Persistent Bias Shows Police Can’t Reform Themselves
Originally published as "Persistent Bias Shows Police Can’t Reform Themselves," StarTribune, October 19, 2021.
Like many Minneapolis voters, I have been thinking a lot about City Question 2, the proposal to replace the Minneapolis Police Department with a Department of Public Safety that would include mental health professionals and social workers in addition to armed police.
We've heard promises of reform from Chief Medaria Arradondo and Mayor Jacob Frey, with the goal of reducing racial disparities in policing. But this raises a fundamental question: Can we trust the MPD to reform itself? My analysis of MPD data makes it clear that the answer is no.