Janeé Harteau Sworn in as Police Chief
Hundreds attend as Minneapolis’ 52nd chief receives badge from 13-year-old daughter
New chief pledges commitment, integrity and transparency for “MPD 2.0”
December 4, 2012 (MINNEAPOLIS) — Janeé Harteau was sworn in today as Minneapolis’ 52nd chief of police.
Chief Harteau was pinned with the chief’s badge by her 13-year old daughter, Lauren, at a ceremony that 300 people attended in the City Hall Rotunda. Video highlights of the ceremony are available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNrrMqrV_SQ.
Mayor R.T. Rybak said, “This job needs someone to command a rank from the top and lead officers. That’s an inside job. The job also requires someone who can go inside the community, who can understand pain and suffering and celebration in the community with the experience and the perspective of those from the outside.
“In Chief Harteau, we have chosen someone who understands both those perspectives very well. She has come up through our department: she started as a beat cop and at every step of the way through our department, including challenges she faced in our department, she has succeeded and has risen to the top. But we also know her as a person whose character and experience will always allow her to see the perspective of those who don’t feel included, who feel left out, who need reform and change.
“She will be tough and she will be compassionate. That’s the person that I’ve come to know and believe we can count on every day.
“Today, we have chosen a person to lead our department who at every step of the way — walking through this department on the streets and in the corridors of power — has shown that our new top cop is a real top cop.”
Mayor Rybak’s full remarks as prepared for delivery are available at http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/mayor/news/speeches/WCMS1P-101331.
Asking, “What kind of chief will I be?” Chief Harteau said, “I believe in top-down accountability. I believe in leading from the front and leading by example. I will always stand up and do what I believe is right — even when I stand alone.
“We must continue to do great things, but equally importantly, we must use greatness while doing them. The Minneapolis police department must become a values-driven department grounded in both professionalism and service. It must and will begin with me.”
Chief Harteau pledged that her key values, and the key values of what she termed “MPD 2.0,” will be commitment, integrity and transparency.
Chief Harteau continued, “No one achieves any level of greatness on their own. It is because of many of you here now that I stand before you today. I thank Mayor Rybak, the City Council and my family for their faith and support. I thank everyone who supported me, questioned me, mentored me, doubted me, praised me and challenged me to become better — but most importantly inspired me to get here.”
City Council President Barbara Johnson said, “I look at the remarkable journey of women in our police department and feel a special affinity for Janeé and women like her. It really is a testament to their strength and integrity to be able to join them today in celebrating the first woman police chief in Minneapolis.
“Janeé has risen through the ranks and has been tested time after time in some of the hardest jobs. It is a remarkable journey that she has undertaken and I thank her for being willing now to take on the hardest job in our city. I know she will stand up to the test and lead this remarkable police department that is filled with men and women who do a remarkable job every day.”
Council Member Don Samuels, chair of the Public Safety, Civil Rights and Health Committee, said, “We are on the edge of a new era. Over the eight years that I have been chair of the Public Safety Committee, we have been pushing to create a more diverse, community-oriented, ethical, flexible and open police department, and we’ve moved successfully toward that ideal.
“Today, in swearing in Janeé Harteau, we are making a quantum leap in modernizing the police department in all of these areas. We are passing the mantle of leadership to a new generation that epitomizes the best all of our aspirations as a city and a community.”
Along with many rank-and-file police officers and leaders, the following leaders of Minnesota’s public-safety community attended Chief Harteau’s swearing-in ceremony today:
· St. Cloud Police Chief Blair Anderson
· Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Police Chief Linda Bergstrom
· Ramsey County Attorney John Choi
· Retired Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan
· Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mona Dohman
· Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman
· Metro Transit Police Chief John Harrington
· University of Minnesota Police Chief Greg Hestness
· United States Attorney B. Todd Jones
· United States Marshall Sharon Lubinski
· Duluth Police Chief Gordon Ramsay
· Saint Paul Police Chief Tom Smith
Until January 1, 2013, Harteau is serving as Acting Chief as she completes the final month of the term of former Chief Tim Dolan. She will begin her full, 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.
Harteau, who is of French Canadian and Native American descent, is the first woman to lead the Minneapolis Police Department.
###
Published Dec. 4, 2012