Des Moines police use-of-force reports from 2020 George Floyd protests subject of new Just Voices' review

Just Voices, a non-profit group committed to ending racial profiling in Iowa, will produce a final report later this year about the Des Moines Police Department’s use-of-force reports during the 2020 George Floyd protests.

Just Voices’ Founder Harvey Harrison, a retired lawyer, sought release of the departments use-of-force reports for 2020. The reports provide detail about instances where the Des Moines police uses force with citizens. The Iowa Supreme Court, in a March 2025 decision, authorized the city of Des Moines to release the 2020 reports.

After reviewing them, Just Voices discovered a troubling truth. Of the 385 reports released since the court decision, just 19 address the pivotal events of the 2020 protests in Des Moines.

Just Voices grew concerned about the countless moments of violence captured on private security footage — moments never acknowledged by official records and never accounted for by those sworn to protect and serve. Just Voices contends that violent actions by the police, such as those apparent on the private security video it obtained, were not reported by the officers involved in those actions.

The following video is the opening frame from a private security video recorded at 2:43 a.m. on May 3, 2020. In upcoming essays, you will see clips, from about one minute of the video, during which at least three instances of force were used by Des Moines police officers, for which no reports were filed. Because the department is required to release use-of-force reports, we can now confirm that the department did not comply with its own rules on the filing of such reports.

Video

This lack of transparency and lack of accountability led Just Voices to decide to add a third and final installation to a series of reports it has produced entitled “The People’s History.” Over the next several weeks, we will publish a series of short essays that are based on the audio and video records that we have obtained over the course of our research. These records will cover incidents of force being used by the Des Moines Police Department that were not timely reported, or not reported at all by the officers involved.

In addition, we have not been able to obtain any records from the department that would demonstrate that the officers involved in these actions have been held accountable, even when lawsuits were filed.

This volume will focus on:

The militarization of the Des Moines Police Department and the manner in which that played out during the protests
The lack of transparency and accountability for the actions of Des Moines police officers during the protests as reflected by the failure to file use-of-force and other reports
The actual stories of individual police officers, as disclosed by video and audio records, the officers’ testimony, reports filed by them and others and interviews with officers and other records available to Just Voices

Please join us for this final report. In many instances, it is not possible to identify the victims or the officers involved where force was used. That’s where we need help from the public.

If you read one of the essays and you can identify any of the people involved, anyone on the scene — including police officers, we are asking that you share that information with us so that we can complete our records.

Email Just Voices at info@justvoicesiowa.org.

The killing of George Floyd, a Black man, on May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while in police custody, touched off global protests for police reform and backlash.