Police Chief O’Hara: Officer Jamal Mitchell was exceptional, but he was not the exception

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The recent ambush murder of Minneapolis police officer Jamal Mitchell brought back a phrase I often hear when an officer is killed in the line of duty.

Why is it that we always lose the good ones?

I agree wholeheartedly that officer Mitchell was one of the good ones. He joined policing after the killing of George Floyd with a desire to join a new generation of officers that wanted to be part of positive change. On his third day as a sworn officer, Mitchell ran into a burning building to save two elderly people.

When asked by a reporter if he’d been trained to run toward fire, he said no but that officers are trained to put others’ lives before their own. That’s what he did again on May 30, when he answered what would be his final call — gunned down by a man he was simply trying to help.

Mitchell represented all that is good about Minneapolis police officers and police officers everywhere.

Many people in Minneapolis don’t believe that to be true, which is unfortunate. In the city where George Floyd was killed, the people who serve in our Police Department don’t have the luxury of deference. We must prove every day that our department is filled with more Jamal Mitchells than Derek Chauvins.

After thorough investigations by both state and federal authorities, we are working through consent decrees, and I have also initiated a long list of new policies, procedures and practices that I believe will help rebuild trust in the MPD. I’m confident in the outstanding men and women who serve in our department, and I know we’re making progress rebuilding a department that all our residents can be proud of.

But we also need to acknowledge that the profession has been ambushed by a proliferation of attacks on law enforcement over the last several years, with 11 killings of law enforcement officers over the last 14 months in the Midwest alone.

When I reflect on this disturbing trend, I can’t help thinking about how we as a community and society have become too accepting of the negative narrative around policing. Words have meaning, and when we paint every police officer with a broad brush, we become more narrow-minded. We become ignorant of fact and reality.

Over the past few years, the diverse group of human beings who remain in policing — or who chose to come to policing after 2020 like Mitchell — have too often been maligned by those who do not know them personally or have any concept of what they do for the benefit of community every single day.

I’m grateful for the incredible outpouring of support from people who never met Mitchell. For those of us who were fortunate to have known him, I can tell you Mitchell rose to every challenge. He was a go-to guy in his squad whenever the sergeant needed someone to come in early or to stay late. He was respectful and had a friendly demeanor and excellent people skills.

I can say with 100% confidence he wasn’t anything like the negative caricature of police that is prevalent today.

In the end, two things can be true at the same time. The Minneapolis Police Department still has work to do, and the lack of any nuance in the rhetoric around police is putting our officers in danger. I hope you will join me in lowering the temperature while I pledge a continued commitment to raising the bar on policing in Minneapolis.