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Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke came to town and called a press conference yesterday. Joined by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, Clarke announced the city’s agreement to a federal consent decree governing Minneapolis police. I wrote about the federal consent decree when agreement was imminent last week. This is in addition to the first such consent decree with state authorities entered in 2023.

Notice of the press conference went out by email yesterday morning from Department of Justice public affairs officer Julia Hartnett. Credentialed press were to report to the courthouse by 3:30 for the 4:30 press conference. The City Council approved agreement to the consent decree after a long private session that concluded an hour before the press conference was scheduled to begin.

In the event, Hartnett’s crew turned up approximately 20 minutes late, around 4:50. They were working on the Department of Justice press release on the decree. I snapped the photo below from my seat in the first row. City Attorney Kristyn Anderson is at Frey’s right. From my angle slightly to Frey’s left, Clarke is obscured by Frey and O’Hara is obscured by the signer. Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette is to the signer’s left. Neither Anderson nor Barnette had a speaking part in the press conference.

The decree is posted online here. It was filed with the court late yesterday afternoon and assigned to Judge Ann Montgomery for approval. Once Judge Montgomery approves the decree, it becomes a court order that can only be terminated by the court.

The decree runs to 167 pages and exerts minute controls over the behavior of the Minneapolis police. To pluck just one trivial example from the press release, it requires the department to “[a]pproach youth in a manner that is developmentally appropriate, age-appropriate, and trauma-informed[.]”

To take another example from the consent decree itself (paragraph 28): “MPD shall Prohibit officers from beginning a foot pursuit solely because a person flees upon seeing an officer. MPD shall develop and implement a foot pursuit Policy requiring officers to evaluate the risks the person poses to public safety and the risks of the pursuit itself.”

The press conference was streamed live by local media. Below is the FOX 9 video posted on YouTube of the press conference in its entirety. Frey, Clarke, and O’Hara each spoke in support of the consent decree. To put it politely, their remarks were equal parts happy talk and bafflegab.

Below is the FOX 9 story with a few excerpts of the press conference.

Clarke is perhaps best known as a supporter of the movement to defund the police. Senator Tom Cotton grilled her about it at her confirmation hearing (video below). You can get a good idea of her level of candor in this brief exchange. It is roughly the same level of candor she displayed at the press conference yesterday.

I arrived early and waited for over two hours to ask a critical question or two of Frey and O’Hara. Each of the attending reporters signed in and identified his or her outlet. Hartnett must have studied the list. She ran the press conference and called by name on reporters who raised their hands to pose questions.

I raised my hand first and then again after each question. I sat in the first row next to Star Tribune reporter Deena Winter. Hartnett called on Winter. Star Tribune reporter Liz Sawyer sat to Winter’s right. Hartnett called on Sawyer. MPR reporter Matt Sepic sat immediately behind me. Hartnett called on Sepic.

The reporter reporter from the Minneapolis Spokesman-Recorder sat a few seats to my left in the first row. Hartnett called on him. New York Times reporter Ernesto Londoño sat to my right a few seats down against the wall. Hartnett also called on him.

The gist of just about every question, by the way, was the possible threat posed to the consent decree by the incoming Trump administration. When it came to press support for the consent decree, all those raised hands were on deck.

After Hartnett had called on every reporter with a question except me, she declared that time was up and concluded the press conference. I said loudly that I had waited two hours to ask a question and that they had time to take it (at about 35:00 of the press conference video). Hartnett looked at me and waited while Frey et al. exited.

It was blatantly obvious to everyone in the room, including our new US Attorney spokesman Meghan Gorman, that Hartnett had intentionally avoided calling on me. WCCO/CBS News reporter Dave Schuman came up to me in the lobby of the courthouse and said something to the effect that it was bad.

I wrote Hartnett following the press conference to ask why she had avoided calling on me. If she gets around to responding any time in the next few years, I’ll post whatever she has to say verbatim. It is amazing how obviously Hartnett went out of her way to avoid little old me.

I also forwarded my full set of questions for Frey and O’Hara to the gracious Ms. Gorman:

To Mayor Frey:

Why the rush to enter into this consent agreement before January 20?

Why is it a good idea to subject officers to the minute regulation of lawful police conduct as this consent agreement does?

I believe the department is still well short of the minimum number of officers it is legally required to maintain. What is your estimate of the impact of this consent decree on recruitment?

Who in his right mind with decent alternatives would go to work for the MPD under these circumstances?

To Chief O’Hara:

How many sworn officers do you have at present? It is my understanding that you are still well short of the legal minimum, let alone the 900 officers in the department as of May 2020. Will this consent decree make it easier or harder to recruit new officers?

Who in his right mind with decent alternatives would go to work for the MPD under the strictures of two consent decrees?

The federal consent decree minutely regulates lawful police conduct. Why is it a good idea to agree to it?

Who speaks for the MPD? Do you agree that you are running a racist police department? We haven’t heard from Chief Arradondo over the past two years. Have you checked with him to see if he agrees that he was running a racist police department?

If I had been called on, I would have asked O’Hara the question about the current number of sworn officers and the difficulty of recruitment that will be created by the multiple consent decrees.

As an advocate of the defund the police movement, Clarke must be thrilled with the consent decree. Tying down the Minneapolis police like the Lilliputians tied down Gulliver, it is the next best thing to defunding them.