Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara is clarifying comments about the city that he made to the New York Post over the weekend as part of a story reflecting on the five-years since the murder of George Floyd.
O'Hara told the New York Post that Minneapolis has a “very detached, bourgeois liberal mentality." That comment drew plenty of reaction - and some criticism - in Minneapolis.
On Monday, O'Hara told reporters that he's felt pushback when it comes to some efforts to get crime under control when he wants to try every approach possible to do so.
"And that's both hard approaches, which are law enforcement-based, working with all law enforcement to ensure that there are strong consequences for people that are committing real harm in community," says O'Hara. "But it's also doing everything that we can on the prevention side to take away some of the opportunities for crime to happen. Which is also at times been criticized."
This coming Sunday marks five years since Floyd's killing by former Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin who is currently in federal prison in Texas. O'Hara was not chief of police in Minneapolis during that time.
O'Hara did add that it appears having an effective police force is controversial in Minneapolis.
"That having effective policing is essential for so many of our residents who are so, you know, who are hardest hit by just the the level of crime and violence we've experienced in recent years," he says. "And so, that's the disconnect I was referring to."