Harteau faces questions in bid for new term as Mpls. police chief

Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges wants Police Chief Janee Harteau for a second term. But the fatal police shooting of Jamar Clark and weeks of protests last fall have critics questioning Harteau's ability to lead the force.

Minneapolis City Council members on Wednesday kicked off the process to decide whether to give Harteau another three years as head of the state's largest police department. Her supporters and detractors used the City Council's Public Safety, Civil Rights and Emergency Management Committee hearing to make their case.

Hodges applauded Harteau for her efforts to realign the department and telling officers to give the public the same consideration they would give their own families. "That is the sign of a 21st century police chief and a 21st century leader," Hodges told the hearing.

Harteau's opponents said the chief hadn't done enough to address alleged officer misconduct and improve transparency regarding the department's operations and policies.

"I wonder if she's capable of addressing all of these concerns," Asha Long, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, told council members. "Also during my occupation of the 4th Precinct, the conduct of the officers was absolutely atrocious and terroristic," she said, noting protesters were at times sprayed with chemical irritant. "There were Macings, bike rammings of protesters and verbal threats directed to not only adults, but children."

The city has already asked for a federal review of the events in north Minneapolis last fall when the city initially permitted, then cleared a protest encampment in front of the city's 4th Precinct police station. Hodges and Harteau also sought, and received, an unprecedented United States Department of Justice intervention in the investigation of the November shooting that prompted the protest.

Harteau has been with the department since 1987. She is the first woman and the first openly gay officer to lead the department. Harteau was first appointed by Mayor R.T. Rybak in 2012, and promised what Harteau said would be a transformation of the sometimes controversial police force, an initiative she's dubbed "MPD 2.0."

Another hearing on her reappointment bid will be held next week. Harteau told council members Wednesday that she deserved a second term and would keep pushing for reform in her department.

"I am so proud of this department and this city with the progress we've made," she said. "Building relationships ... working with the Department of Justice, having a seat at the table at the forefront of 21st century policing. I am honored and humbled to stand before you today and tell you we just got started."