Two years after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPS), Minnesota and all of America are still questioning — do our police officers really care about keeping us safe?

Since Floyd’s gruesome murder, the state has authorized an extensive investigation on the Minneapolis Police Department, only to uncover some deep-rooted racially discriminatory actions on citizens they should “protect and serve.”

According to AP News, MPS have engaged in a protocol called “Pattern or Practice” — which is outlawed in Minnesota’s state laws. The investigation provided conclusive evidence that not only were the protocols being used by the MPS, despite it being a violation, but also its use of these protocols have targeted people of color.

These actions involved the officers using procedures that would force a citizen to stop, continue to use that force to search the car and arrest citizens for minor misdemeanors. The actions were especially targeted to African Americans. The investigation found that little to no amount of these protocols were used on Caucasian citizens.

The investigation revealed the teachings used to train officers for disarming aggression. For senior D’Jay Jenkins this misuse of power, finding a solution means weighing all sides.

“It depends on both the police officers and the department, because if it’s just on one part, it’ll affect the other party too,” Jenkins says. “It’s like a domino effect. If something happens in this area, they’ll question why they’re not taking action or fixing the issue. If they don’t fix it, they’ll make it worse for literally anyone in the area.”

Jenkins said the MPS has instead been blaming the citizen for being in the situation in the first place, despite the fact of the officer forcing the citizen into this situation based on skin color.

He said there are solutions on how to open the eyes of the police officers meant to protect lives. 

The investigation found that the Minneapolis Police Department itself has been telling and teaching its officers how exactly they should act in situations that include citizen “aggression.” The police officers have been “trained” in how to respond to such situations, and have been instructed to use an unnecessary amount of force to “disarm” the situation.

“Teaching (officers) not to just judge a person of color if they have a weapon or not and check,” Jenkins said. “Actually checking to see if they have a weapon, and not trying to place drugs in their car, because that’s what a lot of these officers do.”

Jenkins believes it is because of the department’s lack of regard for punishing their officers, these officers use any reason (including minor misdemeanors) to stop a citizen and question them — especially for Black and Indeginous folks. 

D’jay Jenkins said he knows the fear a person in the black community can have when it comes to law enforcement, and the  burden it can be on these innocent citizens.