Minneapolis PD brings in civilians to lead internal affairs, constitutional policing bureaus

Civilian to lead Minneapolis PD internal affairs

For the first time in the department's history, a civilian will head up internal affairs for Minneapolis police.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - For the first time ever, the Minneapolis Police Department has hired civilians to serve in high-ranking roles, including overseeing the  Internal Affairs Bureau.

Minneapolis PD announce ‘historic' hirings

What we know:

At a news conference on Monday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara introduced Ayodele Famodu, the new chief of the Internal Affairs Bureau, and Ganesha Martin, who will lead the Constitutional Policing Bureau to the department.

Police say this will be the first time non-sworn members will serve in such high-ranking positions.

Who are the new chiefs?

The backstory:

In a news release, the department shared information on each chief's background:

Chief Ayodele Famodu

• Assistant Attorney General for Minnesota under Keith Ellison.
• Consent Decree Counsel at the Minnesota Department of Human Rights
• Felony prosecutor at the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office
• Hennepin County Public Defender
• Medical malpractice defense attorney
• Assistant Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago
• She also served in the U.S. Army Reserve JAG Corps

Chief Ganesha Martin

Martin has served in several roles with the City of Baltimore, helping the police department navigate through its federal consent decrees between 2015 and 2018.

• Chief of Staff to the Baltimore Police Commissioner
• Director of Legislative Affairs
• Chief of the Community Engagement Bureau
• Chief of Compliance
• Accountability, and External Affairs
• Martin also served as Deputy Mayor of Public Safety and Emergency Management and Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice under two different mayoral administrations

What they're saying:

Speaking on Monday, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said it has been his goal to bring in civilians to serve in roles where they can bring a"higher level of expertise" than what might be available among the sworn ranks.

"We have a civilian director of training and curriculum development, that's a PhD, that's a civilian professional," explained Chief O'Hara. "It also helps us raise the level of quality in the organization and there needs to be -- there already is, ever since I got here -- a tremendous, tremendous group of professionals that are non-sworn that work here, that we do need to have career paths for them, better career paths in my opinion, leading up to higher levels of responsibility. Because between civilian analysts there's really a strong base of professional staff that work here to begin with."