In Minnesota, an investigation finds “widespread racial discrimination” in the police

Police officers in Minneapolis, May 27, 2020. According to a study by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights, police in the state show widespread racism.

AP - Carlos González

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Two years after the death of George Floyd, an investigation concluded that the murder of the African-American by the white policeman Derek Chauvin is part of a context of "

" within the Minneapolis police.

The investigation carried out by the Minnesota State Department of Human Rights also exposes a culture of police impunity. 

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With our correspondent in Miami,

First, there are the words used during the arrests: "

".

But there are also and above all the acts: the police officers of Minneapolis “

 ”.

These claims were not written by an activist organization but by a Minnesota state agency.

This investigation was launched after

under the knee of white policeman Derek Chauvin which set Minneapolis and the whole of the United States on fire in the spring of 2020.

His report is final, he concludes to " 

 " within the Minneapolis police.

Practices linked according to the document to the culture of the institution which encourages a paramilitary approach to security and does not penalize the often deadly slippages of its agents.

The statistics speak for themselves: blacks represent 19% of Minneapolis residents but 54% of traffic stops.

However, it is often these road checks that turn tragic for no reason, as in 2016 when Phillando Castille, 32, was shot and killed in front of his family by a police officer who mistook his wallet for a firearm. 

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