Mayor Rybak, City Council Approve Janeé Harteau as Police Chief
Swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday to follow today’s unanimous City Council vote
November 30, 2012 (MINNEAPOLIS) — Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak today signed the City Council’s unanimous confirmation of Mayor Rybak’s nomination of Assistant Police Chief Janeé Harteau as Minneapolis’ new chief of police.
Chief Harteau will be formally sworn in on Tuesday, December 4 at 12:30 p.m., in a ceremony in the City Hall Rotunda.
Mayor Rybak said, “Janeé Harteau rose through the department from a beat cop at Chicago and Franklin to the top job, and her experience in our communities has deeply molded her values and vision. She knows that Minneapolis needs someone who can build on our success in making our city dramatically safer while moving our work even farther upstream, with even greater openness and transparency.
“Chief Harteau is a strong, inspiring leader who knows how to bring out the best in everyone. I am confident she will lead a very good department into being a great one,” Mayor Rybak continued.
City Council President Barbara Johnson said, “I respect Janeé Harteau for being a pioneer in the era when women officers were finally integrated into direct patrol, others of whom have also gone on to great success. She has shown that she possesses unique leadership abilities that will serve our department and our city well, and that women can do any job in law enforcement and do it well. It’s a proud day for Minneapolis that Chief Harteau is assuming our top rank.”
Council Member Don Samuels, chair of the Public Safety, Civil Rights and Health Committee, said, “I am proud that we have created a culture where an ethical, creative, community-oriented woman of color who is a change maker can rise to be the chief of our police department.”
Harteau, who is of French Canadian and Native American descent, is the first woman to lead the Minneapolis Police Department.
From December 1, 2012 through January 1, 2013, Harteau will serve as Acting Chief as she completes the final month of the term of former Chief Tim Dolan, whose retirement is effective today. She will begin her three-year term as chief on January 2, 2013.
About Chief Janeé Harteau
Janeé Harteau joined the Minneapolis Police Department as an officer in 1987, at age 22. She has worked on the street in north, south and downtown Minneapolis, and has served in the narcotics, organized crime and license investigation units, among others.
From 2006–2009, she served as inspector of the 1st Precinct in downtown Minneapolis, where she advanced public/private partnerships that led to the formalization of the Downtown SafeZone Collaborative and the Downtown Courtwatch program that received national recognition with the 2009 Community Policing award from the International Association of Chiefs of Police. As 1st Precinct inspector, she also implemented the position of Somali Liaison Officer and improved relations with the Somali community in Cedar-Riverside.
Former Chief Tim Dolan named Harteau deputy chief of the Patrol Bureau in 2009 and assistant chief in 2010. She is a member of the Major City Chiefs Association, the Police Executive Research Forum and the International Association of Chiefs of Police, among other professional affiliations.
Her community service includes her current service on the boards of YouthLink, a nonprofit that serves homeless youth, and the Downtown Improvement District, and past service on the boards of Big Brothers, Big Sisters and the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce.
Harteau holds a bachelor’s degree in Police Science and a master’s degree in Public Safety Administration, both from St. Mary’s University. She is also a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Police Staff and Command. She is an instructor at both institutions.
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Published Nov. 30, 2012