Minneapolis City Council considers interim police chief Bill Peterson's bid for permanent job

Bill Peterson has worked for the Minneapolis Police Department since he was 21 years old. He’s served as inspector for the downtown Minneapolis precinct, led training efforts and held leadership roles during major emergencies like the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in 2007.

Peterson stepped up as interim chief after Brian O’Hara resigned from the position in May following allegations that O’Hara interfered with an internal investigation into his conduct. Although Peterson initially said he didn’t want the permanent job, he said he changed his mind because he saw an opportunity to serve.

The Minneapolis City Council will vote on Peterson’s nomination Thursday.

Department still working on meeting court-mandated reforms

The department is in the process of enacting reforms mandated by an agreement with the state's human rights department to address a pattern and practice of racially discriminatory policing. At the same time, the department has struggled to keep up staffing levels and rein in overspending.

Peterson told MPR News after he was nominated by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey that he has already taken steps to get the department’s budget in check, but that one of his ultimate goals is to increase staffing levels to tamp down on overtime costs.

“When we rebuild numbers-wise, those number of vacant shifts that aren’t filled with officers on regular duty, it’s the best way to address that overtime,” Peterson said.

Peterson says he’s already taken steps to address concerns about a backlog of internal investigations in the department and has appointed staff to build relationships with the monitor overseeing the agreement with the state.

Peterson said he knows the city and its culture and has proven himself to residents over his years of service.

“I encourage people to go out and talk to people in the community, talk to business people, talk to elected officials, talk to other people in the city enterprise,” Peterson said. “I believe that I've earned that trust, and the best place to verify that is to talk to others, but I can tell you that I am committed to that work.”

University of St. Thomas School of Law Professor Rachel Moran says heading up the department could be more challenging because the agreement signed in 2023 is still very much being implemented.

”It's difficult because it's pretty much all the same demands and the same needs, but a level of tiredness, possibly disillusionment, layered over the same issues,” Moran said. “So, I don't think this is an easy situation to step into.”

Peterson’s experience can garner support from rank and file

Being an internal candidate has both advantages and challenges. Moran said an officer from within the department could better understand the historical criticisms of Minneapolis police.

“It's also possible that they could have more support from members of the police department itself,” Moran said. “Maybe some believe that this person is going to understand what they've been through, understands their culture.”

There are also disadvantages to elevating an internal candidate, Moran said. Especially since the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, Minneapolis residents have been divided about what they want from their public safety system. Moran said that dynamic is clear from the constant clash between Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and council members.

“If you're on the side of wanting major change, I think it's harder in that context to feel terribly optimistic about a chief coming in who's got the backing of a mayor who you're perhaps not seeing enough evidence of commitment to reform in,” Moran said.

At a recent public hearing at city hall, Ryan Van Wagner spoke against Peterson's nomination. He pointed to federal and state investigations that found that Minneapolis police officers routinely discriminated against Native American and African American people.

"These findings confirmed what our communities have been saying for generations: We are tired of being told to give leadership another chance while our communities continue to live with the consequences,” he said. “Black and Indigenous residents deserve safety."

Minneapolis has been through significant turmoil in the last decade, said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the law enforcement think tank Police Executive Research Forum in Washington, D.C. He said any chief is going to need to balance the needs of both residents and officers.

“It’s also important to recognize that in some ways both the community and the police department have gone through some degree of trauma,” Wexler said. “Understanding that history and understanding where the department is now and where the community is, and then helping Minneapolis move forward.”

Wexler said there are drawbacks and benefits to both external and internal candidates, but that it’s hard to beat someone with deep knowledge of the community they’re serving.

"Someone coming from the outside is sometimes necessary when things really have hit rock bottom, and there's no internal candidates,” Wexler said. “But in the world that I'm familiar with, if you find an internal candidate and he or she meets the criteria, that's a win-win."

In his experience, Wexler said reforms don’t move forward just with new laws or policies, but need buy-in from officers.

“You have to get the police officers to believe in you. They have to believe that what they're doing is important, and they have to believe that they'll be supported when necessary — that doesn't mean you're not holding them accountable,” Wexler said. “Successful police chiefs understand what their officers want, what the community wants.”

‘Chiefs would come and chiefs would go, and the problems would remain’

Cam Gordon served as a Green Party member on the Minneapolis City Council for 16 years. He realized after taking office that council members and the mayor had unrealistic expectations for police chiefs.

“I actually found the chiefs would come and chiefs would go, and the problems would remain,” Gordon said. “It seemed like successes and improvements in safety or even in accountability really didn't necessarily have that much to do with who the police chief was.”

In April, the council declined to reappoint Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette. Nine members also voted last month to eliminate the city’s Office of Community Safety. Gordon said another round of clashes between the mayor and council over the police chief likely wouldn’t help move forward better public safety for city residents.

“Mayors that I had served under, besides Frey, had often tried to work to consensus and solve some problems, and the same with the council, so they could figure out how to find something acceptable to them once they took the vote,” Gordon said. “That part of the process seems to be gone from the city government right now.”

If confirmed, Gordon said Peterson will need to reassure parties that already trust him that he won’t change too much too quickly, while also building trust with longtime critics.

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