Minneapolis police chief resigns after probe into misconduct interference

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara resigned Tuesday night after Mayor Jacob Frey said an internal investigation found O'Hara interfered with a prior probe into allegations that he had sexual intimate relationships with city employees.

Frey said the underlying allegations were not substantiated, but investigators concluded O'Hara likely knowingly and intentionally deleted a contact card from his city-issued cellphone to obscure evidence tied to the inquiry. The report also said he discussed the investigations with city employees after being told not to do so. Frey said he had planned discipline, up to and including discharge, before O'Hara resigned. “Trust is not secondary to the job, it is the job,” Frey said.

Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell will serve as acting police chief effective immediately, stepping into a department that is still facing 17 open complaints against O'Hara separate from the probe that prompted his resignation. Those complaints will continue to be investigated, according to the mayor’s office, keeping pressure on City Hall to show that the oversight process is more than a personnel reset.

The resignation carried added political weight because Frey had renominated O'Hara earlier this month and said he was the right leader for the moment. That endorsement collapsed within days into one of the clearest tests yet of Frey’s handling of public safety leadership, especially as Minneapolis remains under scrutiny over whether it can rebuild confidence in police command after years of turmoil.

O'Hara had been sworn in as chief in November 2022 after serving as deputy mayor and public safety director in Newark, New Jersey. He took over while Minneapolis was still living with the aftermath of George Floyd’s 2020 killing, the federal push to overhaul police training and use-of-force policies, and a broader national reckoning over policing. Since then, he has led the department through major flashpoints, including the law-enforcement response to the August 2025 Annunciation Catholic School shooting and recent scrutiny during the federal immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.

His exit now raises a sharper question than who leads the department next: whether the city’s reform agenda can keep moving when the chief at the center of that effort leaves under the cloud of an interference finding. For Minneapolis, the immediate challenge is not only appointing a replacement, but proving that accountability inside the police department is real enough to restore public confidence.