Coalition in Minneapolis wants to put police responsibility to vote

A coalition of police accountability advocates is looking for other ways to bring citizen control of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) after their citizen petition to amend the city’s constitution was rejected because there were not enough verified signatures.

The ballot initiative would have asked voters whether to amend the city constitution to create the Civilian Police Accountability Commission (CPAC), an independent, elected body of commissioners with the power to change MPD policies, conduct investigations into allegations of police misconduct, and impose disciplinary actions up to and including the firing of individual officers, including the police chief.

Jess Sundin of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice said the initiative was born out of listening to families whose loved ones were killed by police and who feel there is not enough accountability for perpetrators. She said investigations into these deadly clashes are also conducted by police, which presents a conflict of interest and lack of independence that the initiative aims to prevent.

“We felt like this was a way to actually change that and give community members the opportunity to lead those investigations and decisions and really put that power back in the hands of community members,” Sundin said.

For a citizen petition to appear on the ballot, it must have a minimum number of valid voter signatures equal to 5% of the total number of Minneapolis residents who voted in the last election. In 2024, that number was 8,943 signatures. The petition would then need to be approved by the Charter Commission before the City Council must step in to approve the final language of the ballot initiative by July 9 for the initiative to appear on the ballot.

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However, that process was halted after the coalition submitted a petition with more than 12,000 signatures on May 1. Less than a week later, on May 9, City Clerk Casey Carl, whose office is responsible for verifying signatures for such petitions, told council members that his office had only been able to verify about 5,500 of the signatures, leaving the petition nearly 3,400 signatures short of meeting the required minimum.

The coalition then had until May 20 to submit the remaining signatures to reach the required number. It collected more signatures, but not enough before the deadline passed.

This initiative comes more than two years after another ballot initiative – “Yes for Minneapolis” – that sought to transfer authority over the MPD from the mayor to the city council under a new Department of Public Safety. Minneapolis voters rejected the ballot question in the 2021 municipal election, although it nearly passed with about 44% of the vote.

Although the petition comes several years after the Yes for Minneapolis initiative, the coalition began working on the CPAC idea in 2017. After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the idea evolved into a citizen petition and the coalition has been collecting signatures ever since.

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The commission is modeled on the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA) in Chicago, which was established in 2016 and is empowered to conduct investigations into complaints of police misconduct and killings by police officers.

Michelle Phelps, a sociology professor at the University of Minnesota, said that challenging the Minneapolis charter to change the city’s power structure dates back to the 1960s, but that anti-police violence and police accountability groups have been using this method relatively recently. Phelps said the method is well-suited to forcing the city to pass by putting the measure on a vote, but it lacks detail on what the commission would do and whether the community would be involved in shaping it.

“There’s not much in the city charter. It’s more of a set of rules and protocols than a fully fleshed-out policy that really goes into the nitty-gritty details,” she said. “And it’s a blunt instrument in the sense that the public doesn’t really have the opportunity to vote yes or no until it gets to the point where it’s on the ballot.”

Sundin said the coalition is currently reviewing its options for moving forward, but has ruled out challenging the city clerk’s analysis of the signatures in court.

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Because of the more progressive makeup of the City Council, the coalition is now considering asking council members to use their powers to put the initiative on the ballot. Although they did not reach the minimum number of signatures, the additional signatures collected before May 20 should show council members that residents support the idea. The council can either amend the charter by ordinance, which requires unanimous council support and mayoral approval, or it can put a proposed amendment to voters, which is still subject to review by the charter commission but can be put on the ballot with a veto-proof majority.

“We wanted to convey to our elected officials that there is broad support for this, and that support has not waned even after the death of George Floyd just over four years ago. People still want to see real change and don’t think waiting for settlements or the appointment of commissioners is enough,” she said.

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