The Minneapolis Public School District has terminated a decades-old deal with the city police department to provide security at schools within the district.
“Recent actions of officers in the Minneapolis Police Department run directly counter to the values the District seeks in partner,” Kim Ellison, the school board’s chairwoman, said Tuesday.
The vote comes the same day the Minnesota Department of Human Rights announced it would launch an investigation into the “systemic discriminatory practices towards people of color” taking place within the department.
“We are going to establish peace on the streets when we address the systemic issues,” Gov. Tim Walz said in announcing the investigation.
The deputy chief of investigations, Erick Fors, said his department has “appreciated the opportunity to provide years of service to the Minneapolis Public Schools through the School Resource Officer (SRO) program” and “will continue to work in cooperation with the Minneapolis Public Schools regarding safety and security issues.”
The civil rights investigation, which seeks to address systemic racial bias in the department, comes as police in Minneapolis find themselves under intense scrutiny following the death of 46-year-old George Floyd.
Floyd, an unarmed black man who never resisted arrest, died last week after a white officer, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin, a veteran of the department for more than 10 years, had been cited for excessive force and other misconduct before last week’s incident.
Chauvin has been charged with third-degree murder, but Floyd’s family and thousands of angry protesters have taken to the streets in Minneapolis and cities across the country demanding that he be charged with first-degree murder.
Three other officers, including two who knelt on other parts of Floyd’s body, have been fired by the department.
Floyd’s family demands that the officers should be charged as well.
