Minneapolis Police Department Training Will Now Include 'Is This A Gun?' Flashcards
MINNEAPOLIS, MN—Minneapolis police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced that there would be changes in the training regimen of the city’s police force. The first is the introduction of flashcards to test officers on whether or not the item on the card is, in fact, a gun.
“In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, and the shooting of Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, it is clear that the MPD and its affiliated suburban precincts need a more back-to-basics training on de-escalation techniques," Chief Arradondo said at a press conference on Friday next to a large poster of an image of a gun with the letters "G-U-N" underneath it.
"We believe that this begins with the most basic of steps," Chief Arradondo continued. "Specifically: whether or not an item a person of interest is holding is a gun, and whether or not the object being held merits the use of lethal force. According to the legions of protestors who have taken their concerns to the streets, and the overwhelming majority of those with basic cognitive functions—no. No, it usually does not.’”
The flashcards portray items ranging from everyday items to the more obscure. The first few cards present illustrations of sponges, erasers, trash cans, and other household objects. From there they moved up in scale to dump trucks, rock climbing walls, and deep-sea marine life such as Angler Fish and Giant Squids and even the concept of "love." All of which are decidedly not firearms. After this, the items became uncomfortably specific.
“Some of you may recognize a few of the items that you see,” Chief Arradondo said to a group of officers as they scribbled images and notes into their MPD-issued Moleskines. “The first is a wallet. You may remember that in 1999, Amadou Diallo was shot forty-one times in New York City while reaching for his wallet. This occurred during an interrogation by four plainclothes NYPD officers in regard to a crime he had no connection with. Say it with me: a wallet is not a gun."
One item on the cards included an oddly shaped length of pipe. This was referencing Saheed Vassell—a man suffering from bipolar disorder who was shot to death in Brooklyn in 2018 after brandishing the item as a weapon in an imaginary fashion. This occurred despite Mr. Vassell’s behavior being well known in the community by his neighbors and no reports of any injuries or disturbances caused by his actions. Other items included a replica toy gun (Tamir Rice, 2014), a bicycle (Ronnell Foster, 2018), a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill (George Floyd, 2020), and an air freshener (Daunte Wright, 2021).
In a statement from the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Merrick Garland endorsed MPD’s actions.
“Nothing short of a systemic overhaul will counteract this deeply entrenched problem of easily avoidable killings among law enforcement. It has to start somewhere. If this means sitting them down and showing them pictures of things to determine whether or not they know they are a gun, so be it. If we need a Duolingo for this shit, then that's what we'll have to do."
