The Brooklyn Center City Council voted Monday night to approve a community-led public safety commission, a reform that has been in the works since Daunte Wright was killed by a police officer four years ago.
The Community Safety and Violence Prevention Commission was a goal of a public safety act that was passed by the City Council after Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter killed 20-year-old Wright in 2021. The commission will be an advisory body that will allow residents to give input to the City Council on community safety matters in the city.
Some community members, including Wright’s mother Katie Wright, say the version the council passed Monday is weaker than was originally proposed. Changes were made to the commission’s membership and duties.
“You’re having six people volunteer their time to just give a recommendation, that’s it,” she said after the vote. “And we can do that.”
Amity Dimock, whose son Kobe Dimock-Heisler, 21, was killed by Brooklyn Center police in 2019, agreed with Wright that the commission has little power, which she said is typical of city advisory commissions.
“Something like this, as a watered-down version, it’s nothing,” Dimock said after the vote.
Wright and Dimock said they were surprised that the City Council voted to establish the commission at all, based on the council members’ comments in previous meetings.
The City Council discussed the commission at two meetings in March that grew tense, and council members discussed it again at an April 14 meeting. The council then tabled a vote on whether to create the commission until Monday.
The commission was passed in a 4-1 vote. Brooklyn Center Mayor April Graves and Council Members Teneshia Kragness, Dan Jerzak and Kris Lawrence-Anderson voted in favor of the commission, while Council Member Laurie Ann Moore voted against it.
In prior meetings, Jerzak and Lawrence-Anderson said they did not support the commission. At the April 14 meeting, Jerzak said upon further reflection he wanted to work toward passing the commission, if changes were made to its membership and scope.
Jerzak had expressed concern about adding four non-voting members to the commission who don’t live in Brooklyn Center, such as business owners or experts in public safety issues.
The resolution approved Monday removes the non-voting members from the makeup of the commission. The commission will be made up of six voting members and a chairperson. All members must be Brooklyn Center residents.
The commission will not have the power to review the collective bargaining agreement between the city and police department, which was originally proposed. And the revised language no longer requires the majority of members to have direct experience with the justice system.
Lawrence-Anderson said during the meeting Monday that she wanted to ensure the commission was like any other city commission, serving only in an advisory capacity.
Activists criticized the council earlier this month for delaying action on the commission. Community members, including Wright, said they haven’t seen substantial progress on police reform by the city.
The City Council passed the Daunte Wright and Kobe Dimock-Heisler Community Safety and Violence Prevention Act in 2021. Dimock-Heisler, who had autism, was shot and killed at home in 2019 after Brooklyn Center police responded to a domestic disturbance call.
The act was heralded as a progressive reform at the time. It called for numerous reforms such as new use of force policies, changes to how police conduct traffic stops, and establishing the commission.
But activists say that reforms that were promised have been falling apart over the past four years. Now, more conservative members hold a majority on the City Council.
While the city has taken steps such as pilot programs to respond to mental health calls, other measures have fallen short, activists said.
The council voted down a policy last year that would have prohibited officers from conducting traffic stops for minor violations. Wright was initially pulled over by Brooklyn Center police for an air freshener hanging in his rearview mirror and for an expired vehicle registration.
When officers discovered that Wright had an outstanding warrant, they attempted to arrest him. Wright tried to get back into his car, which led to brief struggle with officers. Potter shot Wright once in the chest with her gun. She testified at her trial that she intended to use her Taser. Potter was convicted of manslaughter charges and served 16 months in prison. She was released in 2023.
Dimock and Wright said they’ll be watching the work of the commission, and that if they feel not enough progress is made, they will do the work themselves under their nonprofit, the Daunte and Kobe No More Names Initiative.
“We’re not playing around,” Dimock said.
