Minneapolis police appoint civilians to lead internal affairs, constitutional policing bureaus

In what the city is calling a “significant milestone,” the Minneapolis Police Department has appointed civilians to two high-ranking positions leading bureaus that focus on officer conduct and rebuilding community trust.

On Monday, Ayodele Famodu was introduced as chief of the Internal Affairs Bureau, and Ganesha Martin as chief of the Constitutional Policing Bureau — the first time civilians have held such high-ranking positions for the department.

At a news conference with the new appointees, Chief Brian O’Hara said it was his decision to pick civilians for these two positions, and not something outlined in the pending federal consent decree to reform Police Department policies.

“I’ve wanted to have the ability to appoint civilian, professional staff on the executive level outside of operations — so not over patrol and criminal investigation — but over the other areas where civilian professional staff can bring a higher level of expertise than what may be available among the sworn staff,” O’Hara said.

He said the move was also based on the example of other police departments that have hired executive-level civilian staff such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

The two bureaus were created in 2023 by O’Hara, when he restructured the department and its leadership. He noted at the time that the bureaus’ focus is not on police operations but on officer conduct and the rebuilding of community trust.

O’Hara added Monday that he wanted to provide a better career path for the many civilian employees in the Police Department, giving them an opportunity for higher levels of responsibility.

She also led Baltimore’s federal court-ordered consent decree reform efforts from 2015 to 2018, which was spurred by the death of Freddie Gray, who suffered a spinal injury in the back of a Baltimore police van while in police custody.

While with Baltimore police, Martin would be sent to cities such as Seattle, New Orleans and Los Angeles to learn ways to improve Baltimore’s department. Many of those places had civilians in executive roles, she said.

“I’m hoping that all the things that I learned, both internal to the Police Department and at BPD during a historic time there as well, [that] I can apply those same skills and experience,” she said.

Martin said she will work to ensure the department is staffed and equipped so it can achieve the requirements laid out both in the pending federal consent decree, and in the settlement agreement between the city and the state. A state investigation found a pattern or practice of race discrimination in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act.

She described the endeavor as balancing two things: “Making sure you’re bringing those evidence-based best practices here, but also not hindering the Police Department so much that they can’t actually do their job.”

She will oversee all internal investigations and guide the Internal Affairs division, Force Investigations team and candidate investigations “in maintaining the highest standards of accountability, transparency, and professional conduct,” according to the announcement.

Speaking Monday, Famodu said she’s been in her role for about a month, and that the department is “almost all the way through” the “large” backlog of complaints made regarding Minneapolis police by residents or internal submissions.

She said the reduction of the backlog would be detailed further in a report this week from Effective Law Enforcement for All, the nonprofit overseeing the implementation of the reforms laid out in the consent decree.

Michelle Phelps, a professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, said it’s notable that Minneapolis police are adding civilians in these leadership positions.

“Police departments tend to be pretty insular, and while they have many non-uniformed staff in administrative positions, leadership roles are rarer,” Phelps said.

Several internal promotions were also announced Monday: