Cedric Alexander abandons critical public safety post

Opinion editor's note: Editorials represent the opinions of the Star Tribune Editorial Board, which operates independently from the newsroom.

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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey touted hiring the city's first community safety commissioner as a "seminal moment" last August as the City Council confirmed law enforcement veteran Cedric Alexander to the job.

Regrettably, Alexander's brief tenure fell far short of that lofty goal. His surprise retirement, announced Thursday, instead illustrates the city's painful, ongoing struggles to repair its policing and rebuild community trust after George Floyd's 2020 murder at the hands of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

Floyd's death spurred civil unrest worldwide, with Minneapolis still bearing the scars from the destruction wrought in May 2020. The city's climb out of that disturbing chapter began with admirable vows by Frey and others to right the wrongs laid bare by a bystander's video of Floyd's last gasps.

Heavy lifting still lies ahead to turn those promises into reality. A critical component: Leaders who are here for the long haul. Alexander's sudden departure a year into the job doesn't just sap confidence that sufficient progress is underway, it also raises questions about Frey's judgment.

Frey recruited and nominated Alexander. The public safety reform framework centered on the new Office of Community Safety, and its commissioner began on Frey's watch. Yet Alexander is abandoning his post when the city most needs his expertise.

In the report's aftermath, the city is negotiating court-enforceable reforms with the federal agency. It is also implementing reforms after a state agency, the Department of Human Rights, issued a blistering report in 2022, concluding civil rights laws violations and failure to hold officers accountable.

An experienced hand is vital as Minneapolis grapples with two settlement agreements simultaneously, a situation few other cities have faced. Alexander chose not to be here as the hard work gets going, a decision that casts a pall over his long law enforcement career.

Alexander's time in Minneapolis had ups and downs. "Operation Endeavor," a crime-reduction campaign during his tenure, won praise for reductions in carjackings and shootings following its launch.

But Alexander also made thin-skinned Twitter comments shortly after starting, leading to a mayoral reprimand. In addition, a recent Star Tribune story outlined concerns about Alexander's lack of responsiveness to community members. His hiring of multiple public-relations specialists raised eyebrows as well.

In a Thursday interview with an editorial writer, Frey said Alexander's retirement was voluntary and not entirely unexpected because, at 68, he had said the Minneapolis post would likely be his last job.

Now that the office has been established, Frey said, Alexander's successor will be more of an "administrator." The mayor said he'd already received a lot of interest in the job from across the country. Presuming the salary will be maintained at north of $300,000, as Alexander's was, we don't doubt that's the case.

In hiring Alexander's replacement, Frey gets a second chance at getting the right person for this position. What's needed is someone who knows Minneapolis and is committed long-term to the city and the work. When sweeping overhauls are in order, it's easier to clean house when the person in charge is familiar with all the nooks and crannies and fully committed to the cause.

In 2021, Minneapolis voters not only re-elected Frey but approved a charter change that moved Minneapolis to a "strong mayor" system. The change gave Frey "more power than any Minneapolis mayor in recent memory," as news coverage noted when he began his second term.