This article first appeared in Union Advocate.
Minnesota employees are part of a wave of organizing activity across the U.S. that is putting the “union” back in the American Civil Liberties Union.
After a speedy organizing drive that took just two months, eligible staff at the ACLU of Minnesota won voluntary recognition from the 70-year-old civil rights organization July 2, five days after the union announced it had support from a “supermajority” of 11 eligible employees.
The same week, employees at two other state affiliates of the ACLU, Arizona and Illinois, announced union drives of their own. In all, employees of 12 state ACLUs have gone public with their unions.
The Minneapolis police department is conspiring to keep officer misconduct files private, part of a “culture of secrecy” that lets bad cops stay on the force, according to a lawsuit filed on Thursday from the Minnesota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The complaint alleges that the city’s government information hub won’t release records related to the practice of “coaching”, a non-disciplinary process where officer are instructed.
KARE 11 investigates: ACLU sues to open secret Minneapolis police discipline files
Lawsuit accuses Minneapolis of “willfully subverting” state law to hide police misconduct after KARE 11 reported hundreds of coaching cases are kept secret.
Credit: KARE Author: Brandon Stahl (KARE11), Lauren Leamanczyk, Steve Eckert Published: 11:14 AM CDT June 3, 2021 Updated: 11:14 AM CDT June 3, 2021
MINNEAPOLIS Claiming Minneapolis has a “culture of secrecy,” the American Civil Liberties Union and a Minnesota group devoted to accessing public records
are suing to force the city to release details about hundreds of police misconduct cases currently kept secret.
The lawsuit accuses city officials of hiding behind what it calls “linguistic gymnastics” to bypass a state open records law and cover up police misconduct.