After Deadly Force: Changes We Have Made in Investigating and Reviewing Those Police Cases.

• Author: Freeman, Mike

The use of deadly force by police officers in encounters with citizens is one of the most critical criminal justice issues today. Like many prosecutors around the country, Hennepin County with Minneapolis and its suburbs, has seen too many officer-involved shootings, some of them garnering national and international media coverage.

Since November 15, 2015, when an officer fatally shot a man in north Minneapolis, my office has reviewed investigations into 10 now closed, use-of-force cases, all of them shootings. Of those, seven were fatal. We currently have four others under investigation. We have witnessed the frustration and distrust of the criminal justice system, including police and prosecutors, in several of our communities when these incidents occur.

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office has instituted a number of initiatives and protocols in response to the concerns raised by numerous groups affected by these shootings and pressed state officials to form a task force, which has since formed with recommendations expected in February.

Minneapolis experienced its own Ferguson moment in the darkness of November 15, 2015. Minneapolis police were called to assist an ambulance on the city's north side. The medics were treating a woman with a broken ankle she said was caused by Jamar Clark, who was pounding on the back door of the rig, demanding to see the woman.

When the officers arrived, Clark remained agitated and resisted commands to take his hands out of his pockets so that the officers could handcuff him. Eventually, one of the officers attempted a take-down move, which resulted in both men falling to the grass with Clark underneath the officer. The officer shouted to his partner that Clark had his hand on the officer's gun and he should shoot him, which his partner did.

The reaction of the African-American community was swift. Within hours, they marched to the Fourth Precinct station and set up a camp which lasted 18 days. While most of the community's rage was directed at the police and the mayor, they also demanded that the county attorney's office no longer use a grand jury to decide whether to charge the officers.

After listening to the protesters, who eventually came to our office, and talking to other community leaders, I decided they were right. It would be better if one person, not 23 anonymous citizens, made that decision. In March 2016, I announced I would end a 40-year practice of using the grand jury.

Instead, I would make...