New Minneapolis public safety leader lashes out on Twitter, regrets it

Amity Foster did not expect a response from city leaders when she tweeted at them Thursday afternoon about empty police vehicles parked on sidewalks in downtown Minneapolis. And she certainly didn’t expect the response she got from the city’s first and newly-appointed community safety commissioner, Cedric Alexander. 

Alexander, just two months into the job, tweeted back to say the cars were there for increased police visibility in the area. He then accused the Minneapolis resident of “two faced talking,” suggesting she’d also be unhappy if police weren’t there, which kicked off several hours of other hostile remarks from Alexander toward Foster and several other Twitter users. 

“It felt pretty dismissive — kind of like a joke,” Foster told MPR News on Friday.

The public official has since issued a statement, emailed to media Friday afternoon, that said his behavior didn’t meet his own standards or those of others.

“I know building trust happens one interaction at a time. I regret the tone of my responses, and I’m committed to respectful, constructive engagement with the communities we serve,” it reads.

As of Friday evening, Alexander had been quiet on Twitter since Thursday night. A department spokesperson said the commissioner wasn't available for an interview.

Foster is an active Twitter user with a following of over 4,000 people. This was her first time tweeting at the new community safety commissioner, but she’s tweeted about police cars on Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis before. She lives in northeast Minneapolis and often takes the bus downtown.

“It bothers me because they always park on the sidewalk,” Foster says. “I’ve seen them block sidewalks and get in the way of people who need to use them. And this was a lot of them at once.”

After Alexander first tweeted at her last night, Foster and the commissioner continued a back and forth where she raised more questions about his work. Alexander advised her to “ask the people walking, working and living downtown what their experience is,” and Foster shared that she does fall into that category. She then stopped hearing back and is now blocked by his account.

The commissioner responded to another tweet from Foster and said “It [sic] clear you don’t know much of nothing except how to be critical.”

Alexander also tweeted at others raising concerns about him Thursday afternoon to “stop winning” [sic], criticized the community for “hatefulness” and “denouncing police,” accused people of wasting his time and told one person both “I don’t need to know you” and “I don’t care about what you think.”

As community safety commissioner, Alexander heads an office that oversees police and fire departments, the city’s 911 system and the existing violence prevention and emergency management offices. The position was created in part to repair relationships with law enforcement and reimagine community safety in Minneapolis, where tensions remain between residents and the police department.

On Friday afternoon, city staff sent this message from Mayor Frey regarding the tweets: “I spoke with the Commissioner last night. I appreciate his prompt response to the community and members of the media.”

Foster said it’s a good thing when public officials engage with community members on social media, but she would have much preferred a response that took her question seriously or noted better ways for constituents to get in touch with him.

“I hope that the rest of city leadership sees what happened yesterday and take it as a push to engage with all of us — more in depth,” she said.

MPR News reporter Jon Collins contributed to this story.

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