Justice Department opens Minneapolis policing investigation after Chauvin conviction

Attorney General Merrick Garland announces on April 21, 2021, that the Justice Department is opening a civil pattern-or-practice investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department. The announcement comes one day after a jury convicts Derek Chauvin of murdering George Floyd. The investigation examines whether Minneapolis police engage in excessive force, discriminatory policing, and unlawful treatment of people with behavioral health disabilities. Garland says the verdict in Chauvin's case does not address potentially systemic policing problems. Federal civil-rights enforcement turns from one officer's conviction to the broader policing system that produced Floyd's death.