Minneapolis police have used force against black people at seven times the rate force was used against white individuals, data has revealed.
The data comparison comes more than a week after George Floyd, 46, was killed while in custody of police. Floyd died after Office Derek Chauvin, 44, pressed his knee into his neck for more than eight minutes.
According to the data, which was compiled by The New York Times, nearly 60 per cent of the time, Minneapolis officers use force against black people, who only make up about 20 per cent of the city’s population.
The alarming data, which spans between 2015 and 2020, shows that police have documented using force about 11,500 times.
To break down that number further, about 6,650 of those incidents involved force against black people.
That number is significantly higher compared to the 2,750 times cops used force against white people, who make up 60 per cent of the city’s population.
Police have documented using force about 11,500 times since 2015. About 6,650 of those incidents involved force against black people and 2,750 involve force against white people (rate depicted above from 2015 through May 2020)
Minneapolis police (pictured on May 30) have used force against black individuals at a rate that’s at least seven times that of white people since 2015
According to the Times’ analysis, Minneapolis police have used force against black individuals at a rate that’s at least seven times that of white people since 2015.
Floyd’s death in Minneapolis comes after the deaths of several black men that sparked protests across the country.
In 2015, Jamar Clark, 24, was shot in Minneapolis after he allegedly tried to grab an officer’s gun.
Clark’s death was followed by Philando Castile, 32, whose death was live-streamed by his girlfriend when he was shot by police in St Anthony.
Then came Thurman Blevins, 31, who was shot in 2018 by officers while running through an alley screaming: ‘Please don’t shoot me.’
The data is just another example of how often black people become victims of over-policing compared to white people.
Take New York City for example, 80 to 90 per cent of the arrests for breaking social distancing rules in the Big Apple were of blacks or Latinos.
Trump-supporting Minneapolis police federation leader sends his members a letter calling George Floyd a ‘violent criminal’
Lt Bob Kroll, the president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis has called George Floyd a ‘violent criminal’, described protesters demonstrating over his death terrorists and criticized the city’s politicians for not sanctioning greater use of force against them in a letter to union members.
Kroll also defended the four officers involved in Floyd’s death, including Derek Chauvin who is facing charges of murder and manslaughter. All four officers have been fired.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune released the full copy of the letter written by Kroll, who appeared at a Trump rally in October last year.
Lt Bob Kroll (pictured in 2018) the president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis has called George Floyd a ‘violent criminal’
‘What is not being told is the violent criminal history of George Floyd. The media will not air this,’ he wrote.
‘I’ve worked with the four defense attorneys that are representing each of our four terminated individuals under criminal investigation, in addition with our labor attorneys to fight for their jobs. They were terminated without due process.’
In his letter, Kroll also blamed city officials for not giving police enough support to deal with the protests and riots that have broken out in Minneapolis following the death of Floyd.
‘What has been very evident throughout this process is you have lacked support from the top,’ he wrote, addressing union members.
‘This terrorist movement that is currently occurring was a long time build up which dates back years. ‘Starting with minimizing the size of our police force and diverting funds to community activists with an anti-police agenda.
The Minneapolis Police Department has faced decades of allegations of brutality and other discrimination against African Americans and other minorities, even within the department itself.
Critics say its culture resists change, despite the elevation of Medaria Arradondo as its first black police chief in 2017.
And the data comes just a day after the state of Minnesota launched a civil rights investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department.
Gov Tim Walz and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights announced the filing of the formal complaint at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
The governor and Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero said they hope to reach agreement with the city to identify short-term ways to address the police department’s history of racial discrimination, and use the investigation to find long-term solutions for systemic change.
Lucero said their goal is to negotiate a consent decree with the city that courts could enforce with injunctions and financial penalties.
There are precedents, she said, including a consent decree approved in Chicago last year after the US Justice Department found a long history of racial bias and excessive use of force by police.
Walz said the investigation into the police department’s policies, procedures and practices over the past 10 years will determine if the force has engaged in systemic discrimination toward people of color, and root it out. Lucero will lead the investigation.
All 12 members of the Minneapolis City Council endorsed a statement read by Council President Lisa Bender at a news conference later Tuesday in support of the investigation.
‘We urge the state to use its full weight to hold the Minneapolis Police Department accountable for any and all abuses of power and harms to our community and stand ready to aid in this process as full partners,’ the council said.
Mayor Jacob Frey said the state’s intervention will help break what he called a stalemate on reform.
‘For years in Minneapolis, police chiefs and elected officials committed to change have been thwarted by police union protections and laws that severely limit accountability among police departments,’ Frey said in a statement.
‘I welcome today’s announcement because breaking through those persistent barriers, shifting the culture of policing, and addressing systemic racism will require all of us working hand in hand.’
Earlier Tuesday, an attorney for Floyd’s family again decried the official autopsy that found his death was caused by cardiac arrest as police restrained him and compressed his neck.
The medical examiner also listed fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use, but not as the cause of death.
A separate autopsy commissioned for Floyd’s family concluded that that he died of asphyxiation due to neck and back compression.
‘The cause of death was that he was starving for air. It was lack of oxygen. And so everything else is a red herring to try to throw us off,’ family attorney Ben Crump said.
He said the Hennepin County medical examiner went to great lengths to try to convince the public that what was shown on bystander video didn’t cause Floyd to die.