Minneapolis is searching for a new police chief after a sudden resignation at the top of one of the country’s most scrutinized departments. The departure comes at a delicate moment for a city still trying to rebuild trust in policing and carry out court-ordered reforms.
Resignation follows mayor’s announcement of disciplinary action
Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara resigned on Tuesday, May 26, after Mayor Jacob Frey said an outside investigation found that O’Hara interfered with an earlier inquiry into allegations about his conduct. Frey said he informed O’Hara that disciplinary action was forthcoming, potentially including termination, and that the chief chose to step down instead. The mayor described the decision as necessary to preserve public trust in the department and in City Hall.
According to the written reprimand released by the city, the outside investigation found that O’Hara knowingly deleted a contact card for a city employee from his city-issued cellphone during the original investigation. Investigators said that action was taken in an attempt to shield evidence of his connection to the employee. The reprimand also said O’Hara disclosed to another city employee that his city-issued phone had been taken as part of the investigation, despite explicit instructions not to discuss the matter.
The underlying allegations in the original investigation were not substantiated. Investigators concluded there was not sufficient evidence to prove claims that O’Hara had engaged in sexually intimate relationships with city employees. But the mayor said the chief’s conduct during the process, rather than the unproven underlying accusations, created the breach of trust that made continued service untenable.
Frey emphasized that the issue was not secondary or technical. In remarks reported by multiple outlets, he said trust is central to the chief’s job and that he believed the city had to move forward. The mayor’s office also said 17 other complaints involving O’Hara remain open and will continue to be investigated separately, though officials have not publicly detailed their nature.
Findings intensify pressure on a department already under reform orders
O’Hara’s resignation lands heavily in Minneapolis because he was hired in late 2022 to help lead the police department through one of the most difficult reform periods in its history. He arrived from Newark, New Jersey, with experience in a city that had also faced federal oversight and was seen by city leaders as a figure capable of managing both institutional change and day-to-day public safety demands.
The Minneapolis Police Department has been under extraordinary scrutiny since the May 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis officer, an event that triggered global protests and a sweeping reckoning over race and policing. In 2023, the Minnesota Department of Human Rights and the city reached a court-enforceable agreement requiring transformational changes to address race-based policing. That same year, the U.S. Justice Department said it had found civil rights violations by the department and the city and moved toward a federal consent decree process.
Those overlapping reform efforts have made the police chief’s credibility particularly important. The written reprimand issued by Frey underscored that point directly, saying Minneapolis police are working to re-establish trust with the public and that the chief is held to a uniquely high standard. The letter said O’Hara’s actions showed poor judgment and made it extraordinarily difficult for him to continue effectively in the role.
The timing adds to the sense of upheaval. Frey had only recently renominated O’Hara for a second term, presenting him as a leader who had helped stabilize staffing and reduce crime. Supporters of the chief pointed to gains in officer hiring and to declines in violent crime during his tenure. But the investigation’s findings abruptly changed the political and administrative calculus, turning what had looked like a confirmation fight into an immediate vacancy at the top of the department.
Allegations were unproven, but interference finding proved decisive
A central feature of the case is the distinction between the original allegations and the later finding that O’Hara interfered with the inquiry. The outside investigators concluded on May 26 that there was not enough evidence to substantiate allegations of sexually intimate relationships with city employees. That conclusion might have closed the matter on the most explosive claims.
Instead, the second issue became decisive. The city’s disciplinary letter said the chief interfered with the original investigation in two ways: by deleting a contact tied to a city employee from his work phone and by discussing the investigation with another employee after being ordered not to. City officials treated those acts as serious misconduct because they risked compromising the integrity of a formal inquiry into the city’s top law enforcement officer.
That distinction matters politically as well as legally. For critics of the department, the case reinforces long-running concerns that police leaders and officers are treated differently when misconduct questions arise. For Frey, the finding offered a factual basis for action after weeks of pressure from opponents who said he moved too slowly when complaints first surfaced. The mayor responded that he could not act on rumors or anonymous accusations alone and needed a completed investigation before taking a step as serious as removing the chief.
O’Hara did not publicly give a detailed, personal account of the allegations themselves in the immediate aftermath. But his attorney, Doug Kelley, issued a statement arguing that the circumstances of the chief’s departure should not define his service. Kelley said O’Hara was proud to have served Minneapolis, pointed to progress made under his leadership, and said the former chief looked forward to returning to his family in New Jersey. That defense is likely to shape how allies frame his tenure even as opponents focus on the reprimand and resignation.
Political fallout spreads across City Hall as replacement search begins
The resignation immediately reopened political fault lines at Minneapolis City Hall, where policing has remained one of the city’s most divisive issues since 2020. On Wednesday, City Council members used a news conference on O’Hara’s exit to criticize Frey’s management of the department and the broader public safety structure. Progressive council members argued that the resignation reflected deeper problems in oversight and leadership rather than an isolated failure by one official.
Frey pushed back, saying he acted promptly once he received the completed investigative report. He maintained that decisions of this magnitude must be based on evidence, not speculation, and said he would work with the council on the next steps. Even so, the mayor now faces the difficult task of finding a successor who can win political support, command the department internally and retain public credibility in a city where every policing decision is intensely contested.
Experts quoted in national coverage said the challenge of leading Minneapolis has been unusually severe. By the time O’Hara arrived, the department had suffered years of low morale, officer departures and broken trust with large parts of the community. Police reform specialists noted that outside hires often face resistance from within a department while simultaneously having to prove themselves to residents and elected officials. In Minneapolis, those pressures have been magnified by the legacy of Floyd’s killing, reform mandates and frequent clashes between the mayor and council.
The transition could be especially sensitive because the city is still implementing major oversight measures while trying to rebuild police ranks. Supporters of O’Hara have argued that he helped increase staffing from post-2020 lows and improved recruitment. But those gains, if they hold, now risk being overshadowed by the sudden nature of his departure and by questions about who will guide the next phase of reform.
O’Hara leaves behind a mixed legacy in a city still under strain
O’Hara’s tenure was marked by both measurable progress claimed by supporters and recurring controversy that never fully let up. Backers credited him with helping the department recover from severe staffing losses and with overseeing declines in violent crime after earlier spikes. Frey, when renominating him earlier in May, said the number of officers had climbed from about 550 to more than 640 and that applications to join the department had risen sharply.
Yet O’Hara also led the department through a series of politically charged crises that kept Minneapolis in the national spotlight. In recent months, the city faced tensions around a federal immigration crackdown, and O’Hara drew criticism from different directions over how local police responded. Earlier waves of violence and high-profile shootings had already kept public safety at the center of civic debate, leaving little room for the chief to build consensus in a deeply polarized environment.
His departure therefore leaves more than an administrative vacancy. It raises fresh questions about whether Minneapolis can sustain momentum on reform while also maintaining leadership stability in a department that remains central to the city’s recovery. The next chief will inherit not only ongoing court-enforceable reform obligations, but also a public that is sharply divided over what success in policing should look like and how accountability should be enforced.
For now, the immediate facts are clear. On May 26, 2026, Minneapolis lost its police chief after an outside investigation found he interfered with a misconduct inquiry into his own conduct, even though the underlying allegations were not substantiated. In a city where trust in law enforcement has been repeatedly fractured, that finding was enough to end his tenure and set off another pivotal chapter in Minneapolis’s long and unsettled struggle over policing.
