Tributes are pouring in for former Minneapolis police chief Tony Bouza, who died Monday at the age of 94 in his Bloomington home.
The native New Yorker ran the MPD for nine years in the 1980's, and was known for his sometimes brash style and speaking his mind.
Former Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan tells WCCO's Chad Hartman Bouza was also a very thoughtful person, and certainly a unique "character" by those that new him. Dolan explains there was a bag containing several thousand dollars they found in his office years later.
"He would put money in this flower fund, and he used that fund to send flowers to deceased officer's families when they died, or when there's some other incident, good thing, bad thing, that happened," Dolan says.
Dolan told Hartman Bouza had it all.
"When you're chief, you need support, it's a three-legged stool," Dolan said. "It's the elected, it's the public and it's your officers. He had strong support from the public and he knew that and he used that very well."
Bouza was known for his brash, outspoken style. He also ran for Governor and served as the state's gaming commissioner.
When Bouza ran for Governor in 1994, his campaign manager was R.T. Rybak who would later go on to be Mayor of Minneapolis. Rybak, who spoke to WCCO's Adam and Jordana, also covered city police while Bouza was chief when writing for the Star Tribune.
"I was used to talking to police chiefs who talked like police chiefs," says Rybak. "In walks Tony, and he starts talking and I started laughing. He said 'what are you laughing for?' And I said you don't sound like a police chief. He was using words I'd never heard of. He was talking about massive reform of the police department. I covered him coming into a police department that people believed for years, and still believe, needed to be done."