A Minneapolis police officer fired for decorating a Christmas tree with racist items in the fourth area of the department in November 2018 has been redesigned, CBS Minnesota reported. An arbitrator reversed the department’s decision to terminate the officer, Mark Bohnsack, and ruled that he was terminated incorrectly.
Bohnsack will serve a 320-hour suspension instead, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. A spokesman for a department told the paper that another officer dismissed about the incident, Brandy Steberg, has not been reinstated, but gave no further details.
The community demanded that officers be fired after a picture on social media showed the floor adorned with racist items, including menthol cigarettes, a can of malt beverage and a cup from a baked chicken restaurant, CBS Minnesota reported. Lawyers said the incident pointed to racist attitudes of some officials who patrol mainly Black Weeks in the north side of the city, where the fourth area is located.
The officers were placed on leave and eventually terminated in August 2019. Police Chief Medaria Arradondo apologized, saying the incident undermined trust between police and the community, and the commander of the area was fired.
“When this happened, communities were really overwhelmed. People were ready to take action and they did, well, we put pressure on them and they did,” said Chauntyll Allen, a community leader for Black Lives Matter Twin Cities. CBS Minnesota. “Now two years later, when they think no one sees it, they just welcome these racists back into the institution of patrolling our streets again, and that’s just not okay.”
Pushes for police reform in Minnesota in the wake of nationwide robbery over Memorial Day murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis have called for officers to change the arbitration process. A June analysis by the Star Tribune found that city arbitrators had re-hired half of Minnesota’s 80 officials who would challenge their fires over a 20-year period.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Arradondo have both called on state lawmakers to introduce reforms that would reduce the power of arbitrators and not dissuade them from reversing fire decisions made by the chief. Arradondo has too pulled the department out of negotiations with the Minneapolis Police Department, which lawyers have described as a major barrier to reform. The union has maintained the arbitration process is an important way to ensure that officials get accused of abuse due process.
Frey said in a statement to CBS Minnesota: “The facts of this case are clear. Chief Arradondo’s decision to terminate or discipline should not be reversed. We need arbitration reforms that address an arbitrator’s authority to retaliate in cases of to tackle established, egregious crimes. “
Community reform activist Nekima Levy Armstrong told CBS Minnesota that there should be more diversity among arbitrators, most of whom are White.
“They have no connection to the African-American community or other communities of color, and they do not seek through a lens of racial justice in deciding these cases,” Armstrong said.
IN package of police reform passed by the state legislature in Minnesota this year added some accountability measures to the arbitration process, but lawyers argue that it does not go far enough. The city has the right to appeal the decision of the arbitrator, the paper reports.
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