![]() ![]() Then, in 1989, the Minneapolis Police Department was starting its first cadet program dedicated to the inclusivity of folks who didn’t go the traditional route of studying for criminal justice or law enforcement. It just so happened that the Airport Police Department started its first community officer program. The then deputy chief talks with demonstrators outside the 4th Precinct in 2015. And service to my family members and neighbors was always something my parents instilled in us. You knew early that this was what you wanted to do? So, I called his uncle, and by the fall of 1985, this Minneapolis kid was in the Upper Peninsula. His uncle was the dean of the criminal justice program at Suomi College and was the chief of police. And I was telling him I didn’t really know what to pursue yet.Īnd the other guy rose from his slumber and said, “You know, I’ve got an uncle who teaches at this school up in Michigan I can bring you some information.” I was sitting in my senior history class, and I was talking to a buddy, and there was a guy seated between us, asleep. It was not uncommon for your neighbors to be like your extended parents-elders who’d scruff you up by your neck.Īnd you left briefly after high school, right? You knew your neighbors and they knew you. What was Minneapolis like when you were a kid?Ĭommunities were less mobile and more tight-knit. But then the district closed three high schools, and I made the choice to go to Roosevelt. ![]() Then I started my freshman year in high school at Minneapolis Central. And Anthony Junior High School-which is Anthony Middle School now. And shortly after that we moved to south Minneapolis-the Central neighborhood, at 37th and Park. I lived on Aldrich, adjacent to what was then the public housing projects. Whenever I find myself starting to make that sentence, “Do you remember back when?” I try to remember that the city is evolving. I do have to guard myself from clinging a little too much to nostalgia. So, yes, there is a little bit of added pressure. Your staunchest critics tend to be the ones that know you the best. Having the hometown gig probably comes with its own pressures, too. But being from here has absolutely helped me in terms of grounding the vision that I have for this police department. You will see some major-city chiefs who, after a period of time, will be recruited to other cities. Is that unusual for a big-city police chief? You were born and raised in the city of your badge. Thank god we didn’t do it in Minneapolis. It goes like that through most of the interview. No sooner has he put his arms back on the table than another customer comes up to schmooze. ![]() The chief finishes that interaction and validates my order with a laugh and a gesture that says, I wish, but I know better. I’m breaking the healthy vibe by ordering a brisket Reuben when a passerby breaks into our convo to shake the chief’s hand. The chief goes with a chef’s salad (dressing choice: Gorgonzola vinaigrette) Elder, our press minder, orders a side salad. We’ll soon talk about growing up in the neighborhood that became “Murderapolis” and how to fix policing from the inside during the era of “I Can’t Breathe.” But first, we order. Portrait of a police chief as a young, mustachioed policeman, in 1990. Even the way he became chief feels heavy: The then mayor, Betsy Hodges, handed him the reins in the wake of Chief Janeé Harteau’s resignation, following the 2017 police shooting of Justine Damond. The guy who buddies call “Rondo” worked his way up through the MPD ranks with stints on the beat in the Fourth Precinct, as the commander of Internal Affairs, and as assistant chief during the police shooting of Jamar Clark. He’s in his mid-50s and has been a cop-a profession he himself admits ages folks in dog years-since 1989. He’s oddly magnetic, partly because of a youthfulness that flies at odds with his life’s work. Good thing we’re not in Minneapolis, I think.Īs we get into the interview, I begin to see what draws people to Arradondo. And even though it’s so-damn-cold-it’s-sunny-again and Frankie’s slings slices in a strip mall, the place is packed. It’s a Tuesday in early February when we gather at Frankie’s-a restaurant the chief has apparently never seen. “People want to come up and talk with him.” “Honestly, part of the reason is, everywhere we go out in public with him in the city of Minneapolis, it’s tough to get work done,” says police spokesman John Elder. So it’s slightly surprising when the chief’s people suggest we meet for lunch at Frankie’s Chicago Style…in New Hope. In fact, save for a brief stint walking the airport beat in the late 1980s, the chief has spent his whole adult life working for the hometown squad. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo was born and raised in the city he now serves. Medaria Arradondo in City Hall: “A thing I grapple with as chief is trying to humanize this profession.” Minneapolis Chief of Police Medaria Arradondo ![]()
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