Photo: Stephen Maturen / Getty Images News / Getty Images
Brian O'Hara has resigned as the Minneapolis police chief just before a press conference that was expected to address potential disciplinary action against him. According to Bring Me The News, Mayor Jacob Frey stated that O'Hara had been investigated following an anonymous claim that he had intimate relationships with city employees. Although these allegations were not substantiated, a separate report found that O'Hara interfered with the investigation by allegedly deleting a contact card from his city-issued phone and discussing the probe with another employee despite instructions not to.
Mayor Frey emphasized that this interference represented a breach of trust. He informed O'Hara that he would face discipline up to and including discharge, which led to O'Hara's resignation. KAAL-TV reported that Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell will now serve as acting chief.
O'Hara's future in the role had been under scrutiny from the Minneapolis City Council, which did not support his reappointment to another four-year term after he was nominated for a new contract by Mayor Frey earlier this month. The council's concerns were echoed by Council President Elliott Payne, who criticized Frey for renominating O'Hara while there were active investigations into serious allegations.
An audit released last month detailed multiple failures by officers and made numerous recommendations to the Minneapolis Police Department regarding the handling of two investigations. The audit found delayed response times due to staffing shortages and other issues. O'Hara and the department also faced criticism from the community over perceived inadequacies in response to residents' rights being violated during Operation Metro Surge.
In response to the resignation, Frey acknowledged that had he known the full extent of the issues earlier, he would not have renominated O'Hara. The situation has also sparked further debate over the reappointment of Toddrick Barnette as Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner, with Payne citing the allegations against O'Hara as a reason for caution.