Community members, advocacy organizations and families of people killed in encounters with police gathered outside Minneapolis City Hall on Sept. 14 for a press conference organized by the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice, delivering what organizers called a “report card” accusing Mayor Jacob Frey and the Minneapolis Police Department of failed investigations, excessive force, unchecked budget growth and cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
Speakers came from several partner organizations, including the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee, Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, and the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-Sentenced Families Council, along with family members of people they said were failed by systems supposed to protect them. Frey was not present.
A pattern, organizers say
TCC4J organizer Anusha Ramaswamy laid out the bulk of the coalition’s case, framing the event as a report card on Frey’s tenure. TCC4J was founded in 2015 following the killing of Jamar Clark by Minneapolis police, she said, and she traced a timeline of incidents under Frey she called a pattern rather than isolated failures.
That timeline included the 2020 killing of George Floyd by MPD officers; a 2021 contract Frey issued using emergency pandemic powers to reopen George Floyd Square, which drew council criticism; the 2022 killing of Amir Locke by officer Mark Hanneman during a no-knock warrant search, and Hanneman’s later promotion to sergeant and use-of-force trainer; a 2023 state finding that MPD engaged in a pattern of racially discriminatory policing; and the 2024 eviction of Camp Nenookaasi, a predominantly Indigenous encampment the city cited public safety issues, including a shooting, in closing. Camp occupants sued Frey over the evictions; a federal judge let the city proceed…