Minneapolis police chief takes on union, promises reform

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By STEVE KARNOWSKI and AMY FORLITI

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minneapolis Police Department will withdraw from police union contract negotiations, Chief Medaria Arradondo said Wednesday, as he announced initial steps in what he said would be transformational reforms to the agency in the wake of George Floyd’s death.

Faced with calls from activists and a majority of City Council members to dismantle or defund the department, Arradondo also said he would use a new system to identify problem officers and intervene if there are early warning signs of trouble.

“We will have a police department that our communities view as legitimate, trusting and working with their best interests at heart,” he told reporters during a news conference more than two weeks after Floyd died after a white officer pressed his knee into the handcuffed black man’s neck even after he stopped moving and pleading for air.

Activists have pointed to racial inequities and brutality, as well as a system that refuses to discipline problem officers. The officer who had his knee on Floyd’s neck, Derek Chauvin, had 17 complaints against him and had been disciplined only once.



Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo listens to a question from the media where he discussed police reforms, Wednesday, June 10, 2020 in Minneapolis. The meeting follows the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in police custody after video shared online by a bystander showed former officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck during his arrest as he pleaded that he couldn't breathe. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)


Read more: https://apnews.com/c79b4f7f0e8595fbd59d07540ee32c9b

[moreland01]

1. How about for a start . . .

NOT allowing a guy with 17 freaking misconduct complaints continue to be a cop? How about 3 strikes and you're out. By then you've proven that you don't have any lines you won't cross. Murder is only a matter of time.

[scarletwoman]

4. It's the police union that protects officers like that. That's why this announcement is so momentous

This is exactly why disempowering the police unions is so crucial.

[alwaysinasnit]

8. +1000

[cp]

2. Good for him!

He's doing his part. Thank you.

[Mosby]

3. I want to believe him. nt

[JaneQPublic]

5. Minneapolis cops rejected Chief Arradondo as their leader...

...so says a city insider on MSNBC last week. Instead, the cops follow their local union leader as their chief.

Can anyone from Minneapolis confirm if this is true?

[justgamma]

6. They should make police

mandatory reporters. See misconduct and don't report it, you get in trouble, too. The good ones have got to start weeding out the bad ones.

[47of74]

9. ""Regulations are quite harsh, but they're also quite clear, Captain..."

"...If you do not act, you will be considered equally guilty."

That's exactly what we need - if you're a cop and you see a fellow cop maiming or killing another human being without good cause and you do nothing to stop them then you need to be brought up on the exact same murder charges.

[pecosbob]

7. Now disband the police officers' union and put that nazi Bob Kroll on the unemployment line