Minneapolis police Chief Arradondo withdraws from consideration for San Jose job

Updated: 7:19 p.m.

Minneapolis police Chief Medaria Arradondo has pulled his name from consideration to lead San Jose's Police Department.

That’s after San Jose City Manager David Sykes made a public memo this week, listing Arradondo as one of several finalists for the Bay Area city’s police chief position. Arradondo was the only finalist from outside California.

Minneapolis police spokesperson John Elder said Monday evening that a recruiter sent the chief's resume to officials in California, but the chief had not had formal discussions with San Jose leaders.

“Chief Arradondo remains committed to the public safety of the residents and businesses of Minneapolis and continuing the important MPD transformational change in the spirit of healing and moving our city forward in collaboration with our communities,” Elder said.

Arradondo joined the Minneapolis force in 1989 as a patrol officer. He became the city’s first Black police chief in 2017. 

Four former Minneapolis officers face trial this year in the killing of George Floyd in May. Massive protests erupted around the world after bystander video showed officer Derek Chauvin pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck as the handcuffed man said he couldn’t breathe.

Two weeks after the killing, Arradondo announced he was withdrawing from contract talks with the police union, saying he wanted to reform use of force policies and discipline procedures. In August, Arradondo and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced changes to use of force policies that require officers to account for unholstering guns, among other measures.

Though they were not able to put a measure before voters in the fall, members of the Minneapolis City Council took initial steps to revive a proposal to replace the Police Department with a new public safety entity.