Minneapolis reaches historic $27 million settlement with George Floyd's family

[frazzled]

6. Not entirely good

Of course the family needs considerable restitution, and I don’t think this is too much.

But too often these payments are made, and nothing happens to change the situation. This has been going on in my city for many years, and we still have extensive police misconduct (which we, the taxpayers, keep paying for).

Over the past decade, Chicago has paid more than a half billion dollars for police misconduct, according to an analysis of city law department data.

... Chicago City Council Finance Committee Chairman Scott Waguespack says the city is working to break that expensive pattern and concentrating on implementing police reforms mandated by a consent decree put in place after a white Chicago police officer, Jason Van Dyke, fatally shot LaQuan McDonald, a 17-year-old African American.

"So that we're not just saying 'okay, here's another settlement. Good job negotiating' and move on. But really look at the deep seated issues within the department to start rooting out those problems," Waguespack says.

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/19/914170214/police-settlements-how-the-cost-of-misconduct-impacts-cities-and-taxpayers

So certainly we need to compensate victims. But that should not be the end of the story. We should hope for the day to come soon when these tragic wrongful deaths end, and there are no more settlements needed.