Police discipline grievance arbitrations are not going away because they are statutorily required. A key issue with the police discipline grievance arbitration is the number of police officers reinstated after termination. The reinstatement of a police officer after termination makes a chief of police’s job more difficult because they cannot manage the culture of their department. However, because of the statutory nature of these grievance procedures, the changes need to come from the legislature or adjusting the language in the governing collective bargaining agreements. Minnesota’s PAA’s reform of police discipline grievance arbitrations was an attempt address this issue.
Continue reading “Should the Call for Systemic Change Start with Police Grievance Arbitration?”Tag: Law Enforcement
The Illusion of the Public Policy Exception: Arbitration, Law Enforcement Discipline, and the Need to Reform Minnesota’s Approach to the Public Policy Exception
In November of 2012, after a car chase, Cleveland police officers fired 137 shots at the suspects’ vehicle. An investigation revealed that thirteen officers fired more than 100 shots in the span of eight seconds. One officer, Michael Brelo, stood on the hood of the suspects’ vehicle and fired at least fifteen shots through the windshield at close range. Both individuals in the vehicle, Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, were killed. Russell and Williams “were both homeless with a history of mental illness and drug use,” and fled after an officer attempted to pull them over for a turn signal violation. Brelo, who allegedly fired a total of forty-nine of the shots in the incident, said that he thought he and his partner were in danger. The source of this belief, according to prosecutors, was a backfiring engine that officers mistook for gunshots. Russell and Williams were both unarmed.
Continue reading “The Illusion of the Public Policy Exception: Arbitration, Law Enforcement Discipline, and the Need to Reform Minnesota’s Approach to the Public Policy Exception”Minnesota House passes public safety package: Will this be the change communities need?
By Sheena Denny
J.D. Candidate, Mitchell Hamline School of Law, 2022
Continue reading “Minnesota House passes public safety package: Will this be the change communities need?”Improving Police Officer Accountability in Minnesota: Three Proposed Legislative Reforms
The killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers in May 2020 put the issue of police reform back into the national discussion and made Minnesota, at least during a brief window of time, confront its past on issues of racism and police abuse. The video showing Mr. Floyd pleading for his life while a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck became an unprecedented catalyst for outrage. Even in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, massive protests and civil unrest spread from Minneapolis to all over the world.
Nationwide demonstrations and media attention put pressure on policymakers and police departments to make substantial changes. Police reform efforts appeared at every level of government. For instance, the New York Police Department announced that it would disband its notorious plainclothes anti-crime unit. Likewise, a majority of the Minneapolis City Council vowed to “begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department.” By summer’s end, Iowa, Delaware, Utah, and Nevada passed legislation banning choke holds, and Colorado enacted broad changes that could serve as a model for Minnesota and other states. Meanwhile, the United States House of Representatives passed a bipartisan bill that “mark[ed] one of the most comprehensive efforts in modern times to re-imagine law enforcement departments across the country.”