Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara says he didn't move his family half way across the country for nothing, and has been working to revamp the department since the day he was sworn in last November.
O'Hara talked with WCCO's Chad Hartman about what he calls the unprecedented structural changes he announced Monday.
"I am not here to put lipstick on this place," said O'Hara. "Some people have said I should come in and change the patch, and change the uniform, or change the cars. That's not me. None of that stuff is changing. What is changing? I'm going to make sure our residents feel safer and our residents have greater trust in our cops."
The changes so far include two new deputy chiefs who will oversee two new divisions - Operations, and Community Trust.
The organization sends a clear signal internally that they are going to move forward O'Hara explained to WCCO.
O'Hara also says it's been obvious to him that everyone in the city and in the department wants progress, but has not yet begun to heal following the riots and outrage over the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
It was also notable that O'Hara took a firm stance on the death of George Floyd, saying unequivocally that Floyd was indeed murdered by former officer Derek Chauvin. O'Hara said he was surprised to hear there are people in the city who didn't believe Floyd was murdered.
"I didn't learn there were so many people that didn't know George Floyd was murdered until I came to this state," explained O'Hara. "That's not the case in the part of the country where I'm from. People point to toxicology reports and so on, as if the nine minutes we all saw didn't have any impact at all. There's no question George Floyd was murdered. Period. End of story."
