The resignation
Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) Chief Brian O’Hara resigned his position late yesterday following an investigation into allegations of an inappropriate relationship with another city employee. Mayor Frey issued a letter of reprimand to O’Hara, and O’Hara submitted his resignation.
During the initial investigation into the allegations of inappropriate relations, which remains “not substantiated,” O’Hara was found to have obstructed the investigation by deleting the other employee’s contact card in his city owned phone and then discussing the investigation with others.
In Mayor Frey’s letter of reprimand (which is the lowest form of discipline after a verbal reprimand), he stated that O’Hara’s behavior made it difficult to continue in his role. Reading between the lines suggests the letter was part of an agreed upon resignation by O’Hara, and that it may have had more to do with a lack of support from the city council than anything else.
“As Chief of Police of this police department, trust matters immensely. It is not secondary to the job – it is the job. Your behavior, as substantiated by the investigation, demonstrates poor judgement, is inconsistent with the level of integrity this role requires, and has made it extraordinarily difficult for you to continue effectively in your role.”
Mayor Jacob Frey
O’Hara’s tenure
O’Hara’s tenure lasted 3.5 years and was defined by a tension between supporting his officers and yielding to pressure for social justice reforms from city council members, the mayor, and city activists.
O’Hara was hired in large part to implement the policy changes mandated by the two consent decrees the city had entered into with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the US Department of Justice.
Under the circumstances O’Hara was in an almost impossible position – one where a handful of late twenty something woke city council members, who were each elected by a few thousand residents to represent 1/13th of the city, held far too much influence over the operational decisions of the police department.
Chief O’Hara was simply in survival mode, caught between implementing effective crime suppression efforts and appeasing misguided city leadership that has been unapologetically anti-police.
I met with Chief O’Hara one time, early in his tenure. I was surprised by his openness in sharing with me just how screwed up he felt the city government culture was in Minneapolis. This was a guy who had come here from Newark, NJ. His words confirmed for me that the concerns over the disfunction in Minneapolis City Hall were valid.
This situation won’t change with a new chief. If Minneapolis hires a competent law enforcement leader, it’s likely that this new chief will be gone even quicker than O’Hara was. If the city hires a lackey, their tenure might be longer, but it will come with a significant cost to Minneapolis – one in which it may never fully recover.
Many, from both sides of the political aisle, have called for O’Hara’s removal. We’re about to see that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.
As I’ve opined repeatedly, it is in our collective best interest that Minnesota’s largest city succeeds. Time will tell if O’Hara’s replacement has the talent and fortitude to help in that regard.
