[Note: As I have strongly written in the past, we the people need to REIMAGINE policing. The murder of George Floyd was a missed opportunity to do just that. I have even called in an open letter to our nation’s police chiefs. for a “stand down.” Nevertheless, “hope springs eternal,” as the public perception of police culture continues to be defined by acts of violence against citizens. Now some police leaders are responding to this need and calling for needed reform. It must begin with reimagining policing in America. A group of police chiefs and sheriffs are doing just that, joined by Simon Sinek, popular author and lecturer, they are working to change the narrative by emphasizing a mission of service rather than enforcement.]
IN BRIEF:
++ The murder of George Floyd was a tipping point for tensions that had built around bad, if not violent, behavior of some in law enforcement.
++ Calls to ‘defund the police’ haven’t gained traction, but neither has a national movement to change police culture.
++ A group of sheriffs and chiefs have joined together to promote reconsideration of the mission of policing and the implementation of training and practices that reflect a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable.
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“Derick Miller, chief of the Irving, Texas, police department, compares his job to balancing a three-by-three-foot sheet of plywood on a bowling ball. One corner is the department, one is the community, one the City Council and one city management. Maintaining equilibrium among these stakeholders was never easy, but it’s been harder than ever since the murder of George Floyd.
“’If people lose trust in the Irving Police Department, or any other police department in America, they lose trust with all police in the United States,’ says Miller. ‘George Floyd impacted every police officer in the United States — maintaining trust in my town is bigger than us, it’s trying to maintain trust with the people of our country.’
“As Miller moved up the ranks, he concluded that he had been called to the profession to serve as a guardian, not as a warrior. He experienced the treatment of George Floyd as a disturbing setback from a value system that defined his work, seeing what he had been building ‘thrown to the wind.’
“Today he is one of a growing number of law enforcement officials who have aligned themselves with The Curve, a nonprofit founded by police chiefs and sheriffs to support “early adopter leaders” committed to changing the culture of policing…”
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Read the full article at Governing.
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 
Chief:
Most of the recent calls for police reform have been based on the killing of George Floyd. Are you aware of any completed review of that incident by the Minneapolis PD where it explains the factors that led to the events that caused the death of George Floyd? I haven’t seen any investigation released. Your assistance would be appreciated.
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Try this https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare and there are voluminous records from the trial in Hennepin County(Minneapolis) MN.
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Thanks, that is a good analysis by NYT. What I’m looking for is the investigation by the Minneapolis PD that determined what the causes were that led to the 5 Officers making their decisions that day. What was the breakdown? Was it in hiring, academy training, supervision, policy, field training, in-house training, mental health training, use of force, etc. Unfortunately the Court case doesn’t supply these answers and several of the recent police custody death cases didn’t conduct internal investigations, yet the news media, politicians, and others speculate as to needed police reforms without real examination of the root causes. It’s like walking into a doctor’s office and the doctor telling you that you need an operation or medications before they even examine you.
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I am sure answers to your questions must be out there. There must be report covering those important questions. Prof Solar has offered some of the forensics.
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I would argue that police have reformed themselves in the wake of George Floyd, they are restraining themselves out of fear. The MOB is corrupting our justice system and our cities are suffering because of it.
That New Your Times article lays the death of Floyd squarely at the feet of the police and is a great example of anti-police bigotry. But the facts of Floyds death are quite different according to the medical examiners report. The police MOST CERTAINLY could have done things differently and provided aid but it is clear that the police didn’t kill him. Here is the report summary:
Blunt force injuries
A. Cutaneous blunt force injuries of the forehead, face, and
upper lip
B. Mucosal injuries of the lips
C. Cutaneous blunt force injuries of the shoulders, hands,
elbows, and legs
D. Patterned contusions (in some areas abraded) of the wrists,
consistent with restraints (handcuffs)
II. Natural diseases
A. Arteriosclerotic heart disease, multifocal, severe
B. Hypertensive heart disease
1. Cardiomegaly (540 g) with mild biventricular
dilatation
2. Clinical history of hypertension
C. Left pelvic tumor (incidental, see microscopic description)
III. No life-threatening injuries identified
A. No facial, oral mucosal, or conjunctival petechiae
B. No injuries of anterior muscles of neck or laryngeal
structures
C. No scalp soft tissue, skull, or brain injuries
D. No chest wall soft tissue injuries, rib fractures (other
than a single rib fracture from CPR), vertebral column
injuries, or visceral injuries
E. Incision and subcutaneous dissection of posterior and
lateral neck, shoulders, back, flanks, and buttocks
negative for occult trauma
IV. Viral testing (Minnesota Department of Health, postmortem nasal
swab collected 5/26/2020): positive for 2019-nCoV RNA by PCR
(see ‘Comments,’ below)
V. Hemoglobin S quantitation (postmortem femoral blood, HHC
Laboratory): 38% (see ‘Comments,’ below)
VI. Toxicology (see attached report for full details; testing
performed on antemortem blood specimens collected 5/25/20 at
9:00 p.m. at HHC and on postmortem urine)
A. Blood drug and novel psychoactive substances screens:
1. Fentanyl 11 ng/mL
2. Norfentanyl 5.6 ng/mL
3. 4-ANPP 0.65 ng/mL
4. Methamphetamine 19 ng/mL
5. 11-Hydroxy Delta-9 THC 1.2 ng/mL;
Delta-9 Carboxy THC 42 ng/mL; Delta-9 THC 2.9 ng/mL
6. Cotinine positive
7. Caffeine positive
B. Blood volatiles: negative for ethanol, methanol,
isopropanol, or acetone
C. Urine drug screen: presumptive positive for cannabinoids,
amphetamines, and fentanyl/metabolite
D. Urine drug screen confirmation: morphine (free) 86 ng/mL ,
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Most interesting… so why/how did a jury convict? Could it be that the medical evidence versus the video evidence of disrespect and disregard directed toward people of color in Minneapolis drove the decision? And if “improvement” is based on fear and not embracing more effective training and practices by police, what has the nation gained?
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What we have here David, in my humble opinion, is a case where the facts did not support the Murder charge, and they knew that going in. This is an affront to our system of justice and the rule of law. The question is how was it justified? Why did they proceed?
FEAR!
The mob made it clear that if Chauvin was not vigorously prosecuted the city would burn. Once the case was in the hands of the jury, jurors were well aware that if they didn’t convict the city would burn, their homes would burn, and they may even be killed.
Convicting someone like Chauvin, a poor example of a competent police officer, was a small price to pay in comparison.
Quite honestly, it’s the same reason the Romans crucified Jesus. The difference is that Jesus was virtuous and merely an activist protesting against the “powers that be” but this is where we are heading as the social order continues to erode.
It’s not a matter of people respecting or trusting the police anymore, the mob doesn’t respect, value, or understand, the police or the rule of law. More police training or improved practices will not help because it’s no longer a mater of improving the police, cops are just giving up.
We can’t turn this around until we restore social order, that’s the job the police are increasingly unwilling to accept. We can’t move to a more just society until we have peace and order. The activists have it backwards when they shout, “No justice no peace!”
We are either gong to continue to erode into chaos and the law of nature (survival of the fittest) or we are going to return to the “get tough on crime” policies of the 1980s, hopefully with better policing strategies and wiser officers.
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I support your conclusion — social order through “better policing strategies and wiser (and we’ll-trained and led) officers.”
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My point is that current calls for police reforms are unreasonable. The evidence is demonstrated from the death of George Floyd. Did Chauvin kill Floyd by having his knee on the back of Floyd’s neck or by not treating a fentanyl overdose? The Coroner report indicates the latter. The question is what happen in Minneapolis, should it impact the almost 18,000 police departments across the nation? It shouldn’t. The truth is that the arrest of George Floyd could have occurred in 1,000s of other police departments across America and George Floyd would not have died. So what reforms are needed? It would be nice if Minneapolis PD would have completed an extensive investigation and review of the George Floyd incident then the weakness and breakdowns from that call could be identified and other police departments could compare that report to their own operations and see if they might have similar issues.
Until police departments release reports as to the causes of in custody deaths police departments might be chasing their tails implementing needless reforms. As in the case of George Floyd police departments across America revised policy on use of force due to speculation? When the Coroner report showed that Fentanyl was the cause of death.
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Some good questions.
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A timely documentary about the death of George Floyd is available 11-16-2023. More information about the film is available here: https://www.thefallofminneapolis.com/
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A “must-see” for those of us concerned about improving policing in America. A sad story which presents many, many questions. I will soon write about my impressions of the film after growing up in Minneapolis and serving as a police officer and detective there for seven years.
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