By Minnesota Independent Evaluator, Judge Karen Janisch

In compliance with paragraph 407 of the Settlement Agreement and Order (“Agreement”) dated July 13, 2023, in the matter captioned State of Minnesota by Rebecca Lucero, Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, plaintiff vs. City of Minneapolis, Court File No. 27-cv-23-4177 (Judge Karen Janisch), the Independent Evaluator (“IE”) submits this Implementation Progress Evaluation Plan (the “Plan”).1 The Agreement identifies what the City of Minneapolis (“the City”) and the Minneapolis Police Department (“MPD”) must achieve to comply with the Agreement but not necessarily how to do it, or in what sequence. In other words, the Agreement is a requirements document not a planning document. Moreover, the Agreement contains many overlapping requirements. For example, some of the Agreement’s sections, captioned as Parts, are devoted to overarching practices such as policies and training, but other Parts that address practices also include policy and training requirements. Similarly, supervision requirements are embedded throughout various Parts of the Agreement. The overarching purpose of this Plan is to align the Parties and the IE Team on the processes, sequence, and requirements the IE Team will be considering when evaluating the implementation of the Agreement and how implementation and compliance will be measured. This Plan is based on the IE Team’s 90-day assessment of the City's and MPD’s operations related to the Agreement, including the progress they have made implementing the Agreement. Recognizing, however, the inherent limitations on forecasting a four-year implementation process, the IE Team reserves the right to modify this Plan in response to changed or unforeseen information, conditions, or developments, in consultation with the Parties. The IE Team will report any such changes to the Plan to the public.2 On behalf of the Implementation Team, we look forward to partnering with the City, the MPD, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights (“MDHR”), and the Minneapolis public to achieve the Agreement’s eagerly anticipated and laudable goals.   

Minneapolis: The Independent Evaluation Team, 2024. 88p,