Minneapolis police to face US federal probe

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A US federal investigation has been launched into policing practices in the city of Minneapolis, a day after one of its former officers was convicted of the murder of George Floyd.

The justice department will look at whether there has been a pattern "of unconstitutional or unlawful policing", Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

The attorney general said the investigation would "include a comprehensive review of the Minneapolis Police Department's policies, training, supervision and use-of-force investigations".

It will also examine "whether its treatment of those with behavioural health disabilities is unlawful", while looking at the "effectiveness of current systems of accountability and whether other mechanisms are needed to ensure constitutional and lawful policing".

Mr Garland said both the community and law enforcement would have to take part if the investigation were to be a success, and he had already started reaching out to both.

If unlawful patterns or practices were found, he promised to issue a public report and bring a civil lawsuit.

This process happened after high-profile deaths of black men at the hands of police in Ferguson, Missouri, as well as in Chicago and Baltimore.

At the end of its investigation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issues a report that often contains details that the public would otherwise have no access to. They may look at arrest statistics for any evidence of racial bias, or for signs of racism in emails sent between officers.

The report leads to an agreement - a consent decree - between the DOJ and the department to fix specific, troublesome practices.

The city of Minneapolis could face real, legal consequences if benchmarks laid out in the agreement are not met.

However, the process can be slow, bureaucratic and largely invisible to the community, and sometimes departments operate under federal monitoring for years.

And past experiences show that these agreements do not lead to an end to controversial incidents.