Duluth Police, NAACP, Discuss Profiling Issues

DULUTH, Minn.– The Duluth chapter of the NAACP called out the Duluth Police Department Friday after new data released shows a disparity in police encounters by race.

The Duluth NAACP says as the murder trial begins for Derek Chauvin, the ex-officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes last summer, they wanted to highlight issues Black, indigenous and people of color have in the Twin Ports with the Duluth Police Department and asks for policy reform in light of new data.

Information released by the DPD, shows black people made up 34 percent of all use of force incidents in Duluth in 2019, and indigenous people made up 13 percent of incidents. This, despite making up just less than 5 percent of the city’s total population.

“The Duluth Police Department has engaged in years of racially biased policing against black indigenous and other peoples of color,” said Classie Dudley, president of the NAACP chapter in Duluth.

According to that same data, 16 percent of all people arrested during the last three years were Black, and 13 percent were indigenous.

“It is clear that the Duluth Police Department is disproportionately engaging with Black and indigenous people as this data is desperate for both regional and state demographics,” said Jamie Sharp, Co-Chair of the Duluth NAACP.

NAACP leaders are calling for use of force and arrest rates to be proportionate to the racial demographics of the area by December of 2022, with reports twice a year, showing improvements in those areas. They also want data released for all DPD traffic stops and K-9 bites by the race of the suspect.

“Chief Tusken, are you willing to work with the NAACP and our communities? We want to work with you, will you work with us,” said Dudley.

Meanwhile, Police Chief Mike Tusken and Mayor Emily Larson spoke in response to the NAACP’s comments. Tusken says accountability and transparency are core values in his department, and recording data on this issue has been a top priority.

“Is that more of a macro level that we release that and really to have and answer those questions it requires that we get into the micro level,” said Tusken. “Specificity about where are crimes being committed? Who’s committing them, who’s responding.”

After past conversations with the NAACP, Mayor Emily Larson says she encouraged them to speak out Friday. She hopes it can be the starting point for future discussions.

“You’re really authentic and real in what you’re sharing and that your feelings are real and so I just want to acknowledge that and say that goals that have been articulated feel like the right goals for us to strive for,” said Larson.