Minneapolis timeline for political and police corruption reads like a parody. No wonder that city is such a shit show. Can't have bad cops without corrupt government.
1867
Minneapolis incorporates and the City Council establishes the Minneapolis Police Department, which takes only 36 years to earn the title “
The Shame of Minneapolis” due to its legendary corruption and racketeering.
1903
The Citizens’ Alliance, a rightwing group representing downtown business interests, forms and spends the next half-century
increasingly cementing the Minneapolis Police Department as its
personal militia for enforcing anti-labor interests.
1934
Minneapolis police open fire downtown during the
Minneapolis General Strike and kill two workers on Bloody Friday.
Downtown business interests later invent Aquatennial to overshadow the annual “Teamster Picnics” celebrating the successful strike.
1963
The first Civilian Review Board is established and fails to create meaningful structural change,
the same outcome as any other reform-based approach to follow.
1968
Fed up with racist police interactions, community members form the Black Patrol, Soul Force and
AIM Patrol to intervene and de-escalate potential violence. After AIM Patrol’s first six months, the percentage of the Native population in jail dropped from 70 percent to 10 percent. Community patrols
predate the police and
continue to this day.
1989
Minneapolis police kill Black elders Lillian Wallace and Lloyd Smalley during a botched SWAT raid, a
not-uncommon occurrence that “
tarnished” the city’s image. Enraged residents, including the current Minnesota Attorney General, demand reforms.
1990-1991
In response to a call, Minneapolis police shoot and kill 17-year-old Black resident Tycel Nelson as he is running away.
Enraged residents demand reform.
Violent crime peaks in Minneapolis and America and steadily declines for the next three decades without interruption.
1992-1993
Metro Transit police severely beat an elderly Black man for lack of fare, and furious youth later ambush and kill Minneapolis police officer
Jerry Haaf. The Minneapolis Police Department begins terrorizing residents, using tactics including Rough Rides of Native residents, kidnapping,
rape, extortion and opening fire at Little Earth.
2006
In response to a call, Minneapolis police shoot unarmed Black resident
Dominic Felder in the back, killing him in the midst of a nervous breakdown. Later that year Minneapolis police run over 19-year-old Hmong resident Fong Lee on his bicycle and shoot him 3 times in the back, then shoot another 5 times more as his body lay on the ground.
The officer involved is acquitted.
2007
Five Black Minneapolis police officers – including the current Chief of Police – sue the department for
racial discrimination, settling with the city for a record $2 million. The majority of the money is earmarked for (but not required to be spent on) “reform.”
2010
In response to a call, Minneapolis police kill 28-year-old Black resident David Smith in the midst of a mental health crisis downtown, suffocating him to death under a prone restraint. Later that year Hmong resident Jason Yang dies under
mysterious circumstances after encountering the Minneapolis police downtown at bar close.
Violent crime in Minneapolis bottoms out and remains at historic lows throughout the decade.
2013
In response to a call, Minneapolis police corner unarmed 22-year-old Black resident Terrance Franklin in a Lyn-Lake basement, shoot and kill him. An hour later Minneapolis police run over and kill resident Ivan Romero in the intersection of 26th and Blaisdell while on the way to the scene. The then-new (lesbian) Chief of Police, who had previously sued the department for sex discrimination,
says reform is coming.
2014
#Pointergate becomes the first
baseless local performative law-and-order outrage in the new Black Lives Matter era. Glen Taylor, a North Mankato-based downtown Minneapolis sports billionaire, purchases the local paper of record,
promising a deliberate rightward lurch over time.
2015
Minneapolis police kill 24-year-old Black resident Jamar Clark, shooting him in the face in response to an ambulance call. Residents occupy the nearby Fourth Precinct for the next 18 days to
protest and build community, during which the Minneapolis police point assault weapons in the faces of
current and
future City Council members.
2017
In response to a call, Minneapolis police shoot and kill 40-year-old white resident and Australian national Justine Ruszczyk Damond, sparking international outrage.
2018
In response to a call, Minneapolis police shoot and kill 31-year-old Black resident Thurman Blevins
as he is running away. Six months later Minneapolis police shoot and kill 36-year-old Black resident Travis Jordan in his front yard during a welfare check. Three weeks later the City Council votes down the mayor’s request to increase the police budget by $12 million annually, choosing instead to
invest in upstream safety measures.
2019
Thursday, March 7, 5:52 p.m.
Cutting police budgets is not the way toward equitable communities
By Editorial Board
Statistics show that cutting police budgets is likely to backfire on cities.
Tuesday, March 12, 10:26 p.m.
Minneapolis police chief reiterates desire for department to grow to 1,000 officers, despite resistance
The issue of understaffing resurfaced at a public meeting in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood last week.
- Thursday, April 18, 10:35 p.m.
Minneapolis to ban ‘warrior’ training for police, Mayor Jacob Frey says
Mayor Jacob Frey made the announcement in his State of the City address.
- Wednesday, April 24, 9:28 p.m.
Minneapolis police union offers free ‘warrior’ training, in defiance of mayor’s ban
Police federation says the Minneapolis mayor’s ban on training is illegal.
- Thursday, April 25, 6:07 p.m.
Editorial counterpoint: Not well-named, maybe, but ‘Warrior Training’ is highly valuable
By Richard Greelis
Friendly cop-citizen contacts are the routine. This training simply instills a cautious, resolute mind-set in case the next encounter isn’t
