Minneapolis City Council gives public safety commissioner nominee Judge Todd Barnette a green light

Hennepin County Chief Judge Toddrick Barnette received a heartfelt welcome from Minneapolis residents Tuesday as he stood for a public hearing on his nomination to be the city's second community safety commissioner in just over a year.

Barnette was a public defender for 11 years and a prosecutor for two before making history as Hennepin County's first chief judge of color in 2020. In that role, Barnette steered Minnesota's largest court through myriad COVID-19 adjustments and the trials of four Minneapolis police officers for the murder of George Floyd.

Last month, Mayor Jacob Frey nominated Barnette to be his No. 2 in command of all five city departments dedicated to public safety: police, fire, 911, emergency management and neighborhood safety. The nomination must now be approved by the City Council to become official.

A slew of Minneapolis residents, including violence interrupter Lisa Clemons of a Mother's Love, Downtown Council CEO Steve Cramer, First Amendment lawyer Leita Walker and a number of Barnette's mentees in law, praised the judge for his personal warmth, fairness and commitment to transparency on Tuesday during a council committee meeting.

"There are not too many people I know that have the character of this man," said Lateef Ledbetter, one of Barnette's former law clerks.

Following the public hearing, council members had their first chance to grill Barnette on how he would approach the job. Several council members, such as LaTrisha Vetaw — whose wedding Barnette officiated — gave him full confidence.

"I actually met you because a family member was in your court and you really … made sure that that family member went back to school, got a job, got their kids back," she said. "It's been wonderful to see you care for the community,"

Other council members expressed hesitancy, given that Barnette's hiring comes after Frey's first pick for the job, Floridian police consultant Cedric Alexander, quit after one year.

During Alexander's rocky time in Minneapolis, he took credit for reducing crime downtown and keeping the peace during Taylor Swift's Eras tour, but faced criticism for unprofessional tweeting, not attending community meetings on the Third Precinct police station and neglecting efforts to expand safety beyond policing.

"I find myself in a skeptical position — not because of you," said Council Member Jeremiah Ellison. "People in Minneapolis have been routinely disappointed by where public safety is headed … people want to see accountability."

And Council Members Jamal Osman and Jason Chavez, whose south-central wards have weathered more homeless encampments, public drug use and gun violence than wealthier parts of the city, urged the judge to work with them on the outsized public safety problems facing their constituents of color.

Barnette responded that "the approach that the mayor is tasking me to take is to all of Minneapolis," while acknowledging he understood that the challenges residents deal with are different across the city.

He promised to emphasize proactive crime prevention over reactive policing, take community-led initiatives seriously, listen to other people and meet the "urgent need for a comprehensive approach to community safety that … fosters trust, understanding and collaboration between our communities."

Council members voted 11-1 in favor of approving Barnette's nomination. Council Member Andrew Johnson was absent, and the lone holdout was Robin Wonsley, who said she was disappointed that Barnette did not provide specific actions he would take to transform the city's policing-focused model of public safety into one that includes more unarmed responders and crime prevention programs.

"We just essentially had a year of inaction from [the Office of Community Safety's] prior leadership, and our residents cannot afford another year of that," she said.

If approved as expected at the City Council's regular meeting on Thursday, Barnette will help Minneapolis navigate state and federal consent decrees.

As a judge, he presided over high-profile murder trials, handing down life sentences for the 2006 shooting of an innocent bystander in a downtown movie theater as well as the 2012 triple execution of a woman and her parents in Brooklyn Park. Barnette also supported warrant forgiveness, bail reform and reducing jail time for people accused of low-level, nonviolent crimes.

In 2015 when Third Precinct police beat a man suspected of drug possession to the point of needing an ambulance, Barnette dismissed the charges, calling the officers' conduct outrageous and admonishing, "This is one of the reasons why some citizens in Minneapolis have problems with Minneapolis police."