Anti-Police Brutality Group Blasts Minnesota State Patrol’s HEAT Campaign

(KNSI) — An anti-police brutality group is speaking out against a new highway safety enforcement campaign introduced by the Minnesota State Patrol.

Communities United Against Police Brutality posted a message on its Facebook page denouncing the state patrol’s Highway Enforcement for Aggressive Traffic, or HEAT initiative Monday, saying it targeted communities of color.

The state patrol says the HEAT campaign focuses on Interstate 94 between I-694 and downtown Minneapolis for excessive speed enforcement and criminal activity. CUAPB says that the stretch of road runs through communities of color, including Brooklyn Center and North Minneapolis.

They accuse the state patrol of saying HEAT is to stop speeders and catch criminals, but what they’re doing is stopping people for expired license plates and objects hanging from the rearview mirror. They say it is not lost on them that Brooklyn Center, where Daunte Wright was shot to death by officer Kimberly Potter, is one of the cities affected. A probationary officer stopped Wright for expired license tabs and having an air freshener dangling from his rearview mirror.

CUAPB says there is no evidence suggesting that people are more likely to speed or commit crimes on that targeted stretch of highway than on any other and say HEAT, “appears to be the kind of discriminatory targeting of people of color that led to the death of Daunte Wright.”

The campaign, which runs from 7:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. nightly, includes more officers on the ground and the Minnesota State Patrol aviation support unit “to ensure that a driver attempting to flee from a traffic stop will be located and held accountable.”

On its Facebook page, the CUAPB statement concludes, “Communities United Against Police Brutality condemns all discriminatory law enforcement activities and specifically condemns the State Patrol’s HEAT program. We demand this poorly conceived plan be curtailed.”

According to the Minnesota State Patrol Twitter page, on the first night of the HEAT initiative, “Troopers stopped 37 vehicles for speeding, made 7 DWI arrests, responded to 2 crashes, arrested 1 on an outstanding warrant. MSP Flight located a stolen vehicle that fled – suspect apprehended after ditching vehicle in east metro.”

Commenters applauded and condemned the move, including at least one truck driver who said he regularly travels through that area and thanked troopers for the extra enforcement, saying he notices people consistently driving at unsafe speeds. Another commenter said HEAT did not help with crime and said it’s unnecessary because police can write speeding tickets at any time.

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