I wanted to send the List an outline I just gave to City Council members about my selection of Chief Bill McManus. FYI, the Executive Committee just voted 4-1 in favor of Chief McManus, with the yes votes being me, Council President Ostrow, Council Member Paul Zerby and Council Member Natalie Johnson Lee. Council member Robert Lilligren voted no.
I know people have a lot of interest in the "horse race" issue here...how are the votes coming, who's changing, etc. That's understandable. But most of the council members were pressed into taking a position on this before they even had a chance to meet Chief McManus. I didn't arrive at this choice overnight, I had a chance to have several face to face meetings and the council members deserve the space to do that, too. I'm not going to be pushing hard for people to change today and instead hope the whole community can stand back from the vote question to get to know the Chief. I'm confident that when they do they will know we have a great leader for the police department. R.T. Rybak ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I began the process of selecting a new Chief of Police for Minneapolis by listening to people in our community talk about what they expect from the Police Department and from the Chief in particular....first by doorknocking throughout the city, and then through my two years in office. Based on this input, I drafted a set of community expectations that have guided the entire search process. We received additional input at a public hearing and from the Advisory Committee we assembled to assist with the evaluation of candidates. These five expectations formed the structure for the questions they asked each of the finalists, and were the framework for the input I received from the Committee. They are the objective basis for the selection of my nominee, Chief William McManus. As we approach the formal process of action by the Executive Committee and City Council on this key appointment, I want to return to the community expectations that have guided this very public process, and summarize how I believe Chief McManus uniquely meets these expectations. 1. Maintain Public Safety: The number-one job of the Chief and every police officer is to keep Minneapolis safe. Starting as a beat cop and working his way up to Chief of Police, Chief McManus has been on the front lines of crime fighting in some of the toughest neighborhoods in the country. Some highlights of his work illustrate the effectiveness of his approach. In Dayton, Chief McManus developed and implemented a geographically-targeted community policing model that resulted in significant reductions in crime in less than two years. He worked with residents and community leaders to focus on five chronic call locations in each district, resulting in crime and call reductions of between 16 and 39 percent. "You can't arrest away nuisance crimes," McManus said during his Committee interview, "you have to work with the community." His holistic approach included training for community members, officers from surrounding jurisdictions and the Sheriff's department, as well as the restructuring the Police Department and tough enforcement. Overall, the policing model he implemented in Dayton helped reduce violent crime citywide by approximately 10 percent and property crime by approximately 6 percent in 2003 alone. 2. Strong Leader: The Chief must hold officers accountable, reward exceptional performers and deliver immediate consequences for those who step over the line. In Dayton, Chief McManus proved himself an effective leader and change agent by establishing clear performance expectations and holding officers accountable. In one high-profile incident, he fired an officer who struck an injured, minority suspect with his gun during an arrest. But strong personal leadership is only effective when it is respected and followed by the rank-and-file. The high marks McManus receives for improved police-community relations in Dayton demonstrate that he successfully created change - not just at the top, or within a particular command - but throughout the department and out in the community. As a career professional who worked his way up from beat cop to top-cop, McManus has demonstrated exactly the combination of street smarts and command presence I believe we need here in Minneapolis. 3. Strong Manager: The $100 million police budget needs innovative, efficient management with measurable outcomes. As Assistant Chief in Washington, DC, McManus managed 1,000 sworn officers and a $77 million operating budget within a total force of 3,800 sworn officers and budget of $300 million. (By comparison, Minneapolis currently has 781 sworn officers.) As Police Chief in Dayton, he has gained crucial executive-level experience during a very challenging period, managing fiscal, labor- and police-community-relations issues. In addition to implementing community-oriented policing in Dayton, Chief McManus initiated STARCAPPS, a strategic tracking and analysis response system, which allows the department to deploy resources efficiently and to establish and track measurable outcomes. He also moved to control spiraling overtime costs, saving 10 positions by cutting court overtime by 38% last year. 4. Demand Respectful, Consistent Service in all Communities: This work must include aggressively diversifying the department. Building on 27 years of experience in Washington, DC, Chief McManus was recruited to Dayton specifically to improve police relations with the city's African-American community (45% of the population). To accomplish this, McManus established a citizen's Advisory Board and an internal Policy Review Committee to provide feedback on issues regarding officer accountability and race relations. McManus had worked with similar groups while in DC. He restructured the executive command staff - which had no minority representation or gender diversity - to reflect diversity in two-thirds of its members. Chief McManus supports our recently signed mediation agreement and is eager to lead its implementation. In fact, he described some of the measures as "overdue" and expressed surprise that they were not already in place. He sees strong police-community relations as fundamental to effective policing, citing as one example an initiative in DC where he worked closely with community leaders and African-American clergy to reduce gang-related violence in the tough North Capitol Street corridor. 5. Visible Leader who Builds Partnerships with the Community: The Chief and the force s/he commands should empower all members of the community who want to continue to build a safer city. Chief McManus' record in Dayton speaks for itself. In just two years, he has taken a Police Department that was at odds with a large sector of its community and transformed it into a model of police-community partnership. This is one reason for the strong response in support of Chief McManus' nomination from so many local community leaders. His work in DC also gave him extensive experience building partnerships with Federal law-enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Authority and the FBI. In the short time he has spent in Minneapolis, Chief McManus has already demonstrated a high level of comfort with being available and visible - in all parts of our community - in the role of Police Chief. We have been fortunate to have a strong pool of finalists for this position, including two internal candidates for whom I have enormous admiration and respect, and who I believe should continue to play major roles in the leadership of the department. We have also been fortunate to have a highly engaged citizen's Advisory Committee to provide community input on the expectations that should guide our selection process, and on the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates themselves, as measured against the expectations outlined above. In the end, it came down to demonstrated ability to meet our expectations. While each of the finalists has demonstrated competence in some areas (and all have the potential to demonstrate success in the future) Chief McManus is the single candidate whose track record shows that he can deliver the results we need to provide public safety during a particularly challenging period of time in Minneapolis. He has done it in DC and in Dayton. That is why I am confident that Chief William McManus will not only meet but will exceed the community's expectations as Minneapolis' next Chief of Police. REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
