Unanimous vote to reappoint Minneapolis police chief for 3 more years

Image 1 of 2

After hearing public comments from 26 speakers over a full hour, the Minneapolis city council’s Committee of the Whole voted unanimously to approve a 3-year reappointment of Police Chief Janee Harteau.

Last week's vote was delayed to allow for more public comment after some complained that citizens were not given enough notice. Fox 9 reporter Paul Blume's rough tally of the testimony counted 14 speakers in support of Harteau’s reappointment, 7 opposed and 5 others whose comments didn’t have a clear stance. 

!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges reaffirmed her support for Chief Harteau reappointment, calling her the right chief for the right time. Harteau has been with the Minneapolis Police Department for nearly three decades, eventually becoming the first female and openly-gay chief of the state’s largest police force.

Despite her pledge to transform the department’s culture with what she dubbed MPD 2.0, it’s been a bumpy road. Several officers have been fired for misconduct and Harteau has faced backlash for the city’s response to protests at the 4th Precinct over the shooting death of Jamar Clark by Minneapolis police.