What’s changed in Minneapolis four years after George Floyd’s death

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• John Yang:

  It was four years ago today that George Floyd died while three Minneapolis Police Officers pinned him face down on the pavement. One of them pressing his knee on Floyd's neck. Cellphone video the incident recorded by a teenage witness was seen around the world.

  It ignited international protests over racism and police abuse and calls for police reforms. Despite that global reach for Minneapolis, it is still very much a local trauma.

  Jon Collins is a senior reporter at Minneapolis Public Radio, he covers the future of policing. John four years on how much is this still part of daily life in Minneapolis? How present is it?

• Jon Collins, Senior Reporter, Minneapolis Public Radio:

  Yeah, it's very present. You can walk down the streets and you see signs in people's yards still you see murals of George Floyd. You know, if you go 10 blocks away from here, you'll see George Floyd square, which is where activists have kind of set up, you know, a Mecca to memorialize Floyd.

  And then on top of that this reform of the Minneapolis Police Department has been at the very forefront of what's been happening in the city for many years now you know folks are still very aware of what happened George Floyd and thinking about how they might be able to avoid that happening in the future again.

• John Yang:

  When it comes to policing and public safety. Has anything changed?

• Jon Collins:

  Yeah, lots of change. I mean, the City of Minneapolis is — was investigated by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, as well as the U.S. Department of Justice. And both of them found glaring problems with the Minneapolis Police Department. So the Minnesota Department of Human Rights has a court enforced agreement with the City of Minneapolis requiring all sorts of changes.

  You know, for instance, you know, one of the things they did right away, was ban chokeholds. And we also expect a federal consent decree to be coming down at some point here, which will make other requirements for the City of Minneapolis that they need to change with Minneapolis Police.

  So that would make Minneapolis the first city to really experience both a state and a federal consent decree on policing at the same time. So there's a lot happening right now.

• John Yang:

  Has any of this helped rebuild the trust of the of the residents of Minneapolis in the police department?

• Jon Collins:

  Yeah, I think that's a long journey, John. I think for a lot of people, they're still waiting for the outcome of, you know, all these promised reforms. And this does not come very quickly. You know, it comes very slowly. And it's many small steps. So people are waiting to see if they can actually feel like they trust what the city has been doing as far as policing in the last few years.

• John Yang:

  I mean, I know there's a push on to change the civilian oversight board of the police, is that sort of an indication that they're still working to rebuild that trust?

• Jon Collins:

  Yeah, that's part of their process of just kind of, I think learning exactly what does work, the new civilian oversight board, it was created just a year ago, you know, has had a ton of trouble, you know, coming up with new policies for the police department, or, you know, they're supposed to go through police complaints, but there's a huge backlog.

  So, yeah, that's totally a part of it. And it's something the city needs to resolve, because it's required under the court enforced agreement. So it's going to be something they need to figure out that at this point, you know, it's not clear yet how they're going to do that, or when that's going to actually come together, because it's quite dysfunctional at this point.

• John Yang:

  And on Minneapolis has also been sort of in the forefront of alternative policing, and responding to people who are in a mental health crisis. How successful is that been?

• Jon Collins:

  I think one thing that people in the city of Minneapolis maybe don't hear enough about or understand is all the different changes that have been made to public safety, that don't involve armed police. So one thing that they did is they really created and boosted this behavioral crisis response team.

  So in the city of Minneapolis, at this point, if you want to call 911 and there's a nonviolent, you know, crisis or situation happening, you can ask for these folks to show up. And it's in their nature to deescalate. So I mean, there's been quite an investment in the city of Minneapolis, on these sorts of unarmed public safety responses, and people maybe don't directly experience them right away.

  But the people that I've spoken to who have partaken of these services, you know, appreciate it. And in that particular case, I would say, you know, from the evidence that we have that that has been a success, and then there are quite a few other programs that they're also exploring, or just launching right now.

• John Yang:

  Is you say that people in Minneapolis may or may not be seeing this or haven't seen a lot of it. How long do you think it's going to take for the city to truly heal from this incident? Or will there always be scar tissue?

• Jon Collins:

  So I think there's going to be remnants of 2020. And what happened in George Floyd in Minneapolis' DNA forever. You know, it's changed the nature of the city. It's changed how the city thought about itself. But I also think there is a process that's happening right now. And it's actually thanks to the state governments and the federal government for doing these investigations. And then the eventual consent decrees that require changes in the Minneapolis Police.

  And we know from other cities and their experiences, that these consent decrees can take many, many years to resolve, you know, they don't lift the consent decree until Minneapolis meets the requirements. So we are certainly going to be dealing with this in the city of Minneapolis for many years. If not, you know, a decade or more.

• John Yang:

  Jon Collins of Minnesota Public Radio. Thank you very much.

• Jon Collins:

  Thank you.

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