One week ago, Mayor Jacob Frey (Dem.) announced the three final candidates for the new Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department.
Mayor Frey and new Commissioner of Public Safety Dr. Cedric Alexander will interview the candidates prior to the mayor’s final decision, which then will go to the City Council for approval.
Frey, speaking to WCCO Radio’s Chad Hartman, said he wants to announce his choice for chief as soon as possible. Following final interviews, the choice will undergo a background check through the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
While Frey did not want to give an exact date for the hire, he did commit to a fairly fast timeframe.
“We’ve got to make sure we have all our i’s dotted and t’s crossed,” Frey told Hartman. “We would like to announce in the near future. We don’t want to give an exact date yet, but I’ll tell you it’s coming soon.”
Pressed by Hartman, Frey did commit to announcing it by the end of September.
“It’s mid-month, I would say before this month is done, yes I would like to have an announcement,” Frey explained.
The three final candidates who will be interviewed are Elvin Barren, Dr. RaShall Brackney, and Brian O’Hara.
Barren is currently the Chief of Police for the City of Southfield, Michigan, Brackney serves as a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Practice at George Mason University and was previously a chief at Charlottesville, Virginia. O’Hara currently serves as the Deputy Mayor of the City of Newark (NJ).
Frey says that all three candidates are of national caliber, but the mayor has heard criticism that they are all from outside of Minnesota, and that there are no candidates from inside the Minneapolis Police Department.
The mayor explains that they didn’t dismiss any candidates from inside the community or department, but instead focused on who fit the role the best.
“We certainly did not dismiss candidates from the Minneapolis Police Department, rather what we wanted to do was go through a process which included are community members from the very beginning,” says Mayor Frey. “We had five listening sessions in all precincts of the city, we had an online survey and got hundreds and hundreds of bits and pieces of feedback which was really helpful. Then we ultimately had a search committee which narrowed the total list candidates down to a final three. And I’ll tell you, those final three are of national caliber.
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Frey says this is clearly one of the most important hires he’ll make. He also mentioned the same thing when announcing the hire of Dr.
Alexander as commissioner of public safety.
“I’m very pleased with the quality of candidate here,” says the Mayor.
Since former Police Chief Medaria Arradondo stepped down in January, Amelia Huffman has served as the interim chief and Frey says she deserves a lot of credit for taking on the role.
“I’d like to give a big thank you to Amelia Huffman,” Frey said. “She’s done an incredible job. She’s expedited the pace of reform. We love the work she has done for MPD.”
Mayor Frey believes new leadership in the Police Department will make a positive impact but he says he’s realistic that just one individual will not make enough of a difference in the city’s safety until they can increase the number of officers in the city.
“To those who are skeptical, I would say they’re right.”
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