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2 <br />WORKING GROUP POLICE-INVOLVED DEADLY FORCE ENCOUNTERS RECOMMENDATIONS AND ACTION STEPS <br />ABOUT THE WORKING GROUP <br />Minnesota Attorney <br />General Keith Ellison and <br />Commissioner of Public <br />Safety John Harrington <br />began discussing the <br />idea of a working group <br />to identify ways to reduce <br />deadly force encounters <br />with law enforcement in early 2019, shortly after <br />each took office. In July 2019, they announced a <br />working group of 16 members that they chose to <br />ensure that a cross-section of community, advocacy, <br />academic, foundation, mental-health, law-enforce- <br />ment, and criminal-justice-system stakeholders <br />were at the table. They also chose members to <br />ensure geographic and racial diversity. After the <br />first all-day hearing in August 2019, they expanded <br />the working group by two members, to respond <br />to community testimony that disability and autism <br />advocates were not represented. These 18 members <br />stayed at the table through the duration of the <br />working group. <br />The working group was designed as a platform <br />for members to listen to and learn from Minnesota- <br />based and national researchers, experts, advocates, <br />and each other, and especially those most directly <br />involved in deadly force encounters: families whose <br />loved ones lost their lives in police-involved deadly <br />force encounters; officers themselves, their families, <br />and their agencies; and those tasked with investi- <br />gating and prosecuting such cases. The goal of the <br />working group was to make actionable recommen- <br />dations to all parties and communities that, if imple- <br />mented, will reduce deadly force encounters with <br />law enforcement. <br />The working group <br />held four all-day public <br />hearings and three evening <br />listening sessions around <br />Minne sota between August <br />2019 and January 2020. <br />Attorney General Ellison <br />and Commissioner Harring - <br />ton also met privately with family members who lost <br />loved ones in police-involved deadly force encounters. <br />The hearings were open to the public in a variety <br />of ways. The public was invited to speak during the <br />public-comment sessions at the conclusion of each <br />hearing and during the listening sessions, and to <br />submit written testimony to inform the deliberations <br />of the working group. In addition, the working group <br />responded to community feedback by establishing <br />a session at the beginning of each all-day hearing <br />to receive testimony from families affected by police- <br />involved deadly force encounters. The Department <br />of Public Safety set up a web portal at https://dps.mn. <br />gov/divisions/co/working-group/Pages/default.aspx <br />to provide the public with full access to hearings, <br />agendas, submitted testimony (written and oral), and <br />a mechanism for submitting public testimony to the <br />working group online. All hearing and listening ses- <br />sions were live-streamed, videotaped, transcribed, and <br />posted to the website. Meeting summaries were also <br />prepared and posted for each of the four hearings, and <br />are provided in the appendix of this document along <br />with the hearing agendas.