(KNSI) – Law enforcement leaders in the Twin Cities and around the state say Operation Safety Net is transitioning to Phase 4, meaning the additional officers, deputies and National Guard soldiers who were posted around Minneapolis during the Derek Chauvin trial will start to go home.
Adjutant General of the Minnesota National Guard Major General Shawn Manke says more than 3,000 soldiers were deployed to Minneapolis while Derek Chauvin’s trial was in its final days.
“We are already starting to maneuver, move people off of property protection details,” Manke said. “We’re preparing those soldiers and airmen to leave the Twin Cities metro area and head back to their locations.
“Our intent is by the end of the week, we have the vast majority of soldiers and airmen off this mission, so their presence, visibility should be much less over the next few days,” Manke continued. “Then, we will continue to have soldiers on the next week as we continue to prepare our equipment reset so it’s ready to go again for the next mission, whether that’d be a federal mission or a state mission.”
Hennepin County Sheriff Dave Hutchinson said the fences surrounding the Hennepin County Government Center (where Chauvin’s trial took place) will be removed in the coming days or weeks.
“We have to keep some safety measures in place until we feel comfortable, but I think the citizens of Minneapolis and the county will see change just as soon as we can get the contractor [for the fence] squared away,” Hutchinson said.
Throughout the year as Minnesotans and others protested after George Floyd’s murder and, more recently, after Daunte Wright was fatally shot by a Brooklyn Center police officer, community members have raised concerns about law enforcement’s use of rubber bullets, chemical munitions and other actions during protests. Hutchinson said when the community speaks, his department listens.
“The community wasn’t happy about some of our tactics,” he said. “We’ll revisit them, but it all comes back to ‘How can we manage large crowds of people safely while maintaining the safety of, let’s say, a building or our staff?'” We’re in the process of learning to do better.”
Though Chauvin’s trial has concluded, other significant events remain for Twin Cities law enforcement: the Department of Justice’s investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department, legal actions against former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter and the August trial of J. Alexander Kueng, Tou Thao and Thomas Lane — the officers charged with aiding and abetting Chauvin’s murder of Floyd. With that August trial in particular in mind, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo says Operation Safety Net’s communication won’t stop after the heightened law enforcement presence subsides through this week.
“Phase 1 of this was doing those assessments, doing that pre-planning,” Arradondo said of operations surrounding Chauvin’s trial. “So, we will all be back at the table again planning in preparation for August.”
On Tuesday, a jury found Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter for kneeling on Floyd for more than nine minutes during an arrest on May 25th, 2020 in Minneapolis.
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