Read the Justice Department’s Report

E. MPD Unnecessarily Escalates Encounters with Children.

We have serious concerns about MPD’s treatment of children and the lasting impact of

police encounters on their wellbeing and resilience. 42 During interactions with children

regarding minor issues, MPD officers escalate the encounters with aggressive and

demeaning language and, at times, needless force.

At times, MPD aggressively escalates encounters with children who have committed no

crime or where the child is a victim. In one incident, officers handcuffed and used force

against a 16-year-old Black girl who called MPD to report she had been assaulted.

Before arriving at the precinct to give a statement, officers handcuffed the girl after she

refused to give them her phone. When she became agitated and reactive, the officers

responded with insults and threats, telling her, “When [the handcuffs] do come off . . .

Ooh, I’m itching,” “I leave my gloves on when I fight,” and “If I gotta whip your ass, I will.”

After three hours, officers removed the handcuffs to reposition them. As she complained

that her hands were hurt and swollen and tried to move her wrists, the officers grabbed

her and pushed her face down onto the ground to handcuff her again. The girl was then

arrested and charged with disorderly conduct.

MPD has escalated interactions when enforcing laws that are intended to keep children

safe. After two Black boys (ages 15 and 16) ran from an officer who was citing them for

a curfew violation, officers demeaned the boys and threatened violence. When one boy

asked if they were going to jail, the officer responded, “If it’s my decision, hell yeah . . .

I’d have so much damn fun rolling your ass down to jail. I’d love doing that shit.” Another

officer threatened to assault the boys when he worried that he may have lost his MPD

mobile device during the foot pursuit: “I am fucking these little kids up, man… I am

fucking you all up, I just wanted to let y’all know that.”

MPD officers have mistreated children in crisis, even when it is clear the child has

significant disabilities. In one incident, a CIT officer threatened to take a 14-year-old

Black boy to adult jail because the boy ran away from home. The boy was diagnosed

with autism, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and developmental delays and had the intellectual

functioning of a four-year-old. The boy’s mother had called the police after the boy, who

had been released from a mental health facility that day, got upset at bedtime, threw a

garbage can and a chair, and ran from home. After the boy was found, a CIT officer

raised his Taser toward the boy, who was calm and compliant, and told him, “I don’t

want to use it on you, but if you don’t listen to me, I can.” Officers planned to take the

boy to the hospital for psychiatric treatment. But the CIT officer continued to threaten

him, saying that he would take the child to jail “with the big boys,” and “If I have to come

42 Interactions with the police can lead to damaging and lasting outcomes for children, especially Black

and Latinx teens, including post-traumatic stress, increased levels of depression, diminished academic

performance, and increased chances that a child will engage in delinquent behavior in the future.

56