Minneapolis is the place of the 2020 gut-wrenching and unfortunate murder of George Floyd. A passerby captured George Floyd’s dying moments as police pinned him down, pleading, “I can’t breathe”, and the incident marked a dark moment in US history.
Following the incident and the protests that followed, Minneapolis lost a big part of its staff, many police officers probably finding their continued stay untenable.
Minneapolis is also the place where harassment of immigrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers drew lamentations from all over the country last year.
It is the same place where some people traveled from Philadelphia to defraud the housing program of $3.5 million earlier this year. The recent welfare fraud scheme, too, which threatened to alienate the Somali community in the area, also put the police in an awkward position.
Now, even with the ICE activities toned down and the apparent racial profiling subsided, the local police, and more so the Police Chief, Brian O’Hara, are still feeling the mistrust within the community.
O’Hara’s Challenging Task
O’hara took up the job of Police Chief in November 2022; hence, his 3-year term ended late last year. He was, among other things, meant to give the local police a new face.
Before coming to Minneapolis, O’hara was New Jersey’s Deputy Mayor; he had an impressive record as a law enforcement officer.
The death of George Floyd, a Black resident, had pitted the Minneapolis police and the community against each other. Hence O’hara found the place with a trust deficit. However, from his record, he seemed to be the most suitable candidate for the Chief’s job, and won the votes of all the council members.
He acknowledged the task ahead and promised to make fundamental changes in how the Police Department operated.
Unfortunately, any trust the Department may have recovered was lost when Minneapolis became the target of an ICE invasion, with some ICE officers going on duty to arrest residents while fully hooded.
Operation Metro Surge, launched at the instigation of the US President, cannot have helped the image of the Minneapolis police. ICE was responsible for the deaths of well-known residents, Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, and Alex Preeti, a 37-year-old nurse.
O’Hara Yet to Know his Fate
It is now around four months since O’hara’s first term ended, and he has yet to receive a new work contract.
Incidentally, there has been a long list of misconduct complaints against his officers during his term, 30 in total, many of which fall in the period starting September last year.
The highest number of such complaints filed under any of his four predecessors was 4.
It is unclear whether Chief O’hara will serve just one term, but the mayor has been noncommittal. Asked about it recently by the media, the mayor said the council has until August to decide.