A community group said Monday that St. Paul police officers violated department policy during a protest of an ICE operation two weeks ago.

Michelle Gross, Communities United Against Police Brutality president, said she was part of a Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training working group in 2022 that wrote a model policy on police interactions during First Amendment-protected activities.

She said the St. Paul Police Department has corresponding policies. Officers in Payne-Phalen violated them, Gross wrote in a letter to the City Council last week, by: • Spraying people in the face “with large amounts of pepper spray” when they were not violating the law, “including anyone near the intended target.” • Using chemical munitions “as a form of collective punishment even though the cro

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