Minneapolis mayor nominates city's police Chief Brian O’Hara for another term
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Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey announced Thursday that he is nominating Police Chief Brian O’Hara to serve a second term.
Frey spoke alongside O’Hara during a news conference at City Hall. O’Hara is nearing the end of his term leading the city’s police department. To serve a second term, his nomination would need to be confirmed by a majority of the city council. It is unclear whether he has enough support for the confirmation vote.
The mayor touted a decrease in crime in most categories in the city, as well as an increase in the number of police officers and applications to become an officer in Minneapolis.
“This kind of progress — it’s fragile,” he said. “And if you remove our safety leadership at this moment, you don’t accelerate reform — you unravel it. You don’t build trust by starting over every single time things get hard. You build trust by staying the course, by holding people accountable, by learning and continuing to deliver.”
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Frey said it was a stark change from the start of O’Hara’s tenure. He took the job in 2022, amid uncertainty and controversy around the police department. Public trust in MPD was low following former officer Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd, and the police response to the protests that followed. Crime had gone up during the pandemic, and about 500 officers had resigned from the department.
But O’Hara has several critics on the city council. Some of the more progressive council members have said the police department is not making enough progress toward reforms.
Residents have also raised that concern. The advocacy organization Communities United Against Police Brutality said in a statement Thursday that they have "serious concerns” about O’Hara’s reappointment, citing the department’s handling of the cases of Allison Lussier and Davis Moturi and its response to the federal immigration enforcement operation.
Many council members also criticized the department for going more than $19 million over budget in 2025. The majority of that spending was on overtime costs.
Budget issues have drawn concern from council members who are generally supportive of the city’s police, including council member LaTrisha Vetaw.
“I've had questions. I haven't got answers to those questions,” Vetaw said. “And I'm hoping, before this comes before the council for a final vote, that I get answers to those questions so I can make the best decision for my ward.”
Vetaw also pointed to concerns over more than a dozen open complaints against O’Hara filed with the city’s police department. She said she has not seen the contents of those complaints, since they are not publicly accessible, and said she wants to learn more before voting on O’Hara’s nomination.
Frey said he’s not concerned about the complaints. He noted that those can come from anywhere — not necessarily from within the city or the police department. Frey said he believes many of them came in during the federal immigration enforcement operation, when O’Hara received national attention for his criticism of the federal government.
“We take every single complaint that comes forward seriously. That does not mean that every complaint is serious,” Frey said.
Frey praised O’Hara’s leadership through Operation Metro Surge, and during other crises, including the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School.
Addressing the potential that there may not be enough votes for O’Hara to be confirmed to another term, Frey said he’s optimistic that the nomination will be approved. And he said that “if the council chooses not to support this nomination, they need to be very clear-eyed about the consequences. It means perhaps more than a year of uncertainty and transition. It also means losing critical momentum at a time when consistency matters most.”
Frey said he’s asking the City Council to consider the nomination within the next month.
O’Hara said he is “fully committed to continuing to do this work.”
“The MPD today is not where we were a few years ago. Neither is this city,” he said. “The progress we have made is real — reducing serious street crime while earning community trust, rebuilding this police department — but our mission continues.”
O’Hara said he’s proud of support from community members and city officials that he’s received during his term, and wants to continue growing the department in his next term if he is confirmed.
Prior to Thursday’s announcement, the mayor and the council were already at odds over the renomination of another public safety official — Commissioner of Community Safety Todd Barnette.
Last month the council voted against confirming Barnette to another term. Frey vetoed that rejection, and the council has lacked the votes to override that veto. But the city attorney has said Barnette can’t serve another term without council approval.
