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Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges said she wants to avoid an external search for a new police chief and instead put Medaria Arradondo in charge of the department immediately, reiterating her support for the interim chief to succeed Janeé Harteau.

The mayor described a sense of urgency among constituents and officers for making changes in police leadership in a statement Hodges tweeted Tuesday night.

Hodges said she'd nominate Arradondo as chief Friday night, right after 

"I might have been open to making an interim appointment and starting a lengthy process to identify an outside candidate if there weren't an ideal candidate right in front of us," Hodges wrote. 

https://twitter.com/MayorHodges/status/889997909940416512

Harteau stepped down as chief nearly a week after one of her officers 

, a south Minneapolis woman who had called 911 to report a sexual assault.

Restoring public trust in Minneapolis police, embattled by multiple high-profile shootings and excessive use-of-force claims, has been 

at the center of Hodges reelection campaign

Hodges' statement Tuesday praised Arradondo as a "skilled communicator who is respected inside and outside" the police department.

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Cody Nelson

Author

The mayor said she's heard constituents call for urgency in changing police leadership, so she wants to skip the "lengthy process" of searching externally for a new chief.

Hodges says Mpls. should skip wide search for new police chief

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