City Attorney's Opinion on Use of Less Than Lethal Weapons by Minneapolis Police

 In April, I authored a resolution calling for Minneapolis police to stop using certain "less lethal" weapons against protesters (the resolution is here: https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/Download/MetaData/21120/Council%20Acts%20-%20Resolution%20No.%202021R-114_Id_21120.pdf). I took that action in response to a report we heard from an interdisciplinary team from the U of M (https://lims.minneapolismn.gov/File/2021-00275) which made clear just how dangerous weapons like "rubber bullets" truly are, and how much harm they have done to people in Minneapolis.

That resolution also directed the City Attorney's Office to "formally state by May 14, 2021, whether an ordinance passed by the Minneapolis City Council to prohibit or constrain the use of 'less lethal' weapons by all Minneapolis employees would, under the existing Minneapolis Charter, prohibit or constrain the use of these weapons by the Minneapolis Police Department." The City Attorney's Office complied with that direction by submitting a legal memo to the Council on May 14. That memo is covered by attorney-client privilege, meaning that the only people who can read it are Council Members and other City employees.

I believe the people of Minneapolis both need and deserve to be able to read this memo. It is clearly very germane to questions that will be on the ballot this year about how our government should be structured.

For that reason, I brought an action forward at committee today to waive the attorney-client privilege on this memo. That motion passed, and has been referred to the full Council. I'm optimistic that the full Council will agree on August 6, and this memo will become public. I will have more to say about its contents then.