Big Re-Appointments Beg Scrutiny: Safety Commish, City Ops, and City Attorney
Three key city leaders will soon be up for re-appointment: the Community Safety Commissioner, the City Attorney, and the City Operations Officer. We delve into their records, including a progress report on police reform that raises big questions. Do you feel safer in Minneapolis? This is a rare opportunity for the public and for City Councilmembers to scrutinize the record and make demands of highly-paid city staff. We also start with an update on the Mayoral veto of the attempt by the council majority to extend the period of time that residents have to catch up on rent, in the wake of the ICE invasion.
Recorded 3/12/26.
Alert
MN is under threat from federal agents right now. Mill City Hall asks you to plug in and take action:
- Donate to rent support and mutual aid funds
- Defend 612 is a new entry-point to local neighborhood organizing
- Monarca continues to provide trainings for regular folks who want to help, and offers a hotline to report ICE activity: 612-441-2881
- The North Star Alliance is lobbying for state reform to protect non-citizen residents of Minnesota.
Don't forget to check out:
- Our Instagram account for clips that are easy to browse and share
- Cam's writings in the 2nd Ward Blog
Positions up for Re-Appointment
Evictions Update
- Robin mentioned the book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Effective Law Enforcement for All Progress Report
This report covers the period of April 2025 – September 2025, but was not released until January of 2026. ELEFA is the "Independent Evaluator" of Minneapolis/MPD's compliance:
As the Independent Evaluator, our role is to evaluate the City’s and the Minneapolis Police Department’s compliance with the agreement, provide technical support to implementation, and report to the public on implementation status and progress.
- Link to the report
- MN Dept of Human Rights response to the report
- "there continues to be a gap between the articulated vision and the actions currently being taken by leadership."
- "As detailed throughout its report, ELEFA repeatedly notes that City and MPD leadership lack the necessary buyin as demonstrated from a lack of coordinated leadership"
- "ELEFA’s comments reiterate what MDHR found it its 2022 findings and continues to be true today. Through our investigation, MDHR found that the pattern or practice of discriminatory, race-based policing is caused primarily by an organizational culture, which includes former and current City and MPD leaders"
- Progress on clearing misconduct backlogs?
- City of Mpls press release on completion of OPCR backlog
- Mayor Frey social media post
- The ELEFA report cites in its list of "Challenges": "Misconduct Case Backlog Reduction Progressing Unevenly. Both IA and OPCR have yet to eliminate their historical case backlogs, though OPCR showed marked improvement in timeliness and capacity."
- So city/Frey announce completion of OPCR backlog in the month after the period covered by the report, without mentioning the Internal Affairs backlog, nor mentioning that the OPCR backlog was considered a "challenge" by the official evaluator.
New Orleans Consent Decree Background
ELEFA was founded by people involved in the New Orleans consent decree process that lasted about 12 years, from 2012 to 2024.
- New Orleans cited as one of 5 examples of 'successful' consent decrees
- Frontline on problems leading to the decree
- New Orleans' consent decree, and others like it, are failing to achieve substantive reform: essay by an anthropologist who did a year of hands-on research by participating in the evaluation
- Community reactions to the proposed end of the NOLA consent decree