Department of Justice Diagnostic Center Provides Final Assessment to Minneapolis Police Department to Help Build Trust Between Police and the Community

Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—January 28, 2015. Today, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs’ (OJP) Diagnostic Center and the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) released the final assessment and implementation plans to support the MPD’s accountability procedures. The Diagnostic Analysis will allow MPD to implement changes that will improve police and community trust in the Minneapolis community. The assessment focused on goals set by MPD including improving police accountability and preventing officer misconduct.

The Diagnostic Center analyzed citizen complaints over a six-year period, identified strengths and gaps in oversight, discipline and accountability, and evaluated MPD’s current early-intervention system and how it compares to other model systems. The full report is available at the Diagnostic Center’s website [external link].

“Strengthening relationships between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve is one of the defining public safety challenges of our time,” said Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason for the Office of Justice Programs. “I commend Chief [Janeé] Harteau for calling on the resources of the OJP Diagnostic Center and for her commitment to building trust with the citizens of Minneapolis.”

In 2014, the Diagnostic Center conducted an independent assessment including community stakeholder interviews and data analysis to identify promising practices for police accountability related to managing oversight and preventing misconduct. In October 2014, the Diagnostic Center presented its assessment findings to the MPD and broader Minneapolis community. Since the presentation of the Diagnostic Center’s Analysis, the MPD has moved forward with creating five committees comprising representatives from MPD, the Office of Police Conduct Review, city leadership and the community to address recommendations on police conduct, early interventions systems, community outreach, and coaching and strategic communications.

“The work that the Minneapolis Police Department and the Diagnostic Center have embarked on fits squarely into the goals of community safety, officer safety and criminal justice reform that the Justice Department has made a top priority,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Mark Kappelhoff for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “I applaud Chief Harteau, the Minneapolis Police Department and the community on their leadership and commitment to implementing sustainable solutions that will lead to increased public trust and safety for everyone.”

The Diagnostic Center provides customized technical assistance to help state, county, city and tribal communities identify and confront persistent, systemic public safety challenges. In addition to addressing a particular public safety concern, engagement with the Diagnostic Center is intended to build the community’s capacity to act independently and use data to make future policy and programming decisions. Federal agencies and experts across the Department of Justice are available to leverage resources and develop a coordinated federal response to community-specific public safety issues and provides customized assistance to communities by collecting and analyzing data to identify the factors contributing to the public safety issue and then mapping those factors to strategies and solutions that have demonstrated success in reducing crime.For more information or to request assistance go to https://www.ojpdiagnosticcenter.org/ [external link].

OJP, headed by Assistant Attorney General Karol V. Mason, provides federal leadership in developing the nation’s capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice and assist victims. OJP has six components: the Bureau of Justice Assistance, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering and Tracking. More information about OJP can be found at www.ojp.gov.