Baltimore police commissioner expects Minneapolis PD to be placed under federal consent decree

The commissioner of Baltimore’s police department said Sunday that he expects the Minneapolis Police Department to be placed under a federal consent decree similar to one his agency had, which forces departments to resolve findings of unconstitutional policing practices. 

Speaking on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Michael Harrison told host Chuck Todd that he expects a Justice Department investigation to find evidence of such unconstitutional practices within Minneapolis’s police force following the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd.

“I believe the Justice Department will, in its investigation, probably find patterns and practices of unconstitutional policing, and it’s very likely Minneapolis will be in the consent decree, as well,” he said.

“[W]hat we need is for more good officers to step up without being retaliated against and without having, without being punished for having stepped up to do the right thing to prevent those bad things from happening. And that’s what we’ve been advocating for and that’s what every department should be looking at,” the commissioner added.

Harrison’s comments come in the week following the conviction of Chauvin for the second-degree murder of George Floyd, a Black man. Floyd’s death sparked nationwide demonstrations and calls for police reform after video of the incident showed Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck for nine minutes.

Baltimore’s police department was put under a federal consent decree in 2017, which Harrison said Sunday amounts to “a complete makeover of a department.”

“Mayor Brandon M. Scott [D] and the City of Baltimore will work together to reform the Baltimore Police Department and build the bond of trust that must exist between the community and the City’s police officers,” reads the Baltimore city website. “The goal of the consent decree is to have a stronger police department that fights crime while it serves and protects the civil and constitutional rights of Baltimore City residents.”