The Minnesota State Taskforce on Law Enforcement Education Reform began work this fall in response to the murder of George Floyd. LeadMN and other stakeholders called for the creation of the group to fix the problems with police officer training programs.
The LeadMN Governing Council voted on a resolution to reform our law enforcement education after learning that 3 of the 4 officers involved in the death of George Floyd were trained at a Minnesota State police training program.
The taskforce is composed mainly of staff and faculty within the MinnState system and peace officers from different departments. It is easy to question whether real reform will happen when the group is mainly composed of those that want to protect the state quo.
Now four months after the first meeting of the taskforce and seven months since George Floyd was murdered, the group is now just starting to get some work done. Past meetings have served as an avenue for sometimes meaningful conversations as well as not so useful conversations.
This month, the taskforce will move to working groups on three big categories:
- EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF NEW OFFICERS,
- RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS OF COLOR,
- EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF CURRENT OFFICERS.
The workgroups will focus on the ways in which the system can implement these categories effectively. Over the next few weeks there will be room for students to provide more feedback on the recommendations of the task force.