Court orders police chief to follow the law
Press statement from Communities United Against Police Brutality

In response to our petition filed on Feb. 12, Judge Susan Burke issued an order on May 5, 2010, requiring Minneapolis Police Chief Timothy Dolan to
“comply with Minneapolis Ordinance 172.130.” Judge Burke further ordered that Chief Dolan “shall show cause before this court why he has not done so on June 4, 2010, at 8:30 a.m. in Courtroom 757 of the Hennepin County Government Center.”

Under Minneapolis ordinance 172.130, the police chief is required to make disciplinary decisions on sustained CRA cases “based on the adjudicated facts as determined by the civilian review authority board.”

The recently released CRA 2009 Annual Report and the previously released CRA Participation in Performance Review of MPD Chief Dolan provide ample documentation of Chief Dolan’s refusal to accept CRA findings and refusal to discipline based on those findings. The 2009 Annual Report states “the MPD continued to use insufficient evidence and disagreement with the evidence as
a reason for not imposing corrective action on officers who received sustained complaints” (p. 20-21). This report also cites a new excuse by the chief for not disciplining complaints—that of the investigation taking “too long.”

For a discussion of this issue, see p. 29 of the report. The 2009 Annual Report can be found at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/cra/docs/2009-Annual-Report043010.pdf and the CRA Participation in Performance Review of MPD Chief Dolan can be found at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/cra/docs/CRABoard_Chief-Dolan_review_2009.pdf

In a companion ruling, Judge Burke set a trial schedule in the matter of whether CRA Board Chair Don Bellfield adequately responded to a requirement in the CRA ordinance that he submit notice to Minneapolis City Council’s Executive Committee of Chief Dolan’s failure to follow the discipline section of the CRA ordinance and that this failure could subject Chief Dolan to discipline.

“We are very pleased that the court has ruled that Chief Dolan is not above the law,” stated Michelle Gross, president of Communities United Against Police Brutality. She added, “We took this action because police accountability is seriously undermined when the chief refuses to discipline sustained CRA cases. Further, the mission of the CRA is irrevocably compromised when the board chair refuses to hold the chief to the law.