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Minneapolis' 'pattern or practice' investigation stirs memories in Ferguson

When Chief Jason Armstrong applied for the Ferguson position, he had to examine whether he could fulfill the issues outlined in the ongoing consent decree.

FERGUSON, Mo. — The Minneapolis Police Department will soon be the focus of a federal "pattern or practice" investigation, the same Department of Justice review that led to the reforms in the Ferguson report and the ongoing consent decree.

When Ferguson Police Chief Jason Armstrong applied for his position in summer 2019, he had to look at a consent decree for the first time in his career, weighing whether he thought he could make the changes required.

"A process like this, change like this, it really takes an open mind, and you have to be open to different ideas, and you have to be open to trying things," Armstrong said of his own experience.

Armstrong soon found help from police departments in other cities under a consent decree, chiefs who were willing to share what worked — or didn't — for them.

"We try to talk with each other and bounce things off of each other, see what works, what hasn't worked, and try not to make some of the mistakes," he said.

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Armstrong says many departments across the country updated policies — like use-of-force guidelines — after George Floyd's murder last year. But his department had already done so, a change that may have been pushed forward because of the ongoing federal oversight.

"Things are changing and we are changing," he said of law enforcement. "Some of us are further along in the process than others."

For some, like organizer Tef Poe, the DOJ investigation only put onto paper the wrongs he already knew to be true.

"For some of us, there is a little bit of fatigue with trying to prove that these instances are real," Poe said, but he added the P&P report can be a lesson for others.

"The strategic version of myself might say, 'I see the necessity for the person who maybe didn't believe this is really happening, to pick it up, and engage with it, and discover what's really going on.'"

Until they satisfy all conditions of the consent decree, Ferguson PD's consent decree coordinator will continue near daily collaboration with the DOJ; the results will ultimately affect the entire department.

"It's a never-ending race," Armstrong said. "Sometimes we're doing better in the race than other times in the race."

This is the first P&P investigation under President Joe Biden's DOJ. Former President Donald Trump also issued one in his term, and former President Barack Obama had about two dozen in his eight years in office.

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