Sun Up With Sunrise: A Minneapolis Model for Community Safety & Accountability with Police Chief Medaria Arradondo Video Transcript
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Video feed in upper left hand corner. Slides, Sun Up with Sunrise Banks.
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Good morning and welcome, everyone. I’m Terri Banaszewski, with Sunrise Banks. Vice President of business development at the bank. We’re happy to have all of you join us today for this Sun Up with Sunrise ritual breakfast. I’m hoping that by fall we can get back to in-person breakfast events and our great colossal cafe breakfast burritos, which we would all love to have this morning.
Before we get started with the program, I want to give you all a few updates. First of all, our lobbies are open. As of June 1st, we opened our bank lobbies and you do not need to make an appointment to see a banker. However, that does sometimes make things run smoother, so you have the option. It’s great to see clients again in person.
Not all of us are back in the office full-time however, our target date for everyone at Sunrise is now September 13. Masks aren’t required but we do encourage them. Other exciting news, we are planning to host our annual community appreciation barbecue again in 2021. It will be August 19th at our Como location. So stay tuned.
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Slide, Bank Business Updates. Lobbies are open, Juneteenth, SBA Updates, Community Appreciation BBQ is back, Equity Series. Terri Banaszewski, Vice President, Business Development. Rick Beeson, EVP, Corporate Development and Government Relations.
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We typically run it from about 11:00 till 2:00, so plan to take your lunch break with us sometime between those hours and listen to some great music, visit with neighbors and business contacts, and of course, your Sunrise favorite bankers. I have to mention, my horoscope this morning said, “Enjoy schmoozing with others.” So this breakfast comes at a good time. And it also said, “Treat the world with a smile on your face.” so everybody can take that into consideration today.
Other news, Juneteenth has now been recognized as a federal holiday as it should be. Last Saturday we were closed in honor of Juneteenth, a new federal holiday within the United States. Many people living in slavery remained unaware of their freedom for over two years. It wasn’t until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865, that the last Black Americans were finally freed from slavery. Juneteenth is a day for celebration, education, and connection.
We’ve also been holding town hall series during the pandemic and since. As the world’s most socially responsible bank, we do significant community outreach about issues that are challenging our local communities, such as racial equity or protecting the environment. In December 2020, we held a town hall with over 800 registered attendees hosted by WCCO’s Roshini Rajkumar, that welcomed local panelists such as the Head of Diversity for the University of Minnesota, and Tomme Beevas, a local restaurateur who is leading comento relief services to help those impacted by 2020’s civil unrest.
Our second town hall focused on the Path to Equity. And included, Paurvi Bhatt, from the Medtronic foundation, Darryl Thompson, from Boulder options, and Marnita Schroedel from Marnita’s table. So watch for more events like that in the future.
Finally, I wanted to just bring up some SBA updates within the organization. As all of you probably know, the PPP program was done on May 31st after the SBA exhausted all funds that were allocated to the program. Right now, we are processing forgiveness applications and have completed roughly one third of those at this time. When combining draw one and draw two PPP loans, we processed about 3,600 loans for a total of about $344 million. So we got that money into the hands of small business owners in our community.
Right now is the time, if you’re considering expanding, need working capital, or are buying a business or real estate for your company, to work with SBA financing. The SBA has offered enhancements to their regular programs through September 30th, which includes waiving SBA guarantee fees on loans and increasing guarantees to the banks. With the CARES Act, they are also covering the first three months of payments on new loans that are closed before September 30th.
So if you have something you want to acquire and work with us, let’s get going on those SBA loans. Because September 30th, even though we’re just hitting the 1st of July, time goes really fast. So if you need more details on the SBA and its programs, reach out to Chris Albrecht at 651-523-7893. Chris is our Senior Vice President and director of SBA lending. And without further ado, I will turn it over to Rick Beeson. Thank you.
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Rick Beeson appears in video feed.
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Good morning, everyone. And thank you very much Terri for starting off our breakfast. We do expect to have another session in September and we’re always open to suggested topics and speakers. We’ve had President John Gabel, University of Minnesota on earlier. And as Terri said, a two part series on race and equity, which has been well received. And I might mention on the PPP program, the bank originated several thousand of these loans in about 85% of them are under $150,000.
We’re working very closely with both US senators and members of the House to ensure we can get forgiveness done quickly and painlessly for you as small businesses. We know you want those obligations off the books, and we want and we’re pushing hard with our delegation and with the government staff to do that.
So Terri mentioned our mission is to be the most innovative bank empowering financial wellness. And we do seek to radically change the way urban communities thrive by empowering them to achieve their aspirations. So I thought I had seen the slide for a different purpose with the bank, and I wanted to post this up just to let you know some of the certifications that the bank has received. And you could snap a picture of that or let us know if you want a copy.
But
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Slide, Certification slash Affiliations. Community Reinvestment ACT. Outstanding rating since 1996, 25 years. U.S. Treasury Certified Community Development Financial Institution CDFI. CDFI certified since 2001, 20 years, First and only CDFI Bank in Minnesota and in the 9th Federal Reserve District, Historical CDFI and Treasury awards and allocations total over $278 million, Chair of the Community Development Bankers Association CBDA and Board Member 10 years. Global Alliance for Banking on Values. One of the first members in North America, Member since 2021, 9 years. Board Member representing North America and recently named Chair of the Board. B Corp Certification. Certified since 2009, 11 years, first and only B corp bank in Minnesota, Rank in the top 10% of all B Corps in the world for seven consecutive years, Highest ranking B Corp Bank in the world. Logos.
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these are third-party designations, they are difficult to get, and they all go toward the bank’s social responsible focus. We’re not perfect. But these are high-level awards that have really headlined by the Community Reinvestment Act, which we’ve received an outstanding rating for 25 consecutive years. The Community Development Financial Institutions designation allows us to make special financings with new market tax credits and other offerings. The Global Alliance for banking values, because we do take a global as well as local view. So we’re excited about those designations.
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Slide, Minneapolis Police Chief, Medaria Arradondo. Medaria’s video feed appears below Ricks.
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Well, today we’re pleased to have Chief Medaria Arradondo to speak to our customers and friends here at Sunrise. And we take a business perspective of public safety and policing in our great city of Minneapolis. Where we have two vibrant and strategic branches. Chief, we recognize your schedule doesn’t allow many of these public appearances, so we really appreciate the gesture today. Obviously, Sunrise is a major stakeholder of the community with hundreds of millions of dollars invested, including safeguarding thousands of deposit accounts and originating many business loans and home loans.
And normally, we are able to share our ideas and concerns through our chamber memberships, who belong to a number of chambers. They funnel those through and communicate with the city of Minneapolis and local and other government units. But it is helpful to get some direct contact occasionally, and so we really do appreciate this in-person.
Well, to get started Chief, let’s talk a little bit about yourself and your career, and if you had any available time, maybe talk about some personal interests that you have. And we want to get to know you as a person first. So good morning, Chief.
Good morning, Rick. Terri, thank you so much and the Sunrise banking family for having me this morning to have a conversation with you. I’m very honored to be in the space with you this morning. I did not have the breakfast burrito, but I still got a lot of energy here this morning. But thank you for having me.
I’m a product of the city of Minneapolis. My family, born and raised here in Minneapolis. I come from nine siblings, we were a large family. Originally born in North Minneapolis, but at a very early age moved to South Minneapolis over at Central Neighborhood. And so I grew up with the public schools in Minneapolis, a graduate of Minneapolis Roosevelt High School.
And it was right in my college years where I really started to take this interest of, what can I do to give back to the community in terms of service? And the interest of being a peace officer was one that really gravitated towards me. And so I was very fortunate to take that learning and actually apply it, that service work to the city of Minneapolis.
I was part of the first Minneapolis police cadet program back in 1989, where is the year I started my career. And I’ve been so fortunate to serve throughout my career in many different capacities. From patrol officer, 9-1-1 response officer. We worked the neighborhood beat, foot beat, in North Minneapolis. I also was a detective. I served as an internal affairs investigator.
I’ve been able to lead a precinct, the 1st precinct. I’ve served as a commander and different roles as Deputy Chief, Assistant Chief. And then in the fall of 2017, by then Mayor, Betsy Hodges, I was given the opportunity to lead the Minneapolis Police Department. And now, under Mayor Jacob Frey, I’ve been continuing in that role to this day.
Again, I’ve been very blessed to give back and to really be a public servant to the city that really has raised me. And so, that is the work that I’m doing. That is a labor of love and I’m really trying to make sure that everything that we do is positively meaningful, that we are making a difference in the lives of so many, and that also we’re creating a new MPD. There’s obviously been challenges that have occurred here in our city, starting with the Minneapolis Police Department. I have really been trying to lead this work of transformational change. And in creating a new MPD in terms of what our communities would really like to see us in the role that we play in collaboration with them.
As far as personal interests, I’m living here in the state all my life. You may find this as a shock, but I’m not a big fan of cold winters. I love the warmth and the sunshine. And I’m also a music fanatic. I love all genres, all types of music. And so, music is always a soundtrack in my life. So those are some personal things.
Well, great. That’s great to get to know about your illustrious career and your family and your family background. So let’s get into the substance of the meeting today. Obviously, we’ve all been through a lot with the murder of George Floyd. We’ve all been dealing with that and the aftermath.
You announced a plan for public safety and policing for the city. So let’s talk about that. What’s in that plan? What’s the status of it? I assume the plan was underway before Mr. Floyd’s murder. But was the lessons learned incorporated. So let’s start with a forward looking plan that you developed with the mayor’s office and we’ll go from there. Chief.
Yes, Rick. We’ve constantly been looking at how can we best truly serve in collaboration with our communities. And so some of this plan has been based upon making sure that we’re doing those things that we do really well, making sure that we improve upon those and those particular services, but also expanding some of the intricate service details that we do.
Technology
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Slide, Creating a new Minneapolis Police Department. Do no Harm. Harm is defined as causing someone or something to be hurt broken damaged or made less valuable. We, as the Minneapolis Police Department, acknowledge our contribution to both historical and present day trauma. The principle of do no harm provides a guiding light from which all decisions shall flow. Our new Minneapolis Police Department must rest on the solid foundation of Human Rights and be community focused. This vision must be led by bold courageous vulnerable humble and unapologetic leaders forging transformational change now. Our values. Trust, We promise to earn confidence in the ability reliability strength and truth free from suspicion and doubt from those we serve. Accountability, we acknowledge and assume responsibility for our actions decisions and policies. We provide transparency in the obligation to report explain and be answerable for resulting consequences. Professional service, We empathetically address the needs of others and courageously act on ways to help to ensure the safety and peace of our city’s residents businesses and visitors through the selfless action of placing another’s welfare before our own comfort.
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has been a very key piece. Cameras, and being able to have extra sets of eyes to help monitor whether it’s our business corridors, whether it’s our communities in terms of if there are problematic areas. To making sure that we have extra eyes where if people see something, they can say something, they can report that in.
Data is also a huge part of our– Data tells our story for cities around the country certainly, here in Minneapolis. And making sure that we’re collecting the right types of data to help better inform the services that we can deliver for our communities. Another big piece is having the conversations and realizations that we cannot be all things to all people.
And historically, police departments have been asked to do so much in terms of society and trying to solve a lot of issues, whether it be those experiencing homelessness, whether it be addiction issues, and others. And looking at ways that we can help support other alternatives that don’t necessarily require a 9-1-1 response.
And then, also, one of the things that we’ve certainly been, as a profession, Rick, over the many years is there has been a stigma when it has come to– We know that our communities experienced trauma, but we’ve never really as a profession over the years addressed our own employee wellness. Last year, in this profession, we lost so many officers to suicide, as opposed to In the Line of Duty deaths. And so we really, within the Minneapolis Police Department, I’m really doing my best to make sure that we’re working closely, we’re getting resources where health and wellness peer counseling support. We’re trying to break down that stigma so that we can meet our employees where they’re at.
And not only their wellness, but we recognize that their family members come along with them on this journey as well. So really to make sure that we have healthy and well public servants to go out there and meet our communities where they’re at, and really try to get the best outcomes and resolutions as possible. Obviously, a lot of this work requires funding, and so that’s where the mayor steps in and trying to secure budget funding for that.
And then, also, projection. Minneapolis, as you know, and your sunrise bank family knows, it continues to grow. Our population has grown over the last decade. Development in bringing businesses back into our communities. And so as our communities change and evolve, so must, quite frankly, our public safety services as well. And so those are some of the core elements in the plan.
Youth are very important as well. Too oftentimes, they are an invisible population in our community, it’s so important for us to continually engage with our youth or young people to not only have them at the table, but to also make sure that they are really directing some of the framework as to what are those services that they need. And so those are some those are some key pieces.
Lastly, I’ll just say, working with our state legislature on whether it’s reform changes at the state level, whether it’s arbitration, whether it’s a public safety service needs in dollars, those are some of the things that this plan encompasses. And a lot of it is from our community stakeholders.
Well, thank you, Chief. What’s the status of the plan right now? Is it available for public comment, or it’s been approved at this point now?
The plan is in the stages right now of really getting approved and the mayor taking that forward and trying to secure not only other elected government support but also funding for that. But in terms of consent, it’s always an evolving plan in terms of feedback and input is so very important. We never want perfect to be the enemy of the good. And so parts of that we can tweak and listen to community in terms of how we can adjust. We certainly want to continue to do that.
Great, a couple reactions. We are a big believer in data as informing good decision-making and changing behavior. So I’m glad to hear about a focus on that. And also, we’ll come back to the mental health issue. I was going to ask about the folks that you’re encountering on the streets, but mentioning the needs of the officers in that regard are important too. So we’ll come back to that.
Well, there’s an old cliche that businesses vote with their feet. And the businesses invest where they feel that their capital is safe and where obviously crime is a factor in those decisions. What would you say to small businesses right now that would give them the confidence so they can make the long-term decisions that the city needs, Chief.
Yeah, Rick. So I will tell you that public safety, we are part of an ecosystem. There is no way that we can truly have a city or community safety without a lot of different partners stepping up and stepping in to help that. We are certainly meaning the police department, I’m going to make sure that we do all we can to help make sure that our communities are safe, welcoming, and vibrant.
I believe that small businesses are a huge role in that. We have all been dealing with the impacts and the effects of the pandemic. I will tell you that some people were a little shocked when they heard me. I was having a conversation a few months back when Governor Walz made the decision to lift some of the restrictions and allow for the first time 10,000 fans at the Twins’ opening game. While some may say, what is Rondo cheering about the Twins even though our home team, which I appreciate. But having 10,000 visitors down for Twins game downtown means that there’s more people out at restaurants, more people booking our hotel rooms. All of these things help with public safety.
When we were experiencing the depths of the pandemic, and in our downtowns where more folks were working remotely, there wasn’t the hustle and bustle of the light rail stations coming in with commuters in the morning and then leaving at the end of the day for drive time, all of those things truly do play a role in public safety.
Our small businesses are key to our communities, whether it’s giving jobs to folks in our communities, whether it’s after school jobs for high school kids who need it to have good positive activation programming, bringing money back into our economy, all of these things are very key and small businesses are a huge part of that public safety ecosystem. So I’m a champion of that I want to see our small businesses thriving, I want to see our hotel industries thriving. This will really truly help stabilize our city.
I look at cranes. When I see the cranes downtown or in our communities, and businesses are going up, that’s what we need and that’s what we’re going to continue to need to really turn the corner on this pandemic. Turn the corner on some of the violent crime that we’ve experiencing, which is not just here in Minneapolis, but across the nation right now. But I am hopeful and optimistic that small businesses are going to play a key role in our recovery.
Thank you, Chief. Cranes are a sign of optimism, and they are great visual and we love seeing them in the neighborhoods and the corridors as well as downtown. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that because we work with small businesses so closely, they’re as invested as anybody in the community. They almost always live in the city, they volunteer in the city, they’ve got their life savings invested in the city. And the idea that they’re going to move out or that they’re going to retrench is not in their DNA, generally.
But I think what businesses wonder, and they also recognize that this issue, the violence we’ve had recently tearing our city apart, isn’t going to be solved by your department, by 500 or 600 people. But what can we as business– What do you see that we can do to help you with the plan? Whether it’s this plan or some variation of it.
That’s a great question, Rick. And so for you and all of your Sunrise family here this morning, I would say. I was taught a lesson by my late grandmother years ago and she used to have the saying that, “The world is run by those who show up.” Show up in any of these conversations, whether at the local level with our elected officials, whether it’s at the state level, anyway small businesses can lend their voice as to what they need and require in terms of public safety, show up. Your voice is valued, it is critical in the conversation. That’s so important.
One of the things that I’m transforming in terms of every year, and I’m actually preparing for it as we speak, in terms of my budget for the police department. But we have to and I have to get out of this mindset and this framework that it is the Minneapolis Police Department budget. So when I’m asking for more resources, it should not be framed in the context solely of the police department. It should be framed in the context of in terms of public safety, What does our Sunrise Bank family need in terms of public safety. What
Does our small businesses in the community need as far as public safety? What do our schools and our hospitals need in terms of public safety. Sunrise Bank and these other institutions have been anchors in our community. And you have a right to demand and ask for these things which will continue to help our community safety and our city grow. And so showing up in those spaces are going to be very critically important.
Unfortunately, I think over the past year, there’s really been this entrenched two narratives, for or against. And I think truly it’s about both and. I absolutely have been making transformational changes within the culture of the MPD even before I became chief of police, and that will continue. But I also believe firmly we still need, and we’ll need and require men and women, armed men and women who will run into violence to help resolve it and keep things peacefully.
So we are still going to need public safety. And I believe we need to have this both and approach. And I believe that re-imagining and common sense, they don’t have to be arch enemies. I think that well-intentioned people who want community safety, who want their children to be able to play outside without fear of violence, that want to respect their elders in their community, that want small businesses to thrive, that want our high school teens to have summer jobs and employment, all of these things are positive. All of these things we can do. And I think that will make a difference.
But I believe the small businesses, the Sunrise banking family, step in, lean into those conversations, make sure what you want and require in terms of public safety, where you would like to see those in your communities. Whether it’s on Lake Street or Broadway Avenue or uptown, make sure that your voice is being heard by those who are making those decisions.
Great. Policing has changed. And I have the long view because I’ve been around a long time. And I can remember, you and I went to competing high schools and stuff. And yet, we’d win the games and you’d win some of the rumbles after, we called those rumbles afterwards. But I had some encounters with police believe it or not as a young man and they were really authoritarian. There wasn’t a lot to negotiate, it was very rule-driven.
So going forward, what is the personality profile of the police officer that you’re trying to hire. And you’re doing a lot of hiring right now. So how is that look different coming out of George Floyd and coming out of the last few years. Looks like more obviously more diversity, more women, more persons of color. But talk about this psychological profile of the police officer that you think we need.
So Rick, that’s a great question. Last year, and I knew, after the events of May 25th of 2020 that we were never going to be the same police department, nor should we. And I believe that we had an opportunity unlike ever before, to truly change and recreate a new MPD. For the first time ever in the 155 year of our department, through collaboration with our local NAACP and our Minneapolis Urban League, we changed our oath of office for the first time in the history of the Department.
That oath of office talks about the human family, it talks about humanity. It talks about the responsibility and obligation each man and woman who wear this uniform has to intervene if they see a community member who is being harmed verbally or physically. To intervene on their behalf as an obligation to that human family.
I interview and I sit down, I clear my calendar and I interview every person who either wants to be a community service officer or a sworn recruit or cadet. And the number one trait that I look for in anyone who wants to wear this badge here, is character. And simply for me, character are the words that others would use to describe you when you’re not in the room.
We have conversations about why do you choose to be a peace officer? Why do you choose to give back in service to this city and this community? We talk about things such as procedural justice, giving people voice, the importance of making sure that people are respected, having neutral engagements and building spaces of trust.
We talk about cultural competency. We talk about all of these things and also accountability. What that means is that every single action or a momentary engagement that you have with the community, that has to count for something. And it’s reflective on all of us in this profession. Those are some of the things that we’re doing.
I had an opportunity when I came in as Chief, Rick, that our pre-employment psychologists contract was just about to expire and our HR department, which they have often done in years before, said, “Hey, Rondo, we’ve got it, no problem. We’ll start working on the vendor process and the REPS and we’ll hire this person.” And I said, “No.” I said, every single person that comes onto this job, I’m responsible for. I’m responsible in terms of their conduct to our community and I said, I need to be a part of that. And so I sat in, I crafted what I wanted to see in are psychologists. And so I was happy to do that.
Our psychologist, we talk all the time about, how can we make sure that her work, in terms of the pre-employment psychological testing, is trying to make sure also that we can get the best candidates. We’re not going to get perfect individuals. Our society and our planet is not filled with a perfect individual. But we need to get the best that we can possibly get. Those who come with it from a humanitarian standpoint.
We have to see each other as necessary for our own existence, and we have to value that. And so those are some of the things that I will continue to make sure that’s part of our DNA as we move forward and work on culture change for the Minneapolis Police Department.
So on this issue of psychology and function, we’re going to go back to mental health because I had a conversation this week with some guests of ours, and he’s a social worker with Hennepin County. And he said some suburbs have the luxury of having assigned officers who are highly trained in mental health episodic situations.
And I know you provide training to all people, but this issue about people under great stress, either mental health or being under the influence, how big of an issue is this in your office? Is this a third of the people you’re dealing with the folks? And what is your plan call for doing on that front.
Yeah, Rick. We know that there are many in our communities that are experiencing certain forms of crisis or trauma. And we see that our officers are encountering that daily. And I also think it’s very under-reported as well. Because obviously, we are a society and a system that likes to categorize certain calls, whether it’s assault or disturbances. But oftentimes, there is an underlying factor that a person is just not well at the time. And so a large part of our calls, our officers are responding to that.
There is a category labeled EDP, or emotionally disturbed persons call, that our 911 dispatchers will send our officers to. For the past year, I think there was maybe 5,000 of those calls alone that our officers responded to. But I also want to say again, if someone is experiencing homelessness, that can create in and of itself a sense of trauma or crisis. If someone loses a loved one, gets laid off their job, starts drinking, and the call may come out as someone who’s intoxicated. But if you go back and peel the layers, there’s wellness issues that are at play here.
There’s a large part of that. We were fortunate a couple of years ago to team up with Hennepin County professionals, mental health professionals, where we called it a core responder program. Where we teamed up a plainclothes officer, khaki pants, a polo shirt, along with a mental health professional from Hennepin County office. And their main function was to respond, to give follow up and aftercare to some of our community members that were experiencing this. The program very successful.
We even had some members of our community who would literally call 9-1-1 and say, can you please send out that cope team again. The goal is to keep those folks who are experiencing some of those things to get them follow up care, but also to keep them in their homes, to keep them in those places where they feel secure, Yeah, we take that very seriously. We know that it’s out there, it’s probably well under-reported on a more citywide or global perspective. More needs to be done in my opinion, with health care and accessibility to health care, having more clinics available in our communities 24/7.
As it stands right now, unfortunately, if that person or a loved one is having an episode or experiencing at 3:00 in the morning, we’re the ones, our men and women are the ones who are going to be the first ones to respond. And so we’re going to do our best to, again, address those and respond in a way that is caring, that is compassionate care. But there’s certainly a lot more work that we can do in that regard.
Well, maybe the legislature will appropriate some money to help with the impending crisis we’re going to have when evictions start occurring. People hit the street and the mental illness that’s going to follow or will be accompanied, in my view, it’ll be the next snowball and the mountain. We’re getting some questions in, and I’m going to read them. There’s some good questions. So let me in the remaining time, Chief, to go through some questions.
One relates to employees in businesses. That they hire and they manage and fire people at will, or that will state. But as a manager, when your management have your subject to a collective bargaining agreement and state statutes. So I got from a comment that you’re trying to change some of those rules and making your job. Talk a little bit about it, if you could.
Yeah, Rick. Thank you for the person who presented that question. So in the police department, while I am the sole person that can give discipline if there’s misconduct committed by an employee, I can give discipline. However, under the collective bargaining agreement, that discipline can be grieved. And there is a process where the employee can grieve it. And one of the final parts of that is this system called an arbitration system, which is simply a third party, usually retired judge or magistrate, will sit-in.
The collective bargaining union will make their case as to why they don’t agree with the discipline, I will make my case as the employer as why I made the disciplinary decision. But that third party can weigh in and ultimately render a decision. And it certainly has happened several times in my tenure as chief, where they say, no, I don’t agree with the chief’s decision. That employee is back on the job. And I’m the one that has to go back out to the communities. If I make a decision, and by the way, there’s a process that it gets to that point where it’s investigated and evidence in all of these things and statements are taken.
So when I make a decision, particularly when it comes to terminating an employee, I don’t take that lightly. And I know the impacts of that on the employee, our department, in our communities. But when an employee is allowed back on the Department, I’m the one, not the arbitrator, who has to go back out into our communities and explain why that is. And so that can be very destabilizing when those decisions are ruled against me in my favor.
They’ve tweaked last year’s legislature, they tweaked the arbitrators list of who can serve on these panels as arbitrators. But myself as Chief and Minnesota Chiefs, we believe there’s much more that can be done. And so you’re absolutely right. It’s a little bit different in the private sector but accountability is still very important. And at the end of the day, I believe the Chief needs to be able to make that final decision.
Great. Well, there’s a lot of questions regarding North Minneapolis. The question on whether you understand the impact of green spaces in communities like North Minneapolis and youth activities. You’ve mentioned one talking about this non-random violence that’s going on. Is this gang related and in retribution? Or it just can’t be boiled down into a simple explanation. But what is behind those tragedies?
So first, I’ll just comment. I absolutely agree and support green spaces all across our city. I think our neighbors, our children, our family members, visitors, that green space is still very important. We’re blessed to live in a city that has so many parks, a great parks system. But neighborhoods that can have those green spaces, we talk about wellness, I think those green spaces this is Rondo’s unscientific analysis. But I do think that those green spaces help keep people positive in a different mindset and frame of mind. So I do agree with those.
As far as the violence, yes. Here in Minneapolis, unfortunately, we have seen an uptick in violent crime, particularly shootings in our city. And sadly over the past month or so, we have seen that the victims have even been as young as 10, 9 and 6 years of age, our precious children. And some of it has been group-related violence. Some of it is also the prevalence of high-capacity rounds and magazines of guns being used in single incidents.
We saw that tragically in a situation downtown Minneapolis outside of a nightclub. While the person may have had an intended target, the number of rounds that are being fired can hit indiscriminately other victims. And so I will tell you that I’m approaching it, as a department we’re approaching it from a couple of different things. We’re going to be focusing on those most violent offenders. We are bringing in also resources and assets from our federal prosecution teams, our US attorney’s office. We’re using intelligence. Going back to intelligence.
We don’t want a broad sweeping net just to get a couple of people, we want to be very precise in terms of focusing on those individuals, through intelligence and data and information sharing, who are committing those gun crimes in our city and holding people accountable. And that’s going to be very important. We cannot allow this type of violence to happen. The pandemic certainly set us back as a community. We went through this period of civil unrest and we are a leaner department than we are today than we were a year ago.
So I’m also utilizing a mutual aid assistance, which really means we are collaborating more closely with our Hennepin County Sheriff’s deputies, our state troopers, our federal partners, our Minneapolis transit department, police department, to make sure that we are continuing that public safety effort in all parts of our city again. Whether it’s Lake Street, Broadway, Uptown, we’re making sure that we’re coming together to provide and be able to respond appropriately to these situations.
Chief, you mentioned mutual aid, and we’ve got a couple of questions about the spate of violence at the University and that’s an area near and dear to me, and I know they have their own police department. Maybe you can explain how you work with them and in the moment, what’s the plan around Dinkytown?
The University campus area is actually really unique in that they do have their own police jurisdiction led by Chief Matt Clark. And we have a wonderful relationship both as Chiefs and certainly as departments. And our second precinct, our geographical precinct in Northeast and Southeast Minneapolis, also is within that University of Minnesota corridor. So we’re working very closely with Chief Clark and his team. Whether it was the incident, the tragic incident the other night outside of Barney’s pub, our second precinct officers are responding quickly. They were working and managing those scenes with U of M police department.
Our investigative teams are working closely with the University of Minnesota police department to bring in investigative resources to help investigate those. We are also looking at shared technology and camera systems. We have a wonderful robust camera system, public safety system in downtown Minneapolis.
We want to make sure that we’re working collaboratively with our U of M partners and being able to share that information and have people to monitor those cameras to keep our University businesses and residents and students, make sure that they keep safe. And so we’re going to strengthen those relationships. I was just literally on the call with Chief Clark yesterday, and we’re going to be innovative and see how we can collaborate differently as well to make sure that we’re providing a sense of safety and coverage over there in that University area.
Couple of questions as we begin to wind down here, Chief. Going back to the hiring process, I know when I worked for the city at St. Paul years and years ago, we had a residency rule. And I don’t think the courts upheld it or was popular, but that seems to be an issue that comes around every 10 years as requiring people to live in the city. That’s probably not going to happen, but we did get a question about that.
And then, just generally, you’re hiring. How are you pitching the selling wearing your sales. As business people, we think about sales, we think about persuasion. How you convince people to join the police department right now? What’s that message?
It’s the same question, and you mentioned sales. Clearly, right now, our profession, our brand and our image has taken a hit, quite frankly. Police departments, for so many years, when situation or incidents have occurred that have been negative, we have tended to take the posture of hunkering down, waiting for the storm clouds to roll over and then coming out again.
Unfortunately, others will hijack that narrative. You can never get that space and time back. And that is so vital. We have to own and be accountable to our communities when situations happen. So communication, the branding, the image, those are all very important things. And so a couple of things that we are doing.
We’re meeting our communities where they’re at, we’re reaching out to young people particularly. We’re asking them that amidst of all that has occurred over the past year, is there something that you would like to do to bring differently to this profession in service to your community? Are there things that if you were a Minneapolis police officer, the things that you would want to personally see and change and respond differently to our community’s needs.
Quite frankly, it’s also having tough conversations. We need to have those tough conversations. We are never going to be, nor should we be the same department we were a year ago or five years ago. We need to continue to evolve and grow and learn. And so that’s going to be very important. I will also tell you that we closed the application process for our Minneapolis cadets that will start later this year. We had over 100 applications. Over 100. That’s promising.
Amidst everything that is occurring, we need to make sure that we’re getting the right, the best, the brightest public servants who want to give back to this community. And at the same time, add and contribute to positive culture within the Minneapolis Police Department. That’s going to be very important as we move forward. And we’re meeting people the traditional ways of going to a college campus, which is so important to recruit, but we need to do things differently.
We need to know that the job market is changing. There are people who have been in perhaps banking who are saying, you know what, I’m thinking about a different shift. Is there something I could do in terms of community service work, maybe policing and giving back. And so we’re looking at and exploring different ways, where we’re meeting people working with our private sector folks. Communication. I will tell you that there are two things that I always struggle with as a leader and one is time and the other is communication.
Time being that there are people on the inside of the organization that say, Arradondo, are you’re moving way too fast. And there are people in the outside that says, you’re moving way too slow. But communication, people receive their information in so many different formats today. And the messenger is also just as critically important as the message.
And so reaching out, if you would have told me a year ago that we’d be looking at recruitment ads through TikTok, I wouldn’t know what you were talking about. But we’re looking at trying to be innovative in all of these different ways to make sure that we’re really getting the best and brightest people who want to give back in service to our community. And so that work will continue.
It is a calling. And I’m not surprised that it may be attracting people who are looking for a career change or who are or will go into a difficult situation. There’s people who will respond positively with that. On the question about, as you hire people and they go through the Academy, how much training do they get? And are they in a squad with a seasoned officer for a year or a number of months? How do you deal with that when you’re understaffed? From historical levels.
That’s a great question. So we are about a third less of a department than we were a year ago. So one of the things in Minnesota is that, to be a peace officer in Minnesota, to obtain a peace officer’s license, you have to have at least a two-year degree in criminal justice or law enforcement taught at one of our many colleges and universities in the state.
Once you do that, there is a skills portion that is a generalized state skills portion that you have to go through and successfully pass. Then if you are able to come on and join the Minneapolis Police Department, our Academy process is about six months long. And that’s everything from officers, having community instructors coming in to talk about everything from our native indigenous communities and cultural learnings from that.
We have mental health professionals that come in and talk about crisis and signs and resources. We also talk about state law, training and use of force, de-escalation. And so there’s all of that training. And then if they successfully pass the Academy portion, then there’s a five-month field training officer or FTO program.
And to the question specifically, we are really doing a better job of tightening up and making sure that we have the best FTOs. These are the people that are going to be given that real-time, on-the-job training and tutelage to our men and women. And so that has to be a coveted position, the FTO position. And so we want the best FTO officers to give that instruction.
And then that is a five-month process that they are graded in and trained and really trained in terms of making sure that they have the necessary skills, mindset in terms of being a peace officer. And then there’s the year probationary period. So those are some of the measures in which it requires someone to be a Minneapolis police officer.
Well, Chief, we are out of time. I want to acknowledge the many other questions that we’ve received. We’ve got questions about more on homeless, more on the trauma in police. Somebody wants to make sure your plan has a statement of values and principles at the top. Question about domestic violence, and protest voices, and how those get dealt with. We just simply don’t have any more time.
But I want to thank you for listening to our customers and friends of Sunrise Banks to make some final comments here, and we’ll move along.
Thank you, Rick. Thank you so much for having me. To the Sunrise Bank family, thank you for having me as well. Again, it’s a humbled honor to serve all of you, and I will continue, as Chief, to do my best to make sure that we are really doing our best to uplift our communities, serve in a way that sees that shared humanity, and to make our city safe and vibrant.
For Sun Bank family members, if you go online and look up Chief Arradondo’s vision statement, I created that back when I became Chief and I thought that was very important to have a blueprint or a roadmap for all of our sworn and civilian employees. About what my expectations were, and I believed what our communities need us to be in order to better help serve them. So if you go online and check out Chief Arradondo’s vision statement, it’s done back in 2017, I think that might give an overview of what my vision continues to be.
But again, and I know that’s a short time, I’d be more than welcome to come back at a later date if your Sunrise Bank family would like to have me. But God bless all of you, and I wish you all well.
Chief, thank you for your public service, for this incredibly important and difficult job. Get out and enjoy the summer and the cities with some concerts. And get your musical ear tuned up here.
All ri
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Video feed in upper left hand corner. Slides, Sun Up with Sunrise Banks.
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Good morning and welcome, everyone. I’m Terri Banaszewski, with Sunrise Banks. Vice President of business development at the bank. We’re happy to have all of you join us today for this Sun Up with Sunrise ritual breakfast. I’m hoping that by fall we can get back to in-person breakfast events and our great colossal cafe breakfast burritos, which we would all love to have this morning.
Before we get started with the program, I want to give you all a few updates. First of all, our lobbies are open. As of June 1st, we opened our bank lobbies and you do not need to make an appointment to see a banker. However, that does sometimes make things run smoother, so you have the option. It’s great to see clients again in person.
Not all of us are back in the office full-time however, our target date for everyone at Sunrise is now September 13. Masks aren’t required but we do encourage them. Other exciting news, we are planning to host our annual community appreciation barbecue again in 2021. It will be August 19th at our Como location. So stay tuned.
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Slide, Bank Business Updates. Lobbies are open, Juneteenth, SBA Updates, Community Appreciation BBQ is back, Equity Series. Terri Banaszewski, Vice President, Business Development. Rick Beeson, EVP, Corporate Development and Government Relations.
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We typically run it from about 11:00 till 2:00, so plan to take your lunch break with us sometime between those hours and listen to some great music, visit with neighbors and business contacts, and of course, your Sunrise favorite bankers. I have to mention, my horoscope this morning said, “Enjoy schmoozing with others.” So this breakfast comes at a good time. And it also said, “Treat the world with a smile on your face.” so everybody can take that into consideration today.
Other news, Juneteenth has now been recognized as a federal holiday as it should be. Last Saturday we were closed in honor of Juneteenth, a new federal holiday within the United States. Many people living in slavery remained unaware of their freedom for over two years. It wasn’t until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865, that the last Black Americans were finally freed from slavery. Juneteenth is a day for celebration, education, and connection.
We’ve also been holding town hall series during the pandemic and since. As the world’s most socially responsible bank, we do significant community outreach about issues that are challenging our local communities, such as racial equity or protecting the environment. In December 2020, we held a town hall with over 800 registered attendees hosted by WCCO’s Roshini Rajkumar, that welcomed local panelists such as the Head of Diversity for the University of Minnesota, and Tomme Beevas, a local restaurateur who is leading comento relief services to help those impacted by 2020’s civil unrest.
Our second town hall focused on the Path to Equity. And included, Paurvi Bhatt, from the Medtronic foundation, Darryl Thompson, from Boulder options, and Marnita Schroedel from Marnita’s table. So watch for more events like that in the future.
Finally, I wanted to just bring up some SBA updates within the organization. As all of you probably know, the PPP program was done on May 31st after the SBA exhausted all funds that were allocated to the program. Right now, we are processing forgiveness applications and have completed roughly one third of those at this time. When combining draw one and draw two PPP loans, we processed about 3,600 loans for a total of about $344 million. So we got that money into the hands of small business owners in our community.
Right now is the time, if you’re considering expanding, need working capital, or are buying a business or real estate for your company, to work with SBA financing. The SBA has offered enhancements to their regular programs through September 30th, which includes waiving SBA guarantee fees on loans and increasing guarantees to the banks. With the CARES Act, they are also covering the first three months of payments on new loans that are closed before September 30th.
So if you have something you want to acquire and work with us, let’s get going on those SBA loans. Because September 30th, even though we’re just hitting the 1st of July, time goes really fast. So if you need more details on the SBA and its programs, reach out to Chris Albrecht at 651-523-7893. Chris is our Senior Vice President and director of SBA lending. And without further ado, I will turn it over to Rick Beeson. Thank you.
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Rick Beeson appears in video feed.
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Good morning, everyone. And thank you very much Terri for starting off our breakfast. We do expect to have another session in September and we’re always open to suggested topics and speakers. We’ve had President John Gabel, University of Minnesota on earlier. And as Terri said, a two part series on race and equity, which has been well received. And I might mention on the PPP program, the bank originated several thousand of these loans in about 85% of them are under $150,000.
We’re working very closely with both US senators and members of the House to ensure we can get forgiveness done quickly and painlessly for you as small businesses. We know you want those obligations off the books, and we want and we’re pushing hard with our delegation and with the government staff to do that.
So Terri mentioned our mission is to be the most innovative bank empowering financial wellness. And we do seek to radically change the way urban communities thrive by empowering them to achieve their aspirations. So I thought I had seen the slide for a different purpose with the bank, and I wanted to post this up just to let you know some of the certifications that the bank has received. And you could snap a picture of that or let us know if you want a copy.
But
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Slide, Certification slash Affiliations. Community Reinvestment ACT. Outstanding rating since 1996, 25 years. U.S. Treasury Certified Community Development Financial Institution CDFI. CDFI certified since 2001, 20 years, First and only CDFI Bank in Minnesota and in the 9th Federal Reserve District, Historical CDFI and Treasury awards and allocations total over $278 million, Chair of the Community Development Bankers Association CBDA and Board Member 10 years. Global Alliance for Banking on Values. One of the first members in North America, Member since 2021, 9 years. Board Member representing North America and recently named Chair of the Board. B Corp Certification. Certified since 2009, 11 years, first and only B corp bank in Minnesota, Rank in the top 10% of all B Corps in the world for seven consecutive years, Highest ranking B Corp Bank in the world. Logos.
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these are third-party designations, they are difficult to get, and they all go toward the bank’s social responsible focus. We’re not perfect. But these are high-level awards that have really headlined by the Community Reinvestment Act, which we’ve received an outstanding rating for 25 consecutive years. The Community Development Financial Institutions designation allows us to make special financings with new market tax credits and other offerings. The Global Alliance for banking values, because we do take a global as well as local view. So we’re excited about those designations.
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Slide, Minneapolis Police Chief, Medaria Arradondo. Medaria’s video feed appears below Ricks.
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Well, today we’re pleased to have Chief Medaria Arradondo to speak to our customers and friends here at Sunrise. And we take a business perspective of public safety and policing in our great city of Minneapolis. Where we have two vibrant and strategic branches. Chief, we recognize your schedule doesn’t allow many of these public appearances, so we really appreciate the gesture today. Obviously, Sunrise is a major stakeholder of the community with hundreds of millions of dollars invested, including safeguarding thousands of deposit accounts and originating many business loans and home loans.
And normally, we are able to share our ideas and concerns through our chamber memberships, who belong to a number of chambers. They funnel those through and communicate with the city of Minneapolis and local and other government units. But it is helpful to get some direct contact occasionally, and so we really do appreciate this in-person.
Well, to get started Chief, let’s talk a little bit about yourself and your career, and if you had any available time, maybe talk about some personal interests that you have. And we want to get to know you as a person first. So good morning, Chief.
Good morning, Rick. Terri, thank you so much and the Sunrise banking family for having me this morning to have a conversation with you. I’m very honored to be in the space with you this morning. I did not have the breakfast burrito, but I still got a lot of energy here this morning. But thank you for having me.
I’m a product of the city of Minneapolis. My family, born and raised here in Minneapolis. I come from nine siblings, we were a large family. Originally born in North Minneapolis, but at a very early age moved to South Minneapolis over at Central Neighborhood. And so I grew up with the public schools in Minneapolis, a graduate of Minneapolis Roosevelt High School.
And it was right in my college years where I really started to take this interest of, what can I do to give back to the community in terms of service? And the interest of being a peace officer was one that really gravitated towards me. And so I was very fortunate to take that learning and actually apply it, that service work to the city of Minneapolis.
I was part of the first Minneapolis police cadet program back in 1989, where is the year I started my career. And I’ve been so fortunate to serve throughout my career in many different capacities. From patrol officer, 9-1-1 response officer. We worked the neighborhood beat, foot beat, in North Minneapolis. I also was a detective. I served as an internal affairs investigator.
I’ve been able to lead a precinct, the 1st precinct. I’ve served as a commander and different roles as Deputy Chief, Assistant Chief. And then in the fall of 2017, by then Mayor, Betsy Hodges, I was given the opportunity to lead the Minneapolis Police Department. And now, under Mayor Jacob Frey, I’ve been continuing in that role to this day.
Again, I’ve been very blessed to give back and to really be a public servant to the city that really has raised me. And so, that is the work that I’m doing. That is a labor of love and I’m really trying to make sure that everything that we do is positively meaningful, that we are making a difference in the lives of so many, and that also we’re creating a new MPD. There’s obviously been challenges that have occurred here in our city, starting with the Minneapolis Police Department. I have really been trying to lead this work of transformational change. And in creating a new MPD in terms of what our communities would really like to see us in the role that we play in collaboration with them.
As far as personal interests, I’m living here in the state all my life. You may find this as a shock, but I’m not a big fan of cold winters. I love the warmth and the sunshine. And I’m also a music fanatic. I love all genres, all types of music. And so, music is always a soundtrack in my life. So those are some personal things.
Well, great. That’s great to get to know about your illustrious career and your family and your family background. So let’s get into the substance of the meeting today. Obviously, we’ve all been through a lot with the murder of George Floyd. We’ve all been dealing with that and the aftermath.
You announced a plan for public safety and policing for the city. So let’s talk about that. What’s in that plan? What’s the status of it? I assume the plan was underway before Mr. Floyd’s murder. But was the lessons learned incorporated. So let’s start with a forward looking plan that you developed with the mayor’s office and we’ll go from there. Chief.
Yes, Rick. We’ve constantly been looking at how can we best truly serve in collaboration with our communities. And so some of this plan has been based upon making sure that we’re doing those things that we do really well, making sure that we improve upon those and those particular services, but also expanding some of the intricate service details that we do.
Technology
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Slide, Creating a new Minneapolis Police Department. Do no Harm. Harm is defined as causing someone or something to be hurt broken damaged or made less valuable. We, as the Minneapolis Police Department, acknowledge our contribution to both historical and present day trauma. The principle of do no harm provides a guiding light from which all decisions shall flow. Our new Minneapolis Police Department must rest on the solid foundation of Human Rights and be community focused. This vision must be led by bold courageous vulnerable humble and unapologetic leaders forging transformational change now. Our values. Trust, We promise to earn confidence in the ability reliability strength and truth free from suspicion and doubt from those we serve. Accountability, we acknowledge and assume responsibility for our actions decisions and policies. We provide transparency in the obligation to report explain and be answerable for resulting consequences. Professional service, We empathetically address the needs of others and courageously act on ways to help to ensure the safety and peace of our city’s residents businesses and visitors through the selfless action of placing another’s welfare before our own comfort.
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has been a very key piece. Cameras, and being able to have extra sets of eyes to help monitor whether it’s our business corridors, whether it’s our communities in terms of if there are problematic areas. To making sure that we have extra eyes where if people see something, they can say something, they can report that in.
Data is also a huge part of our– Data tells our story for cities around the country certainly, here in Minneapolis. And making sure that we’re collecting the right types of data to help better inform the services that we can deliver for our communities. Another big piece is having the conversations and realizations that we cannot be all things to all people.
And historically, police departments have been asked to do so much in terms of society and trying to solve a lot of issues, whether it be those experiencing homelessness, whether it be addiction issues, and others. And looking at ways that we can help support other alternatives that don’t necessarily require a 9-1-1 response.
And then, also, one of the things that we’ve certainly been, as a profession, Rick, over the many years is there has been a stigma when it has come to– We know that our communities experienced trauma, but we’ve never really as a profession over the years addressed our own employee wellness. Last year, in this profession, we lost so many officers to suicide, as opposed to In the Line of Duty deaths. And so we really, within the Minneapolis Police Department, I’m really doing my best to make sure that we’re working closely, we’re getting resources where health and wellness peer counseling support. We’re trying to break down that stigma so that we can meet our employees where they’re at.
And not only their wellness, but we recognize that their family members come along with them on this journey as well. So really to make sure that we have healthy and well public servants to go out there and meet our communities where they’re at, and really try to get the best outcomes and resolutions as possible. Obviously, a lot of this work requires funding, and so that’s where the mayor steps in and trying to secure budget funding for that.
And then, also, projection. Minneapolis, as you know, and your sunrise bank family knows, it continues to grow. Our population has grown over the last decade. Development in bringing businesses back into our communities. And so as our communities change and evolve, so must, quite frankly, our public safety services as well. And so those are some of the core elements in the plan.
Youth are very important as well. Too oftentimes, they are an invisible population in our community, it’s so important for us to continually engage with our youth or young people to not only have them at the table, but to also make sure that they are really directing some of the framework as to what are those services that they need. And so those are some those are some key pieces.
Lastly, I’ll just say, working with our state legislature on whether it’s reform changes at the state level, whether it’s arbitration, whether it’s a public safety service needs in dollars, those are some of the things that this plan encompasses. And a lot of it is from our community stakeholders.
Well, thank you, Chief. What’s the status of the plan right now? Is it available for public comment, or it’s been approved at this point now?
The plan is in the stages right now of really getting approved and the mayor taking that forward and trying to secure not only other elected government support but also funding for that. But in terms of consent, it’s always an evolving plan in terms of feedback and input is so very important. We never want perfect to be the enemy of the good. And so parts of that we can tweak and listen to community in terms of how we can adjust. We certainly want to continue to do that.
Great, a couple reactions. We are a big believer in data as informing good decision-making and changing behavior. So I’m glad to hear about a focus on that. And also, we’ll come back to the mental health issue. I was going to ask about the folks that you’re encountering on the streets, but mentioning the needs of the officers in that regard are important too. So we’ll come back to that.
Well, there’s an old cliche that businesses vote with their feet. And the businesses invest where they feel that their capital is safe and where obviously crime is a factor in those decisions. What would you say to small businesses right now that would give them the confidence so they can make the long-term decisions that the city needs, Chief.
Yeah, Rick. So I will tell you that public safety, we are part of an ecosystem. There is no way that we can truly have a city or community safety without a lot of different partners stepping up and stepping in to help that. We are certainly meaning the police department, I’m going to make sure that we do all we can to help make sure that our communities are safe, welcoming, and vibrant.
I believe that small businesses are a huge role in that. We have all been dealing with the impacts and the effects of the pandemic. I will tell you that some people were a little shocked when they heard me. I was having a conversation a few months back when Governor Walz made the decision to lift some of the restrictions and allow for the first time 10,000 fans at the Twins’ opening game. While some may say, what is Rondo cheering about the Twins even though our home team, which I appreciate. But having 10,000 visitors down for Twins game downtown means that there’s more people out at restaurants, more people booking our hotel rooms. All of these things help with public safety.
When we were experiencing the depths of the pandemic, and in our downtowns where more folks were working remotely, there wasn’t the hustle and bustle of the light rail stations coming in with commuters in the morning and then leaving at the end of the day for drive time, all of those things truly do play a role in public safety.
Our small businesses are key to our communities, whether it’s giving jobs to folks in our communities, whether it’s after school jobs for high school kids who need it to have good positive activation programming, bringing money back into our economy, all of these things are very key and small businesses are a huge part of that public safety ecosystem. So I’m a champion of that I want to see our small businesses thriving, I want to see our hotel industries thriving. This will really truly help stabilize our city.
I look at cranes. When I see the cranes downtown or in our communities, and businesses are going up, that’s what we need and that’s what we’re going to continue to need to really turn the corner on this pandemic. Turn the corner on some of the violent crime that we’ve experiencing, which is not just here in Minneapolis, but across the nation right now. But I am hopeful and optimistic that small businesses are going to play a key role in our recovery.
Thank you, Chief. Cranes are a sign of optimism, and they are great visual and we love seeing them in the neighborhoods and the corridors as well as downtown. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that because we work with small businesses so closely, they’re as invested as anybody in the community. They almost always live in the city, they volunteer in the city, they’ve got their life savings invested in the city. And the idea that they’re going to move out or that they’re going to retrench is not in their DNA, generally.
But I think what businesses wonder, and they also recognize that this issue, the violence we’ve had recently tearing our city apart, isn’t going to be solved by your department, by 500 or 600 people. But what can we as business– What do you see that we can do to help you with the plan? Whether it’s this plan or some variation of it.
That’s a great question, Rick. And so for you and all of your Sunrise family here this morning, I would say. I was taught a lesson by my late grandmother years ago and she used to have the saying that, “The world is run by those who show up.” Show up in any of these conversations, whether at the local level with our elected officials, whether it’s at the state level, anyway small businesses can lend their voice as to what they need and require in terms of public safety, show up. Your voice is valued, it is critical in the conversation. That’s so important.
One of the things that I’m transforming in terms of every year, and I’m actually preparing for it as we speak, in terms of my budget for the police department. But we have to and I have to get out of this mindset and this framework that it is the Minneapolis Police Department budget. So when I’m asking for more resources, it should not be framed in the context solely of the police department. It should be framed in the context of in terms of public safety, What does our Sunrise Bank family need in terms of public safety. What
Does our small businesses in the community need as far as public safety? What do our schools and our hospitals need in terms of public safety. Sunrise Bank and these other institutions have been anchors in our community. And you have a right to demand and ask for these things which will continue to help our community safety and our city grow. And so showing up in those spaces are going to be very critically important.
Unfortunately, I think over the past year, there’s really been this entrenched two narratives, for or against. And I think truly it’s about both and. I absolutely have been making transformational changes within the culture of the MPD even before I became chief of police, and that will continue. But I also believe firmly we still need, and we’ll need and require men and women, armed men and women who will run into violence to help resolve it and keep things peacefully.
So we are still going to need public safety. And I believe we need to have this both and approach. And I believe that re-imagining and common sense, they don’t have to be arch enemies. I think that well-intentioned people who want community safety, who want their children to be able to play outside without fear of violence, that want to respect their elders in their community, that want small businesses to thrive, that want our high school teens to have summer jobs and employment, all of these things are positive. All of these things we can do. And I think that will make a difference.
But I believe the small businesses, the Sunrise banking family, step in, lean into those conversations, make sure what you want and require in terms of public safety, where you would like to see those in your communities. Whether it’s on Lake Street or Broadway Avenue or uptown, make sure that your voice is being heard by those who are making those decisions.
Great. Policing has changed. And I have the long view because I’ve been around a long time. And I can remember, you and I went to competing high schools and stuff. And yet, we’d win the games and you’d win some of the rumbles after, we called those rumbles afterwards. But I had some encounters with police believe it or not as a young man and they were really authoritarian. There wasn’t a lot to negotiate, it was very rule-driven.
So going forward, what is the personality profile of the police officer that you’re trying to hire. And you’re doing a lot of hiring right now. So how is that look different coming out of George Floyd and coming out of the last few years. Looks like more obviously more diversity, more women, more persons of color. But talk about this psychological profile of the police officer that you think we need.
So Rick, that’s a great question. Last year, and I knew, after the events of May 25th of 2020 that we were never going to be the same police department, nor should we. And I believe that we had an opportunity unlike ever before, to truly change and recreate a new MPD. For the first time ever in the 155 year of our department, through collaboration with our local NAACP and our Minneapolis Urban League, we changed our oath of office for the first time in the history of the Department.
That oath of office talks about the human family, it talks about humanity. It talks about the responsibility and obligation each man and woman who wear this uniform has to intervene if they see a community member who is being harmed verbally or physically. To intervene on their behalf as an obligation to that human family.
I interview and I sit down, I clear my calendar and I interview every person who either wants to be a community service officer or a sworn recruit or cadet. And the number one trait that I look for in anyone who wants to wear this badge here, is character. And simply for me, character are the words that others would use to describe you when you’re not in the room.
We have conversations about why do you choose to be a peace officer? Why do you choose to give back in service to this city and this community? We talk about things such as procedural justice, giving people voice, the importance of making sure that people are respected, having neutral engagements and building spaces of trust.
We talk about cultural competency. We talk about all of these things and also accountability. What that means is that every single action or a momentary engagement that you have with the community, that has to count for something. And it’s reflective on all of us in this profession. Those are some of the things that we’re doing.
I had an opportunity when I came in as Chief, Rick, that our pre-employment psychologists contract was just about to expire and our HR department, which they have often done in years before, said, “Hey, Rondo, we’ve got it, no problem. We’ll start working on the vendor process and the REPS and we’ll hire this person.” And I said, “No.” I said, every single person that comes onto this job, I’m responsible for. I’m responsible in terms of their conduct to our community and I said, I need to be a part of that. And so I sat in, I crafted what I wanted to see in are psychologists. And so I was happy to do that.
Our psychologist, we talk all the time about, how can we make sure that her work, in terms of the pre-employment psychological testing, is trying to make sure also that we can get the best candidates. We’re not going to get perfect individuals. Our society and our planet is not filled with a perfect individual. But we need to get the best that we can possibly get. Those who come with it from a humanitarian standpoint.
We have to see each other as necessary for our own existence, and we have to value that. And so those are some of the things that I will continue to make sure that’s part of our DNA as we move forward and work on culture change for the Minneapolis Police Department.
So on this issue of psychology and function, we’re going to go back to mental health because I had a conversation this week with some guests of ours, and he’s a social worker with Hennepin County. And he said some suburbs have the luxury of having assigned officers who are highly trained in mental health episodic situations.
And I know you provide training to all people, but this issue about people under great stress, either mental health or being under the influence, how big of an issue is this in your office? Is this a third of the people you’re dealing with the folks? And what is your plan call for doing on that front.
Yeah, Rick. We know that there are many in our communities that are experiencing certain forms of crisis or trauma. And we see that our officers are encountering that daily. And I also think it’s very under-reported as well. Because obviously, we are a society and a system that likes to categorize certain calls, whether it’s assault or disturbances. But oftentimes, there is an underlying factor that a person is just not well at the time. And so a large part of our calls, our officers are responding to that.
There is a category labeled EDP, or emotionally disturbed persons call, that our 911 dispatchers will send our officers to. For the past year, I think there was maybe 5,000 of those calls alone that our officers responded to. But I also want to say again, if someone is experiencing homelessness, that can create in and of itself a sense of trauma or crisis. If someone loses a loved one, gets laid off their job, starts drinking, and the call may come out as someone who’s intoxicated. But if you go back and peel the layers, there’s wellness issues that are at play here.
There’s a large part of that. We were fortunate a couple of years ago to team up with Hennepin County professionals, mental health professionals, where we called it a core responder program. Where we teamed up a plainclothes officer, khaki pants, a polo shirt, along with a mental health professional from Hennepin County office. And their main function was to respond, to give follow up and aftercare to some of our community members that were experiencing this. The program very successful.
We even had some members of our community who would literally call 9-1-1 and say, can you please send out that cope team again. The goal is to keep those folks who are experiencing some of those things to get them follow up care, but also to keep them in their homes, to keep them in those places where they feel secure, Yeah, we take that very seriously. We know that it’s out there, it’s probably well under-reported on a more citywide or global perspective. More needs to be done in my opinion, with health care and accessibility to health care, having more clinics available in our communities 24/7.
As it stands right now, unfortunately, if that person or a loved one is having an episode or experiencing at 3:00 in the morning, we’re the ones, our men and women are the ones who are going to be the first ones to respond. And so we’re going to do our best to, again, address those and respond in a way that is caring, that is compassionate care. But there’s certainly a lot more work that we can do in that regard.
Well, maybe the legislature will appropriate some money to help with the impending crisis we’re going to have when evictions start occurring. People hit the street and the mental illness that’s going to follow or will be accompanied, in my view, it’ll be the next snowball and the mountain. We’re getting some questions in, and I’m going to read them. There’s some good questions. So let me in the remaining time, Chief, to go through some questions.
One relates to employees in businesses. That they hire and they manage and fire people at will, or that will state. But as a manager, when your management have your subject to a collective bargaining agreement and state statutes. So I got from a comment that you’re trying to change some of those rules and making your job. Talk a little bit about it, if you could.
Yeah, Rick. Thank you for the person who presented that question. So in the police department, while I am the sole person that can give discipline if there’s misconduct committed by an employee, I can give discipline. However, under the collective bargaining agreement, that discipline can be grieved. And there is a process where the employee can grieve it. And one of the final parts of that is this system called an arbitration system, which is simply a third party, usually retired judge or magistrate, will sit-in.
The collective bargaining union will make their case as to why they don’t agree with the discipline, I will make my case as the employer as why I made the disciplinary decision. But that third party can weigh in and ultimately render a decision. And it certainly has happened several times in my tenure as chief, where they say, no, I don’t agree with the chief’s decision. That employee is back on the job. And I’m the one that has to go back out to the communities. If I make a decision, and by the way, there’s a process that it gets to that point where it’s investigated and evidence in all of these things and statements are taken.
So when I make a decision, particularly when it comes to terminating an employee, I don’t take that lightly. And I know the impacts of that on the employee, our department, in our communities. But when an employee is allowed back on the Department, I’m the one, not the arbitrator, who has to go back out into our communities and explain why that is. And so that can be very destabilizing when those decisions are ruled against me in my favor.
They’ve tweaked last year’s legislature, they tweaked the arbitrators list of who can serve on these panels as arbitrators. But myself as Chief and Minnesota Chiefs, we believe there’s much more that can be done. And so you’re absolutely right. It’s a little bit different in the private sector but accountability is still very important. And at the end of the day, I believe the Chief needs to be able to make that final decision.
Great. Well, there’s a lot of questions regarding North Minneapolis. The question on whether you understand the impact of green spaces in communities like North Minneapolis and youth activities. You’ve mentioned one talking about this non-random violence that’s going on. Is this gang related and in retribution? Or it just can’t be boiled down into a simple explanation. But what is behind those tragedies?
So first, I’ll just comment. I absolutely agree and support green spaces all across our city. I think our neighbors, our children, our family members, visitors, that green space is still very important. We’re blessed to live in a city that has so many parks, a great parks system. But neighborhoods that can have those green spaces, we talk about wellness, I think those green spaces this is Rondo’s unscientific analysis. But I do think that those green spaces help keep people positive in a different mindset and frame of mind. So I do agree with those.
As far as the violence, yes. Here in Minneapolis, unfortunately, we have seen an uptick in violent crime, particularly shootings in our city. And sadly over the past month or so, we have seen that the victims have even been as young as 10, 9 and 6 years of age, our precious children. And some of it has been group-related violence. Some of it is also the prevalence of high-capacity rounds and magazines of guns being used in single incidents.
We saw that tragically in a situation downtown Minneapolis outside of a nightclub. While the person may have had an intended target, the number of rounds that are being fired can hit indiscriminately other victims. And so I will tell you that I’m approaching it, as a department we’re approaching it from a couple of different things. We’re going to be focusing on those most violent offenders. We are bringing in also resources and assets from our federal prosecution teams, our US attorney’s office. We’re using intelligence. Going back to intelligence.
We don’t want a broad sweeping net just to get a couple of people, we want to be very precise in terms of focusing on those individuals, through intelligence and data and information sharing, who are committing those gun crimes in our city and holding people accountable. And that’s going to be very important. We cannot allow this type of violence to happen. The pandemic certainly set us back as a community. We went through this period of civil unrest and we are a leaner department than we are today than we were a year ago.
So I’m also utilizing a mutual aid assistance, which really means we are collaborating more closely with our Hennepin County Sheriff’s deputies, our state troopers, our federal partners, our Minneapolis transit department, police department, to make sure that we are continuing that public safety effort in all parts of our city again. Whether it’s Lake Street, Broadway, Uptown, we’re making sure that we’re coming together to provide and be able to respond appropriately to these situations.
Chief, you mentioned mutual aid, and we’ve got a couple of questions about the spate of violence at the University and that’s an area near and dear to me, and I know they have their own police department. Maybe you can explain how you work with them and in the moment, what’s the plan around Dinkytown?
The University campus area is actually really unique in that they do have their own police jurisdiction led by Chief Matt Clark. And we have a wonderful relationship both as Chiefs and certainly as departments. And our second precinct, our geographical precinct in Northeast and Southeast Minneapolis, also is within that University of Minnesota corridor. So we’re working very closely with Chief Clark and his team. Whether it was the incident, the tragic incident the other night outside of Barney’s pub, our second precinct officers are responding quickly. They were working and managing those scenes with U of M police department.
Our investigative teams are working closely with the University of Minnesota police department to bring in investigative resources to help investigate those. We are also looking at shared technology and camera systems. We have a wonderful robust camera system, public safety system in downtown Minneapolis.
We want to make sure that we’re working collaboratively with our U of M partners and being able to share that information and have people to monitor those cameras to keep our University businesses and residents and students, make sure that they keep safe. And so we’re going to strengthen those relationships. I was just literally on the call with Chief Clark yesterday, and we’re going to be innovative and see how we can collaborate differently as well to make sure that we’re providing a sense of safety and coverage over there in that University area.
Couple of questions as we begin to wind down here, Chief. Going back to the hiring process, I know when I worked for the city at St. Paul years and years ago, we had a residency rule. And I don’t think the courts upheld it or was popular, but that seems to be an issue that comes around every 10 years as requiring people to live in the city. That’s probably not going to happen, but we did get a question about that.
And then, just generally, you’re hiring. How are you pitching the selling wearing your sales. As business people, we think about sales, we think about persuasion. How you convince people to join the police department right now? What’s that message?
It’s the same question, and you mentioned sales. Clearly, right now, our profession, our brand and our image has taken a hit, quite frankly. Police departments, for so many years, when situation or incidents have occurred that have been negative, we have tended to take the posture of hunkering down, waiting for the storm clouds to roll over and then coming out again.
Unfortunately, others will hijack that narrative. You can never get that space and time back. And that is so vital. We have to own and be accountable to our communities when situations happen. So communication, the branding, the image, those are all very important things. And so a couple of things that we are doing.
We’re meeting our communities where they’re at, we’re reaching out to young people particularly. We’re asking them that amidst of all that has occurred over the past year, is there something that you would like to do to bring differently to this profession in service to your community? Are there things that if you were a Minneapolis police officer, the things that you would want to personally see and change and respond differently to our community’s needs.
Quite frankly, it’s also having tough conversations. We need to have those tough conversations. We are never going to be, nor should we be the same department we were a year ago or five years ago. We need to continue to evolve and grow and learn. And so that’s going to be very important. I will also tell you that we closed the application process for our Minneapolis cadets that will start later this year. We had over 100 applications. Over 100. That’s promising.
Amidst everything that is occurring, we need to make sure that we’re getting the right, the best, the brightest public servants who want to give back to this community. And at the same time, add and contribute to positive culture within the Minneapolis Police Department. That’s going to be very important as we move forward. And we’re meeting people the traditional ways of going to a college campus, which is so important to recruit, but we need to do things differently.
We need to know that the job market is changing. There are people who have been in perhaps banking who are saying, you know what, I’m thinking about a different shift. Is there something I could do in terms of community service work, maybe policing and giving back. And so we’re looking at and exploring different ways, where we’re meeting people working with our private sector folks. Communication. I will tell you that there are two things that I always struggle with as a leader and one is time and the other is communication.
Time being that there are people on the inside of the organization that say, Arradondo, are you’re moving way too fast. And there are people in the outside that says, you’re moving way too slow. But communication, people receive their information in so many different formats today. And the messenger is also just as critically important as the message.
And so reaching out, if you would have told me a year ago that we’d be looking at recruitment ads through TikTok, I wouldn’t know what you were talking about. But we’re looking at trying to be innovative in all of these different ways to make sure that we’re really getting the best and brightest people who want to give back in service to our community. And so that work will continue.
It is a calling. And I’m not surprised that it may be attracting people who are looking for a career change or who are or will go into a difficult situation. There’s people who will respond positively with that. On the question about, as you hire people and they go through the Academy, how much training do they get? And are they in a squad with a seasoned officer for a year or a number of months? How do you deal with that when you’re understaffed? From historical levels.
That’s a great question. So we are about a third less of a department than we were a year ago. So one of the things in Minnesota is that, to be a peace officer in Minnesota, to obtain a peace officer’s license, you have to have at least a two-year degree in criminal justice or law enforcement taught at one of our many colleges and universities in the state.
Once you do that, there is a skills portion that is a generalized state skills portion that you have to go through and successfully pass. Then if you are able to come on and join the Minneapolis Police Department, our Academy process is about six months long. And that’s everything from officers, having community instructors coming in to talk about everything from our native indigenous communities and cultural learnings from that.
We have mental health professionals that come in and talk about crisis and signs and resources. We also talk about state law, training and use of force, de-escalation. And so there’s all of that training. And then if they successfully pass the Academy portion, then there’s a five-month field training officer or FTO program.
And to the question specifically, we are really doing a better job of tightening up and making sure that we have the best FTOs. These are the people that are going to be given that real-time, on-the-job training and tutelage to our men and women. And so that has to be a coveted position, the FTO position. And so we want the best FTO officers to give that instruction.
And then that is a five-month process that they are graded in and trained and really trained in terms of making sure that they have the necessary skills, mindset in terms of being a peace officer. And then there’s the year probationary period. So those are some of the measures in which it requires someone to be a Minneapolis police officer.
Well, Chief, we are out of time. I want to acknowledge the many other questions that we’ve received. We’ve got questions about more on homeless, more on the trauma in police. Somebody wants to make sure your plan has a statement of values and principles at the top. Question about domestic violence, and protest voices, and how those get dealt with. We just simply don’t have any more time.
But I want to thank you for listening to our customers and friends of Sunrise Banks to make some final comments here, and we’ll move along.
Thank you, Rick. Thank you so much for having me. To the Sunrise Bank family, thank you for having me as well. Again, it’s a humbled honor to serve all of you, and I will continue, as Chief, to do my best to make sure that we are really doing our best to uplift our communities, serve in a way that sees that shared humanity, and to make our city safe and vibrant.
For Sun Bank family members, if you go online and look up Chief Arradondo’s vision statement, I created that back when I became Chief and I thought that was very important to have a blueprint or a roadmap for all of our sworn and civilian employees. About what my expectations were, and I believed what our communities need us to be in order to better help serve them. So if you go online and check out Chief Arradondo’s vision statement, it’s done back in 2017, I think that might give an overview of what my vision continues to be.
But again, and I know that’s a short time, I’d be more than welcome to come back at a later date if your Sunrise Bank family would like to have me. But God bless all of you, and I wish you all well.
Chief, thank you for your public service, for this incredibly important and difficult job. Get out and enjoy the summer and the cities with some concerts. And get your musical ear tuned up here.
All right. Thank you so much, Rick. Appreciate it.
Good. Thanks to our audience. We will wrap it up. See you at the next business breakfast. Thanks, everybody.
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ght. Thank you so much, Rick. Appreciate it.
Good. Thanks to our audience. We will wrap it up. See you at the next business breakfast. Thanks, everybody.
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