BACKGROUND INFORMATION 

The City budget encompasses over $195 million [1] for the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD). Policing is one of the most significant ongoing expenditures and is expected to ensure community safety. Yet, the City continues to expend millions for civil settlements because of police abuse and misconduct that is not included in the MPD budget. In 2021 alone this resulted in over $120 million [2] in payouts. Further, the City is now subject to a Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) Consent Decree [3] after its Findings [4] of systemic misconduct by MPD. The City is also facing a U.S. Department Of Justice (DOJ) Consent Decree, after DOJ issued similar scathing Findings [5], and an Agreement In Principle [6] for “the City and MPD [to] deliver services in a manner that respects the rights of residents.”

The individuals and organizations that make up the coalition Mpls For A Better Police Contract (MFBPC) have once again conducted a comprehensive review of the current contract between the City and the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis [7] the collective bargaining unit – or union – for MPD officers, sergeants, and lieutenants. Our recommendations can help ensure the contract between the City and Police Federation reflects a police budget being well spent, consent decree orders being fully realized, and our safety and needs being met. We – the public - must be engaged in the contract negotiations process. While the public is not a party to the negotiations, we do have a right to influence the process by making recommendations, and attending negotiating sessions to see that they are brought to the table.

Influencing The Police Federation Contract

Although public labor agreements, commonly referred to as contracts, are between governments and public employees, it is the public who are the beneficiaries of these contracts. The public is not allowed any direct involvement in the contract negotiations, but we have a right to be heard by our elected representatives. We can insist that the Minneapolis City Council and Mayor exercise due diligence in ensuring the Police Federation contract is a vehicle to bring about needed police accountability.

Starting in 2019, MFBPC engaged in the labor-intensive work of scouring the City’s previous contract with the Police Federation. We authored 14 recommendations for crucial changes, and all but one of the previous City Council Members embraced our recommendations in full or in part. We then attempted to exercise our right to view public negotiations to see if the Mayor’s team was passing our recommendations across the table. The City dragged its feet for months and withheld dates of public negotiations. The Police Federation then learned we wanted to attend these sessions, and moved for non-public mediation. The City went right along with it. Our coalition filed a lawsuit that resulted in the City agreeing to a landmark settlement. Now, the City must follow the law by providing dates, times, and locations of all public negotiating sessions.

The Contract Process

The City is the public employer of MPD, and is led in contract bargaining by the City’s Department of Labor Relations whose Director is appointed by the Mayor. The Police Chief is part of the City’s team. The Police Federation leads negotiations on behalf of police officers. Contract negotiations between the City and Police Federation are governed by Minnesota law, specifically the Public Employee Labor Relations Act (PELRA).[8] The contract is renegotiated every three years. The final contract must be approved by a simple majority of seven members of the Minneapolis City Council.

Not every topic related to policing is part of the contract. Contract topics include employee working conditions, grievance procedure, pay and benefits. As the public employer, the City of Minneapolis maintains certain exclusive managerial rights related to recruitment, hiring, operational policies, procedures, and training, and these matters are not negotiated in the contract. Our recommendations do not address pay or benefits, so as to prioritize needed policy and procedure changes.

MFBPC recognizes that there were some laudable changes made in the present Police Federation contract, and by actions taken by the City outside the contract negotiations process. However, some changes did not go far enough, and other changes reflect drastic steps backward. Most egregious is the new language that mandates police officers be given the name of any person who requests data on that officer. (See Recommendation 5, p. 7; and Additional Facts 1, p. 20).

Updated Recommendations

On the following pages, MFBPC presents our updated recommendations for the next contract that will be in force from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2025. MFBPC recognizes the broad spectrum of opinion regarding police accountability work, from new trainings, reforms, and abolishing the present police structure. Whatever your views, the MFBPC recommendations are something we can all agree on. Not because they are a panacea, but because they can provide immediate harm reduction for our community as the systemic work of police reform and community safety beyond policing continues. Minneapolis District Court Judge Bridget Sullivan, who presided over MFBPC’s successfully settled lawsuit with  the City, recognized our work in comments made on the record:

“The City’s contracts with the police union did not move forward with everything that we had hoped would move forward after the killing of George Floyd, with a different kind of policing in our City. But, I know that change comes very hard and slow. And, I do think that there are people of good faith in the City that want that to work for the City, that want to see this happen. I also know that change doesn’t come without pressure from people like the Plaintiffs.”

We urge all people working towards a “different kind of policing” to sign on and endorse our recommendations.* Together we can influence the negotiations process, so that the Mayor presents our recommendations during contract negotiations, and the City Council draws a line on which recommendations must be included in the contract.