U experts to review St. Paul cop complaints panel

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman has hired the University of Minnesota to audit the city's handling of complaints against police.

Coleman's office said the university's Center for Restorative Justice and Peacemaking would review the city's Police-Civilian Internal Affairs Review Commission.

That makes good on a promise the mayor made to African-American leaders in January, days after St. Paul police shot and killed Marcus Golden, a 24-year-old black man they say tried to run over two officers with his car.

The St. Paul NAACP first raised concerns about the city's handling of complaints in November, after the panel exonerated officers who made a controversial arrest in the downtown skyway system. Police used a stun gun to subdue Chris Lollie, but the city attorney determined he hadn't been trespassing. Now he's suing the city.

The audit will take at least three months. The cost of the contract hasn't been finalized.

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