Minneapolis police officers and supervisors called Black people 'monkeys' and 'consistently' use racist slurs, explosive report finds
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- Some Minneapolis Police Department cops and supervisors referred to Black people as "monkeys," a state probe found.
- The investigation by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights also found that MPD officers "consistently" use racist language.
- "They call Black individuals 'n-----s' and 'monkeys' and call Black women 'Black bitches,'" the state report says.
A Minnesota state civil rights probe into the Minneapolis Police Department found that some city cops and supervisors referred to Black people as "monkeys" and "consistently" used racist and misogynistic language.
The disturbing findings were revealed Wednesday in a 72-page report by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights following a roughly two-year investigation into Minneapolis and its police department.
The state agency found that the city and the Minneapolis Police Department engaged in an unlawful pattern or practice of racial discrimination over the last decade.
The agency's report states that the Minneapolis Police Department "maintains a culture where MPD officers consistently use racist, misogynistic, and disrespectful language and are rarely held accountable."
"According to body-worn camera footage, discipline records, statements from community members, and interviews with MPD officers, some MPD officers and supervisors use racial slurs," the report says.
It adds, "They call Black individuals 'n-----s' and 'monkeys' and call Black women 'Black bitches.'"
One MPD supervisor "referred to Somali men as 'orangutans,'" the report says adding, "Similarly, community members reported examples of MPD officers calling Latino individuals 'beaners.'"
Minneapolis police officers also reported that their colleagues called fellow Black MPD cops "nappy head" and "cattle," according to the report.
"Officers who are the subject of these racist or sexist comments hesitate to, and often simply do not, report the problematic officers because they do not believe in the efficacy of the City's and MPD's accountability systems and fear retaliation if they report the harassing behavior," states the report.
The Minnesota Department of Human Rights began its investigation into the police department on June 1, 2020 — a week after George Floyd, who is Black, was killed by white former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020.
The state agency reviewed a massive amount of data dating back to 2010 from police stops, searches, arrests, use of force, policies, procedures, trainings, interviews, and ride-alongs in its probe.
The city of Minneapolis and the Minneapolis Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider on Wednesday.