way in our nation enacting more police reform than any other city in the entire country and we cannot fail.”
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George Floyd’s murder: Minneapolis City Council has banned the use of chokeholds and neck restraints.
Minneapolis police would be banned from using neck restraints and chokeholds and officers would be required to intervene when inappropriate force is used, under an agreement the City Council approved on Friday.
The agreement also seeks to impose more accountability for the use of crowd-control weapons and increase transparency in police discipline cases.
The document, which would still require approval from a judge, is the result of negotiations between the city’s elected officials and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.
The state Human Rights Department on Tuesday filed a civil rights charge against the police department after the police killing of George Floyd. It was the first time the department has launched a systemic investigation into the largest police department in the state.
The City Council approved the tentative agreement in a meeting Friday afternoon, and Mayor Jacob Frey signed it moments later.
“This is a moment in time where we can totally change the way our police department operates,” Frey said during Friday’s public meeting. “We can quite literally lead the way in our nation enacting more police reform than any other city in the entire country and we cannot fail.”
City leaders have said they think this agreement — and the state’s investigation — could eventually allow the city to institute that reforms that have previously been difficult to enact because of provisions in the police union contract or state law.
The draft agreement notes: “Black, Indigenous, and communities of color have suffered generational pain and trauma as a result of systemic and institutional racism and long-standing problems in policing,” the draft agreement says. “This continuous harm was once again highlighted by the in-custody death of George Floyd. The Parties agree that many previous efforts have not resolved the historic problems in policing in this community.”
The agreement would require the city police department to update its manual “to prohibit the use of all neck restraints or chokeholds for any reason.”
For the rest of this Star Tribune story log on to: https://www.startribune.com/mpls-city-council-oks-ban-on-police-choke-holds/571048892/
