Minneapolis City Council approves contract formalizing nonprofit as evaluator of police reforms

The Minneapolis City Council on Thursday unanimously approved a contract with Effective Law Enforcement for All, officially greenlighting its work to oversee mandated reforms to the city’s beleaguered police force.

As the independent evaluator, the organization will monitor the city’s progress implementing new police policies and trainings — as required under the state and eventual federal consent decrees. Hennepin County Judge Karen Janisch will ultimately decide whether Minneapolis has achieved compliance before she lifts the order. The process could take more than a decade, and cost up to $1.5 million a year.

Effective Law Enforcement for All (ELEFA), a nonprofit organization that specializes in reshaping police departments to reduce use-of-force incidents, was selected from a group of three finalists Feb. 2 following presentations before two packed community meetings. The group is led by David Douglass, deputy monitor for the city of New Orleans, which has been under a federal consent decree since 2013.

“Many communities across the country have had to deal with excessive force by police, killings by police, but none have been affected like Minneapolis,” Douglass told the Star Tribune last month. He touted his team’s experience in forcing systemic change and said they look forward to starting the work.

On Thursday, the council passed the measure approving the contract 13 to 0 with little discussion.

“This is a fairly significant milestone,” said Council President Elliott Payne, noting that he has “all the faith and confidence in them” to dive into the investigative process and strengthen police protocols.

Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (MDHR) and the U.S. Department of Justice investigated the MPD and found over a decade of civil rights abuses, particularly against Black and Native American residents.

Within 90 days of assuming the job, ELEFA must come up with a plan to implement the first four years of reforms. If the Justice Department is happy with the work, it may choose to retain ELEFA to oversee the impending federal consent decree. However, it has the power to install a new monitor and terminate that agreement.

“We will always only have one monitor,” City Attorney Kristyn Anderson told council members.

A provision in the contract also allows the city and MDHR to terminate the agreement following a two-year performance review.

ELEFA’s team in Minneapolis will be co-led by Michael Harrison, a former Baltimore police commissioner and former superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department — the only chief in the nation with experience overseeing two departments under federal consent decrees, according to ELEFA’s application.

Members of the ELEFA team are slated to be in Minneapolis next week to meet with city and police officials, as well as some community groups.