Dolan will review police actions in Friday's protest

This just in
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Chief Reviews Critical Mass Incident of August 31st
Message from Chief Tim Dolan

I have personally reviewed all the initial police reports regarding the Critical Mass arrests last Friday evening. At least four agencies were involved in the response. Those agencies are Minneapolis Police, Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, Transit Police, and State Patrol. By all officers’ accounts, they were overwhelmed dealing with the intentional disruption of vehicular traffic by an estimated 300 cyclists.

As usual, a small number of officers initially monitored the cyclists for traffic safety purposes. Individuals within the group allegedly decided to block those officers. When officers confronted those disruptors, some of whom were hooded to hide their identities, they allegedly refused to cooperate and physically resisted arrest. They were allegedly assisted in their resistance by others. The officers’ reports detail each arrest and the specifics regarding those physical confrontations. It appears that most of the actions of the officers were justified and reported appropriately. However, there are some actions that officers involved reported themselves that give me some concern. We also have to investigate all allegations by citizens.

I have asked the City Civil Rights Department and three of my units to assist with reviewing this incident. The Special Operations Division will coordinate the review and work with the County and City Attorney’s Offices on prosecuting those arrested. The Civil Rights Department and the Internal Affairs Division will review the case and all complaints for compliance with department policies and procedures. In addition, I have also asked incident commanders to review our coordination and response to this incident for lessons learned.

The Minneapolis Police Department strongly supports citizens’ rights to free speech and assembly, and I will ensure that this incident and every complaint are fairly reviewed. However, I will not support intentional large scale disruption of traffic or assaults. Assaults on police will not be tolerated under any circumstances. This incident will take some time to review because it involved many officers and citizens. We ask for your patience, and we will make a full report on our findings.

Timothy J. Dolan
Chief, Minneapolis Police