Context
Black people account for about 20 percent of the city’s population, but they are more likely to be pulled over, arrested and have force used against them than white residents, Police Department data shows. And black people accounted for more than 60 percent of the victims in Minneapolis police shootings from late 2009 through May 2019, data shows.
Context
In a matter of 5 months in 2018, using undercover officers posing as buyers, they arrested 47 people for selling marijuana on Hennepin between 5th and 6th streets. The Hennepin County Public Defender’s office determined that 46 of those arrested were black. All were charged as felonies. Some were put in diversion programs, some were convicted and at least one man went to prison.“Almost all of those cases involve a sale of 1-2 grams of marijuana for a total of $10-$20,” assistant county public defender Jess Braverman wrote in a May 31 court document.
Of the 1,600 police misconduct complaints filed in Minneapolis from 2013 through 2018 — the last year of completed data — only 45 resulted in an officer being disciplined. Most of it was a mix of reprimands and suspensions. Five officers were successfully fired during that six-year period, and one was demoted.
During that time more than 270 misconduct allegations were resolved with nondisciplinary coaching.