'Operation Safety Net': Latest On Safety During Chauvin Trial

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — The City of Minneapolis, community organizations and state, local and federal law enforcement agencies have teamed up to prevent violence while protecting peaceful protesters during the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer accused of killing George Floyd in May 2020.

Representatives from law enforcement agencies including the Minneapolis Police Department, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota spoke Monday at a news conference in Minneapolis to discuss "Operation Safety Net," the multi-agency response plan designed to maintain control and protect the public during the trial.

Jury selection is set to begin March 8, and opening arguments are scheduled to begin March 29.

Minneapolis police commander Scott Gerlicher, who leads the department's special operation and intelligence division, said the plan is divided into operational phases that align with the trial's jury selection, opening arguments, closing arguments and verdict.

The verdict phase of the plan, expected to take place around mid to late April, is structured around protecting property, government buildings, infrastructure, police precincts, pedestrians and officers, Gerlicher said. During the phase, national guard soldiers will also work to protect fire and EMS crews to ensure they can safely and quickly respond to emergency calls.

"We’re very used to operating in this unified command structure, and this is no real change from the way we’ve operated before in other major events we’ve had such as the Super Bowl," Gerlicher said.

The unified structure, made up of over a dozen law enforcement agencies, "helps us because that also frees up our Minneapolis police officers to make sure that we still maintain the capability to investigate crimes and answer 911 calls," he said.

Gerlicher said throughout the trial, residents are encouraged to peacefully exercise their first amendment rights to gather and protest. In the conference, authorities reminded residents that throwing objects, setting fires, damaging property, graffiti, fireworks, illegal weapons, reckless driving and protesting on or entering a freeway as a pedestrian are all punishable by law.

Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo said the department and its partners have been planning Operation Safety Net since July 2020, around the time Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of George Floyd's killing took a violent turn.

The goal of the operation, Arradondo said, is "to make sure we’re doing everything we can to keep all four quadrants of our city, our residents and our businesses safe as well as making sure everyone who wishes to practice their first amendment constitutional right to peacefully protest, demonstrate and gather, that they can do so free from harm, free from intimation, and that their safety needs are met."

Among the partners working to meet that goal are the Hennepin County Sheriff, the National Guard, the Minnesota State Patrol, metro transit police and the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Homeland Security and Emergency Management division.

Minneapolis Fire Chief Bryan Tyner said his department will also increase staffing and operate in small task forces during the verdict phase of the trial so it can take a more efficient, agile approach to emergencies, should they occur.

Gretchen Musicant, commissioner of the Minneapolis Health Department & Office of Violence Prevention said the city is working to select community organizations it can rely on to provide engagement, accurate information and resources to people in need in the community during and after the trial. The city expects to disperse some $1.05 million to partners through grants of up to $175,000.

“Priority will be placed on funding groups that are cultural responsive groups that have existing credibility and reach within communities and groups that have the infrastructure and organization in place to take on this effort," Musicant said.

The department has also provided four porta-potties and four hand sanitizer stations at the 38th & Chicago Business Association for gatherings of people to use. The city's COVID-19 response team also intends to supply masks to crowds.

Information about Operation Safety Net and community resources will be shared through weekly press briefings, in the city's public newsletter and on its website starting March 5, city officials said on Monday. Multilingual information will also be shared on area radio stations like KMOJ, KALY, La Raza and WIXK.

In the event of protests or riots following the trial, residents are asked to call 911 in the event of a life-threatening emergency but to direct calls about suspicious activity to 612-692-TIPS (8477).

Business owners with questions about regulations or resources can call 612-673-2499 or email smallbusiness@minneapolismn.gov, and residents seeking non-emergency city information can call 311.

During the Monday news conference, Minnesota DPS Commissioner John Harrington said state and federal investigatory agencies as of Monday afternoon had not identified any imminent, credible threat of violence to the city.

"That doesn’t mean we’re not tracking, doesn’t mean we’re not asking all the right questions, that we’re not ringing all the right bells," Harrington said. "We are absolutely in lockstep working to make sure that information-sharing and intelligence-gathering is going forward. You cannot fight an opponent that you don’t know about. You can’t stop a bad thing from happening unless you know it’s coming."

Colonel Matt Langer, of the Minnesota State Patrol, addressed concerns about the size of the operation.

"To those of you who have been concerned or expressed concern about the icnredible preventative posture and the resources that will be deployed — we hear you and we understand your concern," he said. "But, aat the same time, we just ask that you remember what it was like in May and June, remember the property destruction, remember the violence, remember the challenges that prevented people from coming and expressing their first amendment rights.

"If you are coming to peacefully protest, this group of people standing up here with me welcomes you, and you have our support," Langer added.