After an incident in May 2020, MPD officer Derek Chauvin was charged with and later convicted for the murder of George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for approximately 9.5 minutes.

[23] On June 16, 2023, the United States Department of Justice released a report summarizing a comprehensive investigation into the MPD, finding that "the Minneapolis Police Department and the City of Minneapolis engage in a pattern or practice of conduct in violation of the U.S. Constitution and federal law," specifically with regard to the use of deadly force, racial discrimination, violations of free speech rights, and discrimination against people with behavioral health disabilities.

The city administration and the police began operating as an organized crime syndicate, extorting protection money and "fines" from illegal businesses of various kinds.

It was speculated that women were setting up candy stores to run a legitimate business to children and workers out front, but providing the services of prostitutes in the back.

Assisted by the Minnesota National Guard and a local militia, the two sides clashed violently for a month with police using gas bombs and brandishing rifles.

[5] While national politics and anti-communism sentiment played out during this decade, urban renewal ravaged the downtown areas and cleared slums, impacting poor communities.

[41] Most notably, the Plymouth Avenue Riots in the Near North neighborhood, instigated by East Coast protesters, effectively emptied the area of Jewish and German businesses.

[53] Murders had indeed peaked that year and the department sent three officers to New York City to study the Fixing Broken Windows crime-prevention program implemented by then Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Police Chief William Bratton.

In exchange, police provided protection and tips regarding impending federal raids and helped keep criminals free by refusing to extradite them elsewhere.

[59][60] As a result, high-profile criminals such as Machine Gun Kelly, John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson took refuge in St. Paul and committed crimes across the region, including Minneapolis.

[61] An Irishman named Edward G. "Big Ed" Morgan operated a gambling den under police protection but also commanded crime in partnership with Prohibition bootleggers.

The Great Depression and the 1930s followed similarly to other growing U.S. cities as the department quelled labor disputes and continued to fight gangsters during the waning years of Prohibition.

On December 16, 1932, members of the infamous Barker-Karpis gang robbed the Third Northwestern Bank in downtown Northeast, Minneapolis and killed responding policemen Ira Leon Evans and Leo Gorski.

[63][64] In a sign of the Great Depression, the city controller's office revealed that the two patrolmen had been working without pay due to a shortage in the police fund.

[65] Mayor Anderson blamed "large taxpayers" as not paying their fair share of taxes, shortening the police budget and limiting the department's ability to fund and equip officers.

[68][69] Tensions between gangs and the Minneapolis Police Department were high following the acquittal of officers in the Rodney King beating trial in Los Angeles.

[73] Chief John Laux suggested the murder was possibly retaliation for an earlier incident in which Metro Transit Police forcibly removed a blind black man who did not have bus fare.

[74] In 2002, then-Chief Robert Olson was accused of stalling federal U.S. Department of Justice mediation between the MPD and hometown civil rights groups focused around North Minneapolis.

The attempted overhaul of Internal Affairs and greater attention over policing did generate larger respect for the department from communities of color and even gang members.

[45] In early 2006, facing an uncertain reconfirmation for a second three-year term, McManus sought and accepted the police chief position in San Antonio, Texas.

[94] But, in a victory for protestors who had conducted weekly demonstrations at his office for what they called Freeman Fridays, the prosecutor changed his mind with a statement released on March 16, 2016, citing the fact that Grand Jury proceedings lack the level of transparency the citizens were demanding.

"Walking off the job and defaulting their contractual obligation to provide a service to the Lynx does not conform to the expectations held by the public for the uniform these officers wear."

[104][105] One immediate result was a consent decree with the city; on June 5, the Minneapolis City Council authorized the mayor to agree to a temporary restraining order with the State of Minnesota banning chokeholds and requiring police officers to both report and intervene against the use of excessive force by other officers, as well as banning neck restraints and also the use of crowd control weapons such as chemical agents and rubber bullets without permission from the police chief or deputies.

[19] The new department would be led by someone with "non-law enforcement experience in community safety services, including but not limited to public health and/or restorative justice approaches.

A poll by the Star Tribune reported that a plurality of residents, including 50 percent of Black people, opposed reducing the size of MPD.

Mayor Betsy Hodges requested an investigation by the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division of the federal government.

The city agreed to pay $27 million to settle a civil lawsuit from Floyd's family, the largest pre-trial settlement for a civil-rights claim ever made in the US.

[196][197] The Special Weapons and Tactics team responds to barricaded suspects, sniper situations, hostage incidents and large civil disturbances.

[199] The Minneapolis Police Reserve is a volunteer 60 non-sworn officer unit in charge of emergency preparedness, general public safety, and provides major support for traffic and crowd control.

The unit's responsibility however was reaffirmed after the attacks of September 11, 2001 and was reassigned under the Minneapolis Police Department's Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, tasked with domestic defense in situations of civil unrest and disasters.