DOJ launches investigation of Minneapolis Police Department

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday announced that the Department of Justice is launching an investigation into the practices of the Minneapolis Police Department.

“The investigation I am announcing today will assess whether the Minneapolis Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of using excessive force, including during protests,” Garland said during a news conference.

The announcement came one day after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted by a jury of the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, who was killed in custody last year. Video of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd for more than nine minutes while the handcuffed man struggled to breathe sparked protests around the country.

Garland said the investigation will also examine whether the department’s treatment of individuals with behavioral health disabilities is lawful. He said the DOJ had already begun outreach to the local community.

“Yesterday’s verdict in the state criminal trial does not address potentially systemic policing issues in Minneapolis,” Garland said.

The Justice Department probe is known as a pattern-or-practice investigation. The DOJ had earlier announced a separate investigation into whether Chauvin violated Floyd’s civil rights.

During his remarks, Garland emphasized that he believed that the majority of the nation’s police officers did their best to uphold the law.

“I strongly believe that good officers do not want to work in systems that allow bad practices. Good officers welcome accountability, because accountability is an essential part of building trust with the community, and public safety requires public trust,” Garland said.

Pattern-or-practice investigations, the Justice Department has said, often examine “whether the police department has engaged in a pattern or practice of stops, searches, or arrests that violate the Fourth Amendment; use of excessive force; discriminatory policing; violation of the constitutional rights of criminal suspects; or violation of First Amendment rights.”

If the DOJ concludes that a police department has systematically violated the law, it can pursue a settlement, often known as a consent decree, which sometimes entails independent monitoring or other reforms. The agreement must be approved by a court. Garland earlier this month rescinded a memorandum signed during former President Donald Trump’s term that limited the use of consent decrees.

“The Department of Justice will be unwavering in its pursuit of equal justice under law,” Garland said.

“The challenges we face are deeply woven into our history. They did not arise today or last year. Building trust between community and law enforcement will take time and effort by all of us, but we undertake this task with determination and urgency knowing that change cannot wait,” Garland added.

In a statement issued after Chauvin’s guilty verdict was announced, Garland said that while “the state’s prosecution was successful, I know that nothing can fill the void that the loved ones of George Floyd have felt since his death.”

Garland said in the statement that the previously announced civil rights investigation was “ongoing.”

President Joe Biden pledged after Chauvin was convicted that he would push forward on reforming the nation’s policing.

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[samdherring]

DOJ should investigate why the FBI always seems to know about shooters before the act they let happen.

[kingkong]

The DOJ should launch a investigation of their department, because it is crooked as hell and arrest themselves. That would be poetic justice!

[Biffwellington]

How about investigating the Department of Justice for not starting this investigation BEFORE the conviction?

[vg]

150, 000 illegal aliens at our. Border, the Arizona governor asking for help and this is priority for our media.

[cswann]

The kind of young men graduating high-school and looking for their place in the world who might have been really good cops....are not even thinking about stepping into this disaster now.

[pd]

I hope the cops do the right thing and stop supporting a system that doesn't support them. Walk away. It's not worth going to prison over meth heads acting a fool. This is your time to make history and become activists.

[henryetter]

Who's going to investigate FBI and Justice Department

[swoopdog]

The DOJ needs to be investigated. What a joke!

[stclairstclair]

Ironically we've turned A blind eye to Hunters illegal activity...

[johnpappe]

Once the police are all gone who are you going to call when a crime is committed against yourself. Ironic that Maxine Watters called for a police escort while visiting Minneapolis.

[griigorihabii]

And just like that, Justice died to thunderous applause.

[RebornV]

all the police in Minneapolis should just quit at this point

[chrisweidner]

How about investigating politicians who have allowed rioting to continue throughout the year?

[brucebruce]

How can you trust the bad guys to check the other bad guys???

[siberiancajun]

Department of Justice get things done about as much as my pothead SGA did.

[erickane]

Well let's hope the DOJ will get to the bottom of this operation and furious

[delledaye]

Right... An internal investigation on the people who wrote the way an investigation should go... WHY don't we do this through out the states because they are not alone by any means.

[deano]

Am I the only person that could care less about all this fake outrage crap?

[nukembear]

Who do we get to investigate the faux justice department?

[FrostfyreAkali]

"We've investigated ourselves and found no wrongdoing"