The Minneapolis Police Department is reorganizing and splitting into two bureaus, with one of the divisions tasked with rebuilding the public trust.
"For the first time in decades, we are able to change the structure and the leadership of the Minneapolis Police Department," said Police Chief Brian O'Hara, according to KARE-TV. "This change today is historic and I am excited to be able to roll this out."
The split was unanimously approved by the Minneapolis City County on Thursday. The new setup is part of the city's agreement with Minnesota's human rights department to make "transformational changes" to the police department.
Under the new arrangement, one bureau will handle patrols, investigations and overall police operations, and the other bureau will be community oriented. Each bureau will have its own assistant chief, and those positions will be filled internally, according to O'Hara.
"Everything that our residents have been through as well as our officers have been through over the last three years, I'm looking for people who have deep connections to our community, that understand the resiliency of our officers, that understand the real desire for progress and change," said O'Hara. "I will be finalizing those candidates in the coming days."
In the next two weeks, the department also will be holding community listening sessions, which are required as part of the agreement.
"That's something I believe we need to be doing anyway because we have not done anything to sufficiently address the hurt, the trauma, to begin to heal," said O'Hara.
