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MPD internal affairs reports staffing turnover, backlog progress and new discipline dashboard
Summary
Minneapolis Police Department internal affairs told the commission it has recent staff replacements, remains short of full staffing, and has reduced parts of its backlog while average ages for some queues rose due to reassignments.
Minneapolis Police Department internal affairs reported to the Community Commission on Police Oversight on July 14 that the unit has experienced recent staffing turnover, has made measurable progress clearing portions of its backlog and has published a discipline dashboard reflecting personnel decisions since mid‑2020.
Lily Hastings, a case manager in MPD’s internal affairs unit, told commissioners the unit welcomed a new commander, a lieutenant and a sergeant in the past month but remains not fully staffed because an administrative support specialist position remains vacant. Hastings said the vacancies and reassignments contributed to an increase in some average-case ages.
"We do need additional supervisory resources and additional resources for data analyst positions," Hastings said, noting the unit had posted the support position and expected interviews in early August.
Hastings said the unit recorded a 50 percent clearance rate of a defined backlog of cases since the last report, and that intake signs showed the unit completed 23 intakes in the most recent month versus five incoming complaints during the same period. She said the unit’s intake average age rose to 43 days (from a lower figure in prior months) but that the time from assignment to completion remained generally within the 30-day intake target.
On administrative investigations, Hastings reported 57 open cases as of June, with an average age of 225 days; 51 of those cases were currently assigned to investigators and six were unassigned. She said six cases were part of the historical backlog (older than 180 days as of a monitor start date), 17 were noncompliant (crossed 180 days after the monitor's start), and 34 were current.
Hastings also highlighted a new city webpage for public compliments to officers; per the report, the unit will forward compliments to officers and supervisors so positive feedback can be recorded in personnel files. She said internal affairs investigators have been completing updated training modules including use-of-force training, emergency vehicle operations, taser and body-worn camera topics.
Commissioners pressed staff on the discrepancy between average intake age and the investigator completion time; Hastings explained the difference largely reflected delays between receipt and assignment during recent staffing turnover. The commission's clerk was directed to receive and file the internal affairs presentation.
