Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner Cedric Alexander says the city is doubling down on efforts to make sure the people they hire to join the Minneapolis Police Department fit the department's goals moving forward.
In a conversation Wednesday morning with WCCO Radio, Alexander spoke about the controversial hiring of former Virginia police officer, Tyler Timberlake, who was hired late last year by the Minneapolis Police Department.
As an officer in Fairfax County, Virginia Timberlake was charged with assaulting an unarmed Black man. Body camera footage showed Timberlake repeatedly tasering the man, hitting him in the head with the Taser, and kneeling on his neck and back just days after George Floyd was murdered by MPD at 38th and Chicago in Minneapolis.
Timberlake was ultimately found not guilty.
"I don't know all the circumstances of [Timberlake's hiring]," Alexander said. "It's still certainly being reviewed and looked into."
As the review into Timberlake's hiring continues, Alexander said the MPD shouldn't be judged on this one particular event or case.
"We're still looking into how that all unfolded. I think certainly in any situation where you're hiring a number of people that the opportunity for us to learn from a mistake that may have happened, not intentionally, but anything that could have happened, we have an opportunity to look back and see what we can learn from it."
Alexander was speaking on behalf of the city's efforts to hire more Minneapolis police officers and more 911 operators at the city's call center.
"I certainly don't believe we should be judged on any kind of way on that one incident," he said. "That in no way is indicative of the hard work that's being put into everyday by the chief of police and his staff, the 911 director and her staff, the fire chief, our emergency management staff, or the Office of Neighborhood Safety. They all do a tremendous job and make the very best effort that they can to do all the things necessary to bring in the very best people to serve this community."
The Office of Community Safety reports that the 911 center is currently staffed by about 50 call takers, operators, and dispatchers. That goal is to be staffed at 70 in order to ensure calls are handled at an optimum level of speed, which is under 15 seconds per call.
Minneapolis police staffing remains 200 officers short of the budget 731 officers.
Alexander called it a "rich moment in history" to be part of the changes he believes have been made and will be made in Minneapolis.
"We're seeing a significant number of changes throughout our police department," he said. "The way that we're advancing ourselves. We look back, learn from our past, and we're moving forward. We have new ways of doing business, new ways of engaging our community, and our community that is actually reaching back to its public safety platforms."
Recruiting is underway at both a local and national level.
"We are working hard to get our staffing back up so we can do even better than what we are doing now. Certainly we would have great opportunities to do more when we have more personnel. We should be able to get back up to those numbers. It's going to take some time, but we're working diligently every day. That's why I am calling on this community to share with others the opportunities that are out there to help us to recruit and send young people our way who are interested in being part of a dynamic public safety community here in Minneapolis."
