Public safety reform in the city of Minneapolis soon could be in the hands of former Rochester deputy mayor and one-time interim police chief Cedric Alexander.
Calls for changes in policing reverberated around the country after the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd two years ago. Nowhere was the public outcry louder than in Minneapolis itself.
Change has been slow. But Mayor Jacob Frey last week tapped Alexander to turn those community demands into action, and improve coordination between police, fire, violence prevention and other services.
The Minneapolis City Council still must sign off, and the Star Tribune reports that some council members have questioned whether someone with more of a public health and civilian background would be a better fit for the new role. If confirmed, Alexander would be the first commissioner of community safety and oversee police, fire and other emergency workers.
Alexander, who has a doctorate in clinical psychology, was Rochester’s interim police chief in 2005, and deputy mayor for two years under former Mayor Lovely Warren.
Frey said Alexander came to his attention during a nationwide search for a new Minneapolis police chief. That search was led by Public Sector Search & Consulting, the same California firm that the city of Rochester recently hired to fill a police chief vacancy here, before announcing last week that it was sticking with interim — now permanent — Police Chief David Smith.
