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Description
Minneapolis tus Tuam Thawj Tub Ceev Xwm Brian O’Hara koom sibtham txog nws lub tswvyim tswjfwm pejxeem kev nyab xeeb.
Michael Yang Show, City Mpls, with Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara.
A
A
B
B
B
Police
Department
and
welcome
to
Chief
O'hara
to
Hmong
radio
wixk,
please
introduce
yourself
and
if
you
could
please
let
us
know,
you've
been
in
your
position
as
the
leader
of
the
police
department,
since
November
7
2022
for
those
that
may
not
have
the
opportunity
and
it
did
not
have
the
opportunity
to
go
into
your
one
of
your
community
meet
and
greet
sessions.
Could
you
tell
us
a
little
bit
about
yourself
who
you
are?
C
Well,
thank
you
Michael.
It's
it's
good
to
see
you
again
since
I've
I've
been
in
Minneapolis,
I
have
been
trying
to
get
around
to
meet
as
many
people
in
community
as
possible,
including
meeting
members
of
the
Hmong
Community,
the
Hmong
18
Council,
and
some
of
the
elders
who
I
got
to
meet
about
two
weeks
ago
at
the
new
dragon
Hall
in
in
Saint
Paul,
so
I'm
from
Newark
New
Jersey
I
was
a
Newark
police
officer
for
21
years.
C
I
was
the
public
safety
director
in
Newark,
which
means
that
I
oversaw
the
police
department,
the
Fire,
Department
emergency
management
and
9-1-1,
and
then
at
the
end
of
my
career,
I
was
the
deputy
mayor
for
the
city
of
Newark.
So
Newark
is
a
city
that
has
had
similar
historical
challenges
to
what
Minneapolis
faces
today.
C
I
think
the
experiences
that
I've
had
throughout
my
career
in
in
a
similarly
situated
City,
have
made
me
uniquely
qualified
for
the
work
that
needs
to
be
done
in
Minneapolis.
The
work
to
make
people
safer
make
fewer
victims
of
serious
crime
and
make
sure
all
people
feel
that
they
can
trust
the
police
department
in
many
Minneapolis
so
specific
to
Hmong
Community.
C
What
we
came
out
of
that
last
meeting
we're
going
to
be
working
towards
implementing
an
mou
between
the
police,
chief
and
and
hmong
Community
Elders,
as
well
as
reinstituting,
a
police,
Community
Public
Safety
Academy
specific
for
Hmong
communities.
So
those
are
some
of
the
things
that
we've
been
working
on
here.
B
You
already
talked
a
lot
a
little
bit
about
it
share
with
us
your
experience
in
meeting
among
elders
and
leaders
to
on
November
7th
two
weeks
ago.
How
does
it
feel,
knowing
that
the
Hmong
Community
had
these
elders
and
leaders
that
are
committed
to
work
with
you
and
what
does
that
feel
like
for
you,
Chief
Thomas,.
C
The
thing
personally
that
was
so
striking
to
me
is
just
meeting
so
many
Elders
who
emigrated
to
the
United
States
after
fighting
for
freedom
on
behalf
of
the
United
States
during
the
Vietnam
war
in
in
Laos
and
other
places.
So
that
was
personally
very
impactful
to
me
and
just
the
incredible
sense
of
Pride
that
so
many
and
thanks
and
thankfulness
gratefulness
that
so
many
Elders
had
for
the
United
States
after
you
know,
having
put
their
lives
on
the
line
for
us.
C
So
that
was
very
strong
and
just
overall
all
it's
very
striking
to
me
how
much
respect
that
there
is
in
in
Hmong,
Community
and
and
it's
so.
It's
so
important
to
have
Community
that,
like
that,
that
structured
like
that,
because
that
that
enables
us
to
have
a
stronger
impact
on
Public
Safety
on
keeping
people
safe,
because,
obviously
it's
not
just
police
that
are
able
to
prevent
crime
and
solve
crime.
C
D
B
B
C
So
as
much
as
there
are
many
similarities
with
the
larger
issues
around
serious
crime,
violence
and
also
building
trust
with
Community,
there's,
there's
many
differences
here.
There's
cultural
differences
with
how
the
city
government
operates
here,
there's
cultural
differences
with
how
the
police
department
operates
and
how
the
two
operate
together,
and
so
that
is
always
a
challenge
for
me
every
day,
because
there
are
structural
things
in
place
that
make
reform
that
make
fighting
crime
that
make
recruiting
that
make
all
of
these
important
things
more
difficult.
C
So
that
is
a
challenge.
It's
identifying
barriers
in
the
way
of
us,
accomplishing
our
mission
and
being
able
to
figure
out
ways
to
remove
some
of
those
barriers
to
help
bridge
the
gaps
and
bring
the
department
where
people
want
it
to
be.
The
other
challenge
is
it
just
simply
take
takes
time.
You
know
we
need
to
shift
the
culture
of
the
Minneapolis
Police
Department.
C
We
need
the
police
department
to
be
able
to
rebuild
and
grow
and
get
better,
but
it,
but
it
is
certainly
a
challenge,
and
it
is
something
that
won't
happen
overnight.
I
think
many
of
the
problems
that
we've
gotten
into
we
have
some
of
the
highest
levels
of
crime
that
the
city
has
seen
in
a
generation
in
more
than
20
years.
At
the
same
time,
we
have
some
of
the
lowest
level
of
police
officers
in
decades.
C
So
it's
a
challenge
to
figure
out
ways
on
how
to
reduce
crime
and
rebuild
the
police
department
in
the
way
that
Community
wants
to
see
it.
But
I
think
it's
important
for
people
to
remember
that
we
didn't
get
into
this
situation
overnight
and
so
we're
not
going
to
get
out
of
it
overnight.
But
those
are
the
largest
challenges,
identifying
keeping
keeping
the
mission
in
focus
and
identifying
the
barriers
that
are
in
the
way
of
addressing
gaps
between
where
we
are
today
and
where
we
want
to
be.
C
But
I
do
feel
confident
that
over
the
next
a
year
from
now,
two
years
from
now
three
years
from
now,
I
will
be
able
to
the
the
people
of
this
city
will
be
able
to
say
that
they
feel
safer,
that
there
are
fewer
victims
of
crime
and
that
they
kind
of
have
more
faith
in
the
Minneapolis
Police.
Department.
D
D
B
She
for
her
one
of
the
most
important
issues
and
ongoing
issue
and
concerns
for
the
Minneapolis
resident
is
that
it's
is
the
poor
relationship
between
the
police
department
and
the
community.
Rebuilding
the
public
trust
is
no
easy
test.
You
are
coming
in
not
just
an
outsider
or
a
new
Resident
to
Minneapolis,
but
also
to
the
state
of
Minnesota
and
in
the
plus
20
years
that
you
work
at
Newark
police
department.
Did
you
face
similar
situation
of
loss
in
public
trust
with
the
police
department,
and
if
you
did,
how
did
you
feel?
B
C
So
for
most
of
my
career
as
a
Newark
police
officer,
the
city
had
terrible
relationships.
A
lack
of
relationship
with
many
many
people
in
community
Newark,
newark's
reputation
even
nationally,
is
largely
defined
by
an
uprising
that
happened
54
years
ago
in
response
to
a
cab
driver
being
arrested
and
beaten
by
Newark
police
officers.
And
so
after
that,
26
people
were
murdered
in
the
uprising.
That
happened
and
hundreds
of
people
were
injured
and
they
were
just
even
while
I
was
a
police
officer.
C
They
were
still
just
properties
that
had
been
damaged
in
those
riots
were
still
left,
abandoned
and
vacant
lots
and
the
scars
of
that
very
much
real
for
most
of
my
life
in
most
of
my
career.
So
when
I
began
getting
involved
in
the
reform
effort
in
Newark,
I
was
the
person
person
who
had
to
come
out
into
community
and
organize
Community
meetings
to
have
input
from
Community,
as
the
police
department
moved
forward
to
change,
policies
and
training,
and
so
most
of
the
time,
while
I
was
doing
that
work.
C
People
were
just
angry
and
voiced
that
at
me,
because
they
were
angry
at
the
police
department
for
all
these
years,
and
so
what
happened
during
that
process
was
people
saw
that
we
were
serious
about
trying
to
make
change
that,
even
though
we
would
come
have
a
meeting
and
people
would
just
yell
the
entire
time.
We
would
still
keep
coming
back.
C
Keep
coming
back
and
people
began
to
learn
that
we
were
serious
about
making
change,
and
so
today,
after
living
through
that,
where
so
many
people
had
been
protesting,
the
police
for
much
of
their
lives
or
just
hated
the
police.
Many
of
those
people
became
allies
to
the
police
department
and
advocates
for
individual
police
officers
to
have
a
healthier
working
conditions
and,
and
you
know
better,
better
time
off
and
better
training
and
those
sorts
of
things.
C
So
what
I
learned
from
that
is
simply
engaging
and
bringing
people
in
and
giving
people
a
voice
is
very
significant
and
that
can
help
heal
a
lot
of
Old
Wounds.
That
linger
because
of
bad
things.
That
happened
to
police
and
I.
Think
that's
the
only
way
forward.
I
think
that's!
That's
the
way
that
we
will
have
to
go
forward
as
we
eventually
have
Court
mandates
to
reform
the
police
department
in
Minneapolis.
C
There
are
plenty
of
bad
things
that
have
happened
here
just
like
there's
bad
things
that
have
happened
in
policing
across
the
country,
but
I
think
going
forward.
We
have
to
dedicate
more
time
more
energy
to
try
and
engage
with
our
community
in
non-law
enforcement
ways,
particularly
with
young
people
in
our
community,
so
that
we
can
have
some
sense
of
building
trust
and,
in
some
cases,
building
relationships
with
people
that
never
existed
here
before.
B
See
if
I'm
I'm
going
to
ask
you
one
more
questions
before
we
go
to
our
interpreter,
because
I
know
that
you
have
to
leave
really
in
at
2
30.
My
my
next
question
to
you
is:
how
do
you
see
now
as
the
new
Chief?
How
do
you
see
MPD
in
Minneapolis
police
department,
improving
how
to
better
serve
all
its
residents,
and
especially
the
the
Hmong
resident
in
this
in
in
the
City
of
Minneapolis.
C
I
think
that's
an
incredible
challenge,
but
I
think
it's
it's
Central
to
our
mission.
I'm
sure
most
people
know
that
many
hundreds
of
officers
have
left
the
police
department
in
Minneapolis
over
the
last
three
years,
so
as
the
department
has
gotten
smaller
at
the
same
time,
the
level
of
crime
has
risen
dramatically.
We
have
fewer
and
fewer
officers
available
to
to
do
the
most
basic
functions
of
the
police
department
to
respond
to
9-1-1
and
to
investigate
serious
crime.
C
C
People
who
grew
up
in
cities
to
become
police
officers.
We
are
going
to
be
working
to
remove
those
barriers
and
to
find
ways
to
bring
more
residents
onto
the
police
department,
because
we
believe,
if
we're
able
to
get
more
people
who
have
a
deeper
connection
to
the
city,
then
we
will
be
able
to
have
more
officers.
You
know
who
will
be
better
prepared
and
better
able
to
police
are
all
of
our
communities
here
with
the
love
and
respect
that
they
deserve.
B
Chief,
thank
you
so
much
for
your
time.
I
know
you're
busy
you
gotta
leave
at
2.
30.
I
took
one
of
you
a
minute
with
your
time.
Thank
you.
So
much
for
coming
in
God
bless
you.
We
trust
in
you
and
we
look
forward
to
working
in
in
partnership
with
you,
the
Hmong
community.
That
is,
and
thank
you
so
much
for
coming
on
among
radio.
Thank
you
so
much
good
to
see
you.
Yes,
sir.