St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry on one year on the job

CATHARINE RICHERT: Last week on the program we spoke to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara as he marked one year on the job. And today, we're going to cross the river and talk to St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry. He's also marking one year. Chief Henry joins us on the line now. Thanks so much for being with us.

AXEL HENRY: Yeah, thanks for having us.

CATHARINE RICHERT: So you started as chief during a time where there has been a lot of scrutiny towards policing. Has that impacted your role at all?

AXEL HENRY: Well, I would say, of course, it has but I think it's an impact that we've had in every role of every preceding chief, including me through this whole process. Working with community and making sure that we have humanity and community-focused efforts baked into everything we do is kind of a trademark for our department. And it's been that way since I came here in the '90s. And it's just a responsibility that we have to do to carry forward over and over and over again and build on it and make it better.

CATHARINE RICHERT: So you've been on the job for a year. What are some of the unforeseen challenges that you've encountered?

AXEL HENRY: Well, it's hard for me to complain about the challenges that I deal with in this job because we have people out working in the field every day. We have investigators dealing with very complicated and difficult-type crime scenes. But probably one of the bigger challenges for me personally is just the pace of the schedule.

There's a lot of things going on. You're responsible for a lot of work, but that's what you sign up for when you do this job. So it isn't something I would complain about. And certainly by comparison with the work that the men and women that do for our agency, both professional staff and sworn staff, keep making sure that they feel appreciated, they're recognized for the work that they do, and that they know that what they do really matters is the biggest key for me.

CATHARINE RICHERT: You have to balance a lot of things, wear a lot of different hats kind of all at once. So every department is facing depleted staffing levels. We see this even in the smallest police departments in Minnesota.

And recruitment was a focus when you first became chief. And in fact, a $2 million grant was awarded to hire 30 officers. Have you been able to hire 30? And how have you been addressing this issue overall?

AXEL HENRY: Well, we've been looking at it as an overall holistic issue. This is a national problem. We're not alone in this. We're actually in, I would argue, better shape than most places. And that's a big testament to the leadership and the people of the past.

Everyone that preceded the folks that work here now, including myself, have done a great job of creating a wonderful brand here in St. Paul that people want to be a part of and want to work with. And probably our best recruiting effort in that area is the fact that the community members themselves, not just the chief of police is out saying come join us, come join this department. And that has been wonderfully satisfying.

Our issue is not that we don't have people that want to work here. The issue is that we don't have enough people in general that want to go into law enforcement. And that's something that we are working on and we continue to work on.

And we're excited about what that has created for a potential because I think, we're opening up streams and avenues and drawing in folks that particularly in the past would not have been interested in this line of work that are seeing really what this job truly is as opposed to what they think it is. And what we're getting out of is better police officers. So although it's a struggle, I think that at the end of it it will create an opportunity for a greater improvement.

CATHARINE RICHERT: So just going back to the original question, though, have you been able to hire those 30 officers?

AXEL HENRY: We have hired 30 officers over that period. Our Academy classes are not at the size that we would like. We are still short. Our entire department overall is down just under 10%, which comparatively is better than most places, but it isn't where we need to be. And we continue to make efforts there.

CATHARINE RICHERT: So when you first started in an interview with MPR, you said you had plans to address gun violence. And this is a quote from you, "without delay." And that includes a program called Project Peace that started about a year ago as well. Has that program been effective at preventing gun violence?

AXEL HENRY: It has. The Project Peace is actually the program run by the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Director Brooke Blakey. But our part of that is called Aspire. And what we're really looking at is reducing gun violence across the board in every category. And it's actually not just working, it's now starting to grow and expand.

So for example, our gunshot wound victims in our city are down 39.6%. Our shots fired calls are down 38%. Unfortunately, we haven't seen the reductions I'd like to see in the homicide rate, but a part of that has to do with that we've something that's come up that we didn't anticipate. And that is that our edge weapon or knife attacks and homicides in our city have gone up.

We have a violence problem in our city, like all cities do, but I'm very confident the direction we're going. We're also very excited that we are now expanding out to a new unit that's being developed to deal with non-fatal gunshot wounds. We have a lot of shootings that don't end up thankfully in homicides in this city, but we need to go after that area as well to make sure that we're doing our very best to drive down all violence, particularly gun violence in our city.

CATHARINE RICHERT: Just staying on this for a second, I'm curious you said knife-involved situations are increasing. What do you make of that?

AXEL HENRY: Well, I think as a general rule, I mean, right now we have a violence problem in our communities. And that's not Minnesota specific or St. Paul specific. I think that it is that we have a lot of folks out there that are frustrated and feeling hopeless or whatever is driving those things. We clearly have a drug epidemic and a problem in our country, and for whatever reason, people are choosing to sort those problems out through violent means.

And people are just fighting and using aggression at levels we haven't seen that typically would have been maybe a fistfight 15 years ago. For example, in 2022, there were five homicides in our city that were involved edge weapons. Year to date this year, we're already at eight. So I mean, that just kind of shows you the upward. And I think three years ago, it was only two.

CATHARINE RICHERT: So there's an upward trend there. Shootings and violence at St. Paul's schools have unfortunately, taken the spotlight in our community over the past year. There was a plan to put more officers in schools. What is your relationship been so far with the school year to make sure students and staff are safe?

AXEL HENRY: So we the choice of the school board is that they do not want what we would do. The public would consider SROs or school resource officers. We don't have that formalized relationship in that manner.

But we have a wonderful relationship with the schools. We're talking to them daily. The superintendent and I-- the Superintendent Gothard and I probably speak once every couple of weeks, not just around emergencies or bad things, but just checking in. The connection's there. The communication is there.

We are ready to help and support what the school efforts are wherever that ends up. Everybody is on the same page with the mission that we want our kids to be safe in schools and we want to make sure that safety is paramount for everybody. So we don't feel like we need that formal relationship to make that happen. And even with all the issues around the law changes and everything else, the relationship has been actually, I think, strengthened through that process as opposed to eroded.

CATHARINE RICHERT: In our last few seconds here, what would you say has been your biggest success this year?

AXEL HENRY: Well, I would say the biggest success is the fact that we are seeing our officers and our investigators at every rank, every level are really doubling down on

their efforts and commitment to the work they do out in the field. I would tell you that every success we've had around a technical skill or ability to investigate a case or perform a mechanical aspect of the job is bolstered by the fact that our department is full of people who really care about the community. They understand that they're a member of the community, not a police officer around the community but they're actually a part of it.

And to me, the fact that has been is growing and is embraced and as received-- I get compliments almost all every day, multiple times about people seeing interactions with law enforcement. And they just can't say enough about how impressed they are with the people that work here. And that makes me very happy because that's exactly my experience, and I know that's what we're capable of. And it's our job to push towards our potential as opposed to what any other figure out there. It's how good can we be and how good can we be as a community working together?

CATHARINE RICHERT: Right. That was St. Paul Police chief Axel Henry one year into the job. Thanks so much.

AXEL HENRY: Thank you.