North Minneapolis residents told Mayor Betsy Hodges and Chief Janeé Harteau at a community forum Tuesday night that more must be done to root out police misconduct and harassment before the department's public trust can be restored.
Nearly 200 people attended a two-hour public forum at Church of the Ascension at 1723 Bryant Av. N. Several speakers complained about what they called a deepening pattern of police harassment of residents in North Side neighborhoods, among the poorest in the city. They also called on the two leaders to overhaul the way the department weeds out problem officers, echoing the findings of a recent U.S. Department of Justice report.
Harteau said that since she became chief nearly two years ago she has "made it a priority to institutionalize a culture change" in a department that has been beset with discipline problems.
The meeting, the second of three planned for October, came as the chief set out to defend her record. She has come under criticism by several community groups after recent shootings that left dozens wounded and at least three dead.
Some commended Harteau for attending the meeting; she had come under fire for pulling out of an earlier "listening session" over security worries.
For Sandra Presley-Patterson, Tuesday's meeting was a good start.
"You have to be open-minded," she said before the meeting. "For every one thing that the police do that's negative, there are 99 positive things that happen."
Several people who called themselves regular targets of police harassment spoke of the frustration and hopelessness of pursuing misconduct complaints against certain officers.
