Minneapolis needs better from police leaders

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

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Does Minneapolis have the right law enforcement leaders in place to carry out the reforms in policing necessary to rebuild trust and public safety? All Minnesotans should hope so, but recent incidents have raised new questions.

In recent months, several reports on Minneapolis Police Department operations have been issued with similar conclusions and recommendations. Last March, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights questioned how MPD officers use force, investigate crimes and discipline officers.

In July, the U.S. Justice Department concluded that MPD officers engaged in a pattern of racist and abusive behavior; that study is expected to result in a yearslong consent decree overseen by a federal court. And this week, a Harvard research team released an independent report about the department. It acknowledged some of the same issues and offered action items in violence prevention, response to community safety incidents and restorative justice.

"There's full alignment here — we all want a comprehensive approach to community safety in Minneapolis, and that's what we've set out to do," Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said Tuesday in a statement. "Next, we will be looking at how to implement these recommendations, furthering safety beyond policing work well into the future and therefore freeing officers up to do the most critical work."

Yet public confidence in the city's ability to carry out those plans has taken a hit because of the actions of its relatively new top law enforcers.

Shortly after Community Safety Commissioner Cedric Alexander was hired about a year ago, he said he regretted his "tone" in a Twitter exchange with citizens. In the back-and-forth, he sounded arrogant and dismissive of community input. It was a bad look, and he rightly took responsibility for it.

A July 1 story by a Star Tribune news reporter highlighted new concerns. Valid questions have been raised about Alexander's commitment to community engagement, his focus on filling public relations jobs and whether he's doing enough to earn the city's highest annual salary — $334,000. And Alexander complained that he doesn't have the resources to meet all the demands on his Office of Community Safety.

Meanwhile, seven months into his new job, MPD Chief Brian O'Hara has faced questions about the handling of the hiring of an officer who had been involved in a "critical incident" before joining the MPD. On his second day on the job last year, O'Hara sat in on an interview and signed off on the hiring of applicant Tyler Timberlake.

This week, O'Hara said he "could have been clearer" but did not intentionally mislead the public in statements regarding the hiring of Timberlake, who was terminated earlier this month. During a news conference, O'Hara acknowledged that he knew months ago that Timberlake was accused of assault for repeatedly shooting a stun gun at a man in an incident caught on bodycam video when he was an officer in Fairfax, Va. Timberlake was later acquitted of assault and battery charges.

The confusion came from O'Hara's public comments about what he knew about Timberlake's background and when he knew it. Now he says he would not have approved the hire if he'd first seen the video, and he pledged to "fix the hiring process so that we do not simply hire people who meet the minimum qualifications, but that we screen in individuals who reflect the values of this community and of this department."

As the public faces of public safety in Minneapolis, Alexander and O'Hara need to inspire confidence, not skepticism. Still, both face complex challenges, and their relatively early missteps are only part of the story.

In his short time in Minneapolis, O'Hara has won praise for being engaged deeply with officers and the community. He's changed an ill-advised policy that stopped officers from pursuing suspects in shootings and appeared in a body-camera video himself chasing down and helping arrest alleged shooters. He also came to the department with a history of implementing change, having served as a liaison between the Newark Police Department and the Justice Department regarding a consent decree in that city.

In meetings and interviews with Star Tribune Editorial Board members, O'Hara and Alexander have seemed sincerely committed to making much-needed cultural and operational changes within the MPD.

But they both must learn from the criticism they've faced and avoid more missteps in the future. Restoring trust in the MPD is essential to improve public safety in the city. Recommendations from reports and agreements have little chance of success if the community can't trust the words and deeds of top police officials.