As Minneapolis police face criticism for response to domestice violence cases, is anything changing?

Improved response times, re-training and new strategies are part of Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara's stated commitment to helping victims of domestic violence. 

For the family members of two dead victims, the current efforts aren't enough. 

This week, the city auditor released its after-action report on the death of 47-year-old Allison Lussier. She was found dead in her North Loop apartment on Feb. 22, 2024. In the two years leading up to her death, she called 911 at least nine times, accusing her boyfriend of physically abusing her; her final call to police came on Feb.17 that year, days before her decomposing body was discovered, describing how her boyfriend had allegedly punched her in the head. 

The auditor's team found that there were only a small number of subsequent investigations into reports detailing felony-level assault accusations, but Lussier's boyfriend never faced formal criminal charges. 

O'Hara has met with Lussier's family, acknowledging shortfalls but also pointing out that staffing levels and caseloads placed an extraordinary burden on officers at the time. The after-action report notes that at one time, as officers were responding to Lussier's concerns in early 2023, there were nearly 100 similar cases in a growing backlog. Around three to five investigators are handling all felony domestic-abuse investigations compared to between 10 and 12 assigned investigators pre-2020. 

"We remain committed to doing everything we can to try to address domestic violence," O'Hara said. 

The chief said that his department was already working on a number of improvements that are mirrored in recommendations from the city auditor. O'Hara first sent an internal memo in May of 2025, according to the report, reminding officers about proper procedures and applicable laws in handling domestic assaults. According to the auditor's report, officers missed opportunities in Lussier's case to make an arrest. 

Six more memos detailing newer initiatives began to come down in October of 2025, one month after the murder of Mariah Samuels. David Wright, her boyfriend, killed her in September of last year; Samuels' family believe Minneapolis police failed to adequately protect her. In a press conference following his conviction, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty leveled the same accusation. 

"Things clearly went wrong here with the Minneapolis Police Department," Moriarty said. 

O'Hara's memos between October and April of this year are designed to help make sure suspects end up in handcuffs as quickly as possible and victims get the resources they need. 

Two precincts are engaged in ongoing pilot programs to help officers better assess the possibility that a case could escalate to a homicide and improve coordination with other law enforcement agencies. In addition, all officers are required to immediately put out a statewide alert when a suspect has left the scene by the time police arrive.

The chief is also prioritizing "probable cause pick-ups" before submitting cases to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. In Minnesota, state law requires officers to make those kinds of arrests within 72 hours of an alleged assault. Once that period of time passes, a more in-depth investigation is required to bring arrestable charges against a suspect; in Lussier's case, the auditor's report noted that her final 911 call came about half an hour beyond the window. 

"The goal from all of these changes is to get to the scene faster," O'Hara said, "and even when the person is gone on arrival it's to get information out statewide as fast as possible." 

O'Hara said that response times are now the best they have been in years. In last week's press conference, Moriarty expressed shock that in one case in January, it took officers nearly one-and-a-half hours to respond to a domestic assault call. O'Hara said those delays in January were isolated and a direct result of Operation Metro Surge's drain on local resources.

He said in recent weeks, "priority one" emergency calls are responded to in around seven minutes, which is the department's goal. 

Jana Williams, Lussier's aunt, said that she and other family members had to fight to get anyone to listen to them. She believes that the current initiatives aren't enough. 

"These failures are not isolated, they are systemic," Williams said. "We are calling for a complete and immediate overhaul of MPD, of the Minneapolis Police Department, not incremental reform."