Minneapolis Police Department
The Minneapolis Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It is also the largest police department in Minnesota. Formed in 1867, it is the second-oldest police department in Minnesota, after the Saint Paul Police Department that formed in 1854. A short-lived Board of Police Commissioners existed from 1887 to 1890.
The department is organized into four bureaus all reporting to the Assistant Chief of Police, who in turn reports to the Chief. The city is divided into five precincts with 600 sworn officers and 300 civilian employees. As of May 29, 2020, the department's 3rd precinct station was destroyed. At the city's population peak, the MPD served over 521,000 people, and today serves over 430,000 people as of the last census estimate.
MPD answers about four hundred thousand calls a year and does fifty thousand proactive stops a year. In comparison, Hennepin Emergency Medical Services answers 60,000 calls a year. Also operating in the city are the University of Minnesota Police Department, Minneapolis Park Police Department, Metro Transit Police, and the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. The Metropolitan Airports Commission Police serves Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in unincorporated Hennepin County.
After an incident in May 2020, MPD officer Derek Chauvin was charged with and later convicted for the murder of George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for approximately 9.5 minutes. The murder sparked worldwide protests against racism and police brutality, bringing considerable attention to the MPD. The MPD has explicitly refused offers for intervention training which could have prevented civilian loss of life. Bob Kroll, head of the MPD union, characterized Floyd as a "violent criminal" and called the protests a "terrorist movement". In June 2020, President Lisa Bender of the Minneapolis City Council stated that the city should dismantle the MPD and replace it with a "transformative new model of public safety". Plans to disband the department were announced days later, with support from a veto-proof majority on the City Council. However, Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey was opposed to such action. It was soon acknowledged that the city charter prevented the City Council from enacting such plans, which would have to be approved either with joint support from the mayor or by amending the city charter in a public vote. The charter also prevents the MPD from being defunded.
A proposed city charter amendment was passed by the Minneapolis City Council, which, if approved by voters, would replace the MPD with a Department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention, with a provision that would allow but not require a division of "licensed peace officers". However, the Minneapolis City Charter Commission later cancelled plans to put the proposed city charter amendment on the November 2020 ballot, after an increase in crimes throughout the city. A similar measure which appeared on the November 2021 ballot was defeated.
On June 16, 2023, the United States Department of Justice released a report summarizing a comprehensive investigation into the MPD, finding that "the Minneapolis Police Department and the City of Minneapolis engage in a pattern or practice of conduct in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law," specifically with regard to the use of deadly force, racial discrimination, violations of free speech rights, and discrimination against people with behavioral health disabilities.
History
In the 19th century, the City of St. Anthony and Town of Minneapolis were first served by an appointed city marshal based out of St. Anthony who was assisted by constables. Vested with the power of arrest, they rarely used it. Criminals sentenced would be sent to the Ramsey County Jail or the Stillwater Penitentiary until the Hennepin County Courthouse and Jail was built in 1857. When the two cities merged and incorporated as Minneapolis in 1867, Mayor Dorilus Morrison immediately appointed H. H. Brackett as the first police chief. With six patrolmen, the new Police Department of Minneapolis served a population of about 5,000 people. In 1884, the force numbered 100 men and Shingle Creek workhouse was completed.In 1876, A. A. Ames was elected to his first of four nonconsecutive terms as mayor. He was dubbed "The Shame of Minneapolis" by the national press and fired half of the police department filling the ranks with political supporters. He appointed his brother Frederick W. Ames as police chief.
The city administration and the police began operating as an organized crime syndicate, extorting protection money and "fines" from illegal businesses of various kinds. The money collected was turned over to the mayor and divided between him and his associates. Minneapolis was promoted as an "open city" to criminals across the country and criminals were released from the city's jail. Illegal businesses such as opium joints, gambling parlors, and houses of prostitution blossomed, many in the Gateway district. It was speculated that women were setting up candy stores to run a legitimate business to children and workers out front, but providing the services of prostitutes in the back.
In 1887, by act of the new Minnesota Legislature and accorded by the Minneapolis City Council, the Board of Police Commissioners was appointed. Vesting all control of the force to the Board, it was an attempt to thwart the corrupt Mayor "Doc" Ames who had replaced the police force with crooks.
The board was short-lived for three terms until it was abolished in 1890 and a new mayor was elected. Military titles were also abolished. By then the city grew to 200,000 people with 200 officers on a budget of $209,278. Patrols were done on foot and by horseback with headquarters at city hall. By 1909, the department added motorcycles, fingerprinting, and utilized telephones. The MPD started using automobiles for patrol in the 1920s and had most patrol officers in cars by the 1930s.
In the 1930s the MPD was involved in ending labor disputes. The department found an accommodation with local mobsters. During World War II 117 MPD officers fought for the United States in the armed forces. In the 1950s population growth increased the city to over 500,000 residents with nearly six hundred sworn officers. In 1952 the Drunkometer, forerunner to the intoxilyzer, was first used in Minneapolis. During the 1960s major riots along Plymouth Avenue resulted in the creation of a Community Relations Division. The 1970s saw the first use of mobile digital technology in squad cars. In the 1980s and 1990s community-oriented policing became paramount. In an effort to get closer to the community the Community Crime Prevention/SAFE Unit was created.
A city policeman, Charles Stenvig served a total of six years as mayor during the period 1969–1978. He returned to his job after his terms.
On July 1, 2021, during a police shortage, a Minneapolis judge sided with eight city residents from north Minneapolis and ordered the Minneapolis Police Department to hire enough police officers to match the minimum required by the City Charter, citing rising crime. This judge's ruling would later be upheld by the Minnesota Supreme Court.
In 2025, MPD began encrypting 911 radio traffic, greatly limiting the public's ability to monitor the department's police scanner.
Community relations
MPD sought to strengthen community relations with its Community Crime Prevention/Safety for Everyone program. Specialists were trained to assist neighborhoods in organizing block clubs and disseminate crime information to residents. The Neighborhood Revitalization Program which began in 1960 has just begun to realize its infrastructure and community improvements, as neighborhoods once severely impacted by crime and deterioration had begun to turn around. The Whittier neighborhood became a model example of the program's benefit. CODEFOR, which stands for Computer Optimized DEployment - Focus On Results, finally reached a decade of data collection revealing definitive crime trends and in 2007, the precincts implemented official neighborhood policing plans based on this data. A 2021 lawsuit noted the lack of police operating in the Northside neighborhoods in Minneapolis, which was also blamed for spikes in violent crime.Strikes
The Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934 was set in May 1934 in the city market when a new truckers union was not recognized. MPD attempted to open the markets, which were the source of most goods and produce in the city but were blocked by teamsters. Assisted by the Minnesota National Guard and a local militia, the two sides clashed violently for a month with police using gas bombs and brandishing rifles. It ended on August 21 when the union was recognized. Though 200 were injured and four were killed, the strike was a significant event in state and national labor history.With American prosperity, Minneapolis reached its peak population of over 521,000 in the 1950 census and MPD had nearly 600 sworn officers. The demographics of Minneapolis also identified in the 1950 census as 98% white. While national politics and anti-communism sentiment played out during this decade, urban renewal ravaged the downtown areas and cleared slums, impacting poor communities. Police contended with protests to this clearance and freeway and expressway revolts later in the 1960s.
Protests and riots
The 1960s posed new challenges to the department from increased drug use, counterculture, and societal unrest. Rioting in Minneapolis followed similarly to inequality riots across many major U.S. cities during that era in predominantly African-American communities. Most notably, the Plymouth Avenue Riots in the Near North neighborhood, instigated by East Coast protesters, effectively emptied the area of Jewish and German businesses. The Police Department's poor engagement with the riots resulted in the Community Relations Division and the Model Cities Precinct in 1970. The Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment was conducted in 1981 and the study's prolific release led to changes in police protocol with domestic calls in other departments, notably, New York City, Dallas, and New Zealand. From this tumultuous era, the construction of the freeway system and subsequent white flight emptied Minneapolis' population to a low of 368,383 in 1990. However the demand for policing continued to rise to over 700 officers in that decade as drug use and gang activity continued to accelerate.In 1998, the re-routing of Minnesota State Highway 55 brought protests from the Hiawatha neighborhood of Longfellow community and members of the Mendota Mdewakanton community. Police protection was ordered for construction workers. In July 2000, a clash with protesters at an International Society of Animal Genetics conference and a following raid on a non-profit office suspected of organizing the protest drew attention of the City Council. They publicly questioned Chief Olson who revealed that forty undercover police agents were in the demonstrations and that 400 to 500 Minneapolis police officers were assigned to the week-long conference.