Minneapolis is tired of unfulfilled promises

The killing of Amir Locke during a no-knock police entry and the revelation that the Minneapolis Police Department continues to train its officers on "excited delirium" are two more consequences of a shocking absence of transparency and accountability.

These tragic failures reveal the need for a total course correction at all levels of government. We need a renewed commitment to absolute transparency and accountability from our public servants.

For over a decade Minneapolis police chiefs and mayors have promised reforms. Countless new conferences touting these changes have been held in Minneapolis while many or most of these reforms have been quietly implemented by surrounding suburbs. If every promise by a Minneapolis mayor or police chief had been kept, the MPD would be a national model for best practices in policing.

In 2008 former Police Chief Medaria Arradondo proposed reforms, creating a deputy chief position to address institutional racism in the MPD. A cash settlement was approved and no reforms were passed.

In 2010 the city settled a civil suit following a death in custody resulting from a chokehold. The city promised to limit or ban chokeholds and to change training practices. For a decade the chokeholds continued unabated and in 2020 George Floyd was murdered.

In 2014 the U.S. Department of Justice presented recommendations from a comprehensive audit of MPD's disciplinary practices. Citizen implementation teams were disbanded and the report gathered dust.

More recently, city leaders vowed to change their approach to responses for mental health emergencies. Meanwhile, 21 metro cities quietly embedded social workers into their police departments. In Minneapolis, the impassioned speeches continued but the change did not happen.

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, we also heard false promises of increased transparency. We got the opposite. In 2020, amendments to the police conduct manual removed language requiring discipline for sustained violations and added language that "coaching" is not discipline. These policies had the practical effect of keeping vast troves of police disciplinary records from the public and they remain sealed today.

Among the records unavailable to the public are records of any discipline received by Floyd's killer Derek Chauvin for his violent assault on a 14-year-old, a horrific civil rights violation.

Actually practicing accountability and transparency is hard. There seems to be no reward for public servants or elected officials who shine the light on ugly truths or hold themselves accountable. Sound bites or social media clicks are far more rewarding — and much easier than the hard work of governing.

Rebuilding faith in criminal justice will take all of us, regardless of party or ideology. It will require that we listen to all voices, ideas and perspectives. Holding ourselves accountable means that we stop blaming "the other side" and realize that we are all in this together. Transparency means that all ideas are openly and fairly considered regardless of what labels may attach to them.

I seek the office of Hennepin County Attorney as a political independent. I have not worn a party label as a prosecutor for a quarter-century. I don't intend to wear a party label as county attorney. My job will be to ensure that everyone's rights are protected and we are kept safe — and to work with anyone who shares those goals.

Meeting all our challenges will require nuance and compromise. We need leadership that is independent, accountable and transparent. Nothing less is worthy of this moment.