OutFront Minnesota helps influence police work

OutFront Minnesota serves on the Police Community Relations Council whose primary goal is to address and improve various underserved communities' relationship with Minneapolis police.

The council was the creation of a federal mediation agreement between the community and the Minneapolis Police Department in 2003. The Police Community Relations Council is comprised of representatives from historically underserved communities and members of the Minneapolis police force.

OutFront Minnesota serves on the council to:
Ensure the GLBT community has a voice at the table regarding law enforcement issues
Build relationships with other underrepresented communities as part of its larger progressive work.

Through this effort, OutFront Minnesota has lent its voice to support a variety of traditionally underserved communities. For example, officers can now print out police forms in ten languages in order to serve new immigrants and non-English speakers.  The council has addressed issues including police brutality, diversity in the hiring of new officers, the handling of out-of-home placement of children, and has improved communication between police and underserved communities.

The mediation agreement which created the Police Community Relations Council is scheduled to expire in December 2008, although there are discussions of possibly continuing the council's work in some form.

OutFront Minnesota plans to continue to work with other members of underserved communities and Minneapolis police to help improve and strengthen those relationships.

This is an example of how OutFront Minnesota works to make more responsive the institutions that so powerfully influence our lives.