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Mayor Jacob Frey Highlights Police Union Hurdles In Minneapolis Police Department Probe

(Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Marlo Safi Culture Reporter
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The state of Minnesota is investigating the Minneapolis Police Department following the death of George Floyd, Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz announced Tuesday.

Democratic Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey endorsed the investigation and pointed out that previous probes had been “thwarted by police union protections and laws that severely limit accountability among police departments,” according to NBC News.

“The Minnesota of Department of Human Rights is filing a commissioner’s charge of discrimination to launch a civil rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department,” Walz said on Twitter.

The civil rights investigation will aim to enact “deep, meaningful policing reform,” Frey said in a statement according to NBC News. The investigation will probe the department’s policies and procedures to determine whether the department has engaged in discriminatory practices.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights is launching the investigation, which Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said will differ from past investigations of the police department because the state will work with city leaders to try and make quick changes, she said according to Star Tribune.

It is also the first time the Human Rights Department has probed the largest police department in the state. 

Lucero expects the city to be open with records and that they will have findings in “several months,” according to NBC News.

Frey said an agreement with the state could be needed for change due to police unions.

“For years in Minneapolis, police chiefs and elected officials committed to change have been thwarted by police union protections and laws that severely limit accountability among police departments,” Frey said according to Star Tribune. “Breaking through those persistent barriers, shifting the culture of policing, and addressing systemic racism will require all of us working hand in hand.”

The Minneapolis Police Federation president Lt. Bob Kroll has said he’s fighting to help the officers involved in Floyd’s death get their jobs back because they were fired without due process, according to CBS Minnesota

Derek Chauvin, who is being charged with second-degree murder in the death of George Floyd, and three other officers who were at the scene were fired the day after Floyd died. (RELATED: Charges Against Ex-Cop Derek Chauvin Elevated To 2nd-Degree Murder In George Floyd Case)

Flowers, signs and balloons are left near a makeshift memorial to George Floyd near the spot where he died while in custody of the Minneapolis police, on May 29, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. - Demonstrations are being held across the US after George Floyd died in police custody on May 25. (Photo by Kerem Yucel / AFP) (Photo by KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images)

Flowers, signs and balloons are left near a makeshift memorial to George Floyd near the spot where he died while in custody of the Minneapolis police, on May 29, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. – Demonstrations are being held across the US after George Floyd died in police custody on May 25. (Photo by Kerem Yucel / AFP) (Photo by KEREM YUCEL/AFP via Getty Images)

“I’ve worked with the four defense attorneys that are representing each of our four terminated individuals under criminal investigation, in addition with our labor attorneys to fight for their jobs,”  Kroll said in a letter to union members that surfaced on social media according to MPR News.

The MPD, in the past, has typically conducted internal investigations and then forwarded results to a discipline panel in cases involving allegations of officer wrongdoing, MPR reported.