Effective Law Enforcement for All selected as independent evaluator of Minneapolis policing reforms

Susan Du, Randy Furst, Dave Orrick, Star Tribune
·2 min read
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Effective Law Enforcement for All, a nonprofit organization that specializes in reshaping police departments to reduce use-of-force incidents, has been chosen to oversee the city of Minneapolis' state and federal consent decrees on policing.

The group is led by David Douglass, deputy monitor for the city of New Orleans, which has been under a federal consent decree since 2013. It has offices in Louisiana and Maryland. City spokesperson Sarah McKenzie confirmed the selection Friday morning.

As the evaluator for Minneapolis, ELEFA will have the power to determine when the city has achieved sustained, constitutional policing. The process could take many years, and ELEFA may be paid up to $1.5 million each year. For the duration of the consent decrees, ELEFA will be responsible for reviewing and approving the Minneapolis Police Department's policies, assessing the city's performance and engaging with the public. It will need to post semi-annual progress reports to its website as well as survey police officers and the community on their satisfaction.

ELEFA informed community groups this week that it had risen to the top of a competitive selection process that attracted 14 local and national applicants.

Three finalists flew in to Minneapolis last month to present their credentials at two packed community meetings. During the question and answer periods, Douglass emphasized his group's methodical approach to keeping track of complex reforms and willingness to ask the court to impose sanctions on the city of Minneapolis if it demonstrates resistance to change.

ELEFA's team in Minneapolis will be co-led by Michael Harrison, a former Baltimore police commissioner and former superintendent of the New Orleans Police Department — the only chief in the nation with experience overseeing two departments under federal consent decrees, according to ELEFA's application.

Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the U.S. Department of Justice investigated MPD and found over a decade of civil rights abuses, particularly against Black and Native American residents.

Minneapolis entered a court-enforceable settlement agreement with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights last summer. The U.S. Department of Justice is still negotiating the terms of its consent decree with the city.

The city's contract with ELEFA is subject to approval by the Minneapolis City Council with an anticipated start date of March 9.

Within 90 days of assuming the job, ELEFA will have to come up with a plan to implement the first four years of reforms.