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Minneapolis Police outline training, documentation gaps in separation-ordinance briefing
Summary
Assistant Chief Christopher Gaters told the Minneapolis City Council's Administration and Enterprise Oversight Committee on June 23 that MPD provides training on the city's separation ordinance and on the department's immigration policy, but identified documentation ambiguity, training gaps and external misunderstandings as obstacles to full compliance.
Assistant Chief Christopher Gaters of the Minneapolis Police Department told the Administration and Enterprise Oversight Committee on June 23 that MPD trains officers on the city's separation ordinance and an internal immigration policy and is revising its discipline matrix to explicitly address violations.
Gaters said recruits and officers receive academy instruction and roll-call updates on the department's policy and on U- and T-visa processes, and that "officers are also prohibited ... from initiating stops, detentions, arrests, solely based on one's immigration status." He said supervisors should be contacted if an enforcement situation "turns a corner" toward immigration enforcement so the chain of command can decide whether to continue the response.
Committee members pressed the department for specifics. Council Member Chavez asked how MPD would handle incidents that begin as human-trafficking or smuggling investigations and later raise immigration issues; Gaters said officers should disengage and consult a supervisor, who may escalate the question to the chief or the chief's designee. Council Member Chowdhury asked about a city requirement that "use of city public safety personnel" be documented under Chapter 19.3; MPD and the city attorney's office said documentation is required only when the ordinance's exceptions are triggered and that the ordinance does not identify a single responsible actor to create the record.
Council Member Cashman sought updates about June 3 events referenced by community members, including whether MPD officers covered badge identifiers and whether complaints or disciplinary reviews had begun. Gaters said he was not privy to ongoing disciplinary or Office of Police Conduct Review processes and asked that those questions be directed for administrative follow-up. Gaters told the committee that, for MPD, "no violations have been confirmed in the last 10 years" with respect to the separation ordinance but that he could not speak for other city departments.
Gaters said the department expects to publish a revised discipline matrix addressing the separation ordinance by December and that MPD issued a policy update in February reminding officers that immigration status alone does not establish reasonable suspicion or probable cause. He also said MPD's information systems work is under way to allow queries that can confirm compliance and support analysis.
The committee directed the clerk to receive and file the presentation and asked staff for administrative follow-up memos on (1) whether MPD documented the June 3 Lake Street/Bloomington matter under Chapter 19.3(a)(4); (2) the number and distribution of "know your rights" placards reportedly carried in squad cars; and (3) how many times the city has investigated or been found noncompliant with the separation ordinance, and related contact with federal immigration agencies.
The presentation prompted several members to request more detailed, and in some cases closed-session, briefings to avoid discussing individual personnel matters in public. The chief of police did not appear at the committee for the public briefing; members asked that the chief or the civil rights director provide follow-up materials to the council.
