The Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Act

Brooklyn Center, MN

population: 33,782 | Government type: CITY | Topic: Public Safety

Photo: MPR News

The Policy

In April 2021, Daunte Wright was killed by a Brooklyn Center police officer after being pulled over for a minor traffic stop. Daunte’s death came just 20 months after 21-year old  Kobe Dimock-Heisler was killed by Brooklyn Center police. Kobe was autistic and experiencing a mental health crisis when the police were initially called.  Daunte’s death sparked large uprisings in Brooklyn Center,  just 10 miles from Minneapolis, where the trial of former Police Officer Derek Chauvin was underway for the murder of George Floyd.

One month after the police killing of Daunte Wright, Mayor Mike Elliott and the Brooklyn Center City Council passed one of the most transformative public safety plans in the country—The Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Act. This initiative, led by Mayor Elliott in collaboration with Local Progress members Marquita Butler, April Graves, and the Brooklyn Center community, passed the city council with a vote of 4-1. The Act is animated by an approach to safety that understands that armed police and criminal penalties should not be the only available response for local challenges. Indeed, data from 2020 indicated that approximately 80% of all 911 calls in Brooklyn Center related to non-criminal matters, like traffic, medical, mental health,  requests for help, and other issues. Consequently, the Act creates new municipal divisions that employ unarmed civilians to handle non-moving traffic violations and respond to mental health crises. The Act also includes a “citation and summons” policy that limits the use of arrests and consent searches for non-felony offenses. It further requires the review and update of the City’s use-of-force policies and establishes a new department of Community Safety and Violence Prevention to oversee all safety efforts in the city. 

In the aftermath of the police killing of Daunte Wright, the community called on the Mayor and City Council to take immediate action to transform public safety in Brooklyn Center. In creating the Act, Mayor Elliott's first step was to provide opportunities for the community to voice their vision for public safety through listening sessions with the city council. They wanted everyone to feel safe in their community. This Act creates a roadmap to achieving this vision.

Specifically, the Act will transform public safety in Brooklyn Center and creates the following:

• A new Department of Community Safety & Violence Prevention that oversees the Police and Fire Departments, uses a public-health oriented approach, and is led by a director with public health expertise.

• Two new departments that fall under the Department of Community Safety & Violence Prevention: the Traffic Enforcement Department and the Community Response Department.

  • The Traffic Enforcement Department will be an unarmed civilian department responsible for enforcing non-moving traffic violations in the City.

  • The Community Response Department will consist of trained medical and mental health professionals, social workers, or other expert staff and volunteers responsible for responding to incidents where a city resident is experiencing a medical, mental health, disability-related, or other behavioral or social need.

• A permanent Community Safety & Violence Prevention Committee which will review city safety data and make recommendations to the city council on how to modify and/or initiate programs or policies to improve community safety and prevent violence. The committee will also create a separate civilian oversight body for the new Department of Community Safety & Violence Prevention, have the ability to review any draft collective bargaining agreement between the police department and provide comments to the City Manager and Mayor before and during contract negotiations. A majority of the committee will be made up of Brooklyn Center residents with direct experience being arrested, detained, or having other similar contact with Brooklyn Center Police. 

• A process to review and update the city’s use-of-force policies, including, for example, prohibiting certain tactics during First Amendment protests and assemblies and requiring police to issue citations and prohibit custodial arrests for any traffic infractions, non-felony offense, or non-felony warrant. 

Collaborative Governance

The Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Act was passed shortly after Daunte’s death because of the strong collaboration between the community and local elected leaders. Some of the leading community organizations working on the ground in Brooklyn Center include Barbershops and Black Congregation Cooperative (BBCC), CAIR-MN, MN Freedom Fund, ACLU-MN, among others. The people most impacted by  Daunte’s killing--which include the families of both Daunte and Kobe as well as residents who were tear-gassed during the uprisings--participated in five community listening sessions and were at the table throughout this process.  

Community Engagement that informed the Act: 

• The Mayor called a number of special session/emergency council meetings where hours of public testimony were given for official public record. 

• Five community listening sessions, including a town hall, were held in collaboration with different community stakeholders and organizations.   

• A community listening session and healing event was organized by the Mayor and  city council members, alongside community leaders, residents and families directly impacted by police brutality outside on the street in front of the police department.

• The Mayor visited  barbershops with an invitation from BBCC to hear directly from impacted community members on issues of police violence and community safety. 

• The Mayor attended a Brooklyn Center High School listening session to hear directly from youth on the changes they wanted to see take place in Brooklyn Center. This was followed by another listening session involving a select number of youth leaders at BCHS and the Mayor and city council members.

At every town hall, listening session, and council meeting, the community advocated for immediate action. Community members called for unarmed traffic enforcement, banning low level traffic stops, and other policies which could have prevented Daunte’s death. They called for community and mental health responses that would have prevented Kobe Dimock-Heisler’s  death, as well as police oversight, transparency and accountability. Youth pressed for reallocating funds from police toward youth education and programming. But most importantly, community members demanded accountability for Daunte, calling for the police who killed Daunte to be arrested, charged and prosecuted. In a moment of crisis and uprising in Brooklyn Center, local elected leaders, led by Mayor Elliott,  worked together to identify a shared path forward rooted in the needs of the community. 

The newly-formed Implementation Committee created through this Act, which oversees implementation and makes recommendations to the Mayor and city council, will be made up of Brooklyn Center residents. With the community leading the way, Mayor Elliott and other local elected leaders worked together to imagine and implement a transformative vision for public safety.

Emphasis on equity

Brooklyn Center is Minnesota’s most diverse city with a majority BIPOC population of 67.1%. Brooklyn Center’s beauty and strength lies in its diversity. 

Prior to the Act, the approach to public safety in Brooklyn Center resulted in significant racial disparities. In 2018, for example, the Brooklyn Center Police Department arrested Black individuals for marijuana possession at 15x the rate for white individuals--this is almost 5 times the national Black-white racial disparity arrest rate for marijuana possession. In 2018, Brooklyn Center Police arrested Black individuals for disorderly conduct at approximately 10x the rate that they arrested white individuals.

Passing The Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Act was a critical first step in addressing  systemic inequities in public safety in Brooklyn Center. It aims to create a safer future for all Brooklyn Center residents by centering BIPOC communities most impacted by these disparities and injustices.

Analysis

• Preemption

  • Minnesota law does not prevent a city the size of Brooklyn Center from determining how police departments are administered, budget size, or how many police officers are required. State law does require licensed police officers to respond to all moving traffic violations. The Act will have to work within the bounds of state law when creating new policies, including by the new unarmed Civilian Traffic Response Department.

• Local Government Dynamics

  • The Brooklyn Center City Council is made up of four council members and the Mayor. In order to pass anything, the Mayor must attain the support of the majority of the council. 

  • The Act presented by the Mayor had significant support from fellow Local Progress leaders, Council Member Marquita Butler and Council Member April Graves.  

  • Mayor Elliott worked with his council colleagues, the City Attorney and the City Manager.

  • Significant  pressure from the community implored the majority of the Council to pass this Act with urgency.

Policy Strength

• The Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Act is the most comprehensive and transformative public safety package to pass on the local level in the country. However, because it is so comprehensive and creates  deep structural changes, including increased  community involvement in local government and additional and new staffing, it will be a multi-year process to implement and carry out this vision. 

• While incredibly significant, the passage of this resolution was only one step on the road to transforming Brooklyn Center’s approach to public safety. Fully implementing the resolution will require extensive and ongoing community engagement, new policy development and implementation, budgetary changes, hiring and training of new personnel, and the formation and maintenance of multiple resident-led committees. This is no small task, and as such, warrants as much attention, organizing, and capacity as the initial effort required to pass the resolution, if not more.

• In December, 2021, the Brooklyn Center City Council unanimously passed a budget that included just over $1 million dollars to begin implementation of the Act. This includes funding for the Civilian Traffic Enforcement Department, the Community Response Department, the Implementation Committee and the Director of Community Safety and Violence Prevention. The funding will come from reallocation from three unfilled police department positions, grants, city taxes, and lodging taxes. The Mayor and council plan to revisit the budget in the beginning of 2022 to determine if more funds can be transferred toward implementation efforts.

Last updated: December 22, 2021

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