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Inside Politics
Prosecution Questions Minneapolis Police Chief. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired April 05, 2021 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:30:00]
CHIEF MEDARIA ARRADONDO, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE: Yes, our lieutenants are considered managers within the organization.
STEVE SCHLEICHER, PROSECUTING ATTORNEY: And what were your duties as Lieutenant?
ARRADONDO: I served for a time as overseeing the, at that time, the Federal Mediation Agreement that the Minneapolis Police Department had entered into with the Unity Community Mediation Team. And I also served time as a fourth precinct lieutenant on the night shift.
SCHLEICHER: OK. And what is the -- what is lieutenant in the fourth precinct night shift lead do?
ARRADONDO: You are -- you have a team of sergeants and a team of officers on a shift, that particular shift work the night hours in North Minneapolis. And really there is lieutenant there to support the mission of the precinct inspector, who is kind of like the chief of that precinct. But also then to support your officers on the shift as well, I guess.
SCHLEICHER: And how long did you hold that position?
ARRADONDO: It was probably about two years as well.
SCHLEICHER: Seeing a pattern here. What happened after that?
ARRADONDO: After that, I was appointed to the rank of commander.
SCHLEICHER: And what does commander do?
ARRADONDO: Commander now, unlike the previous civil service positions, a commander now is appointed specifically by the chief of police. And it is a higher position. And the commander is usually in charge of a division. And so at that time, I was appointed to commander of the Internal Affairs Division.
SCHLEICHER: And so you're now back to internal affairs but more or less overseeing the entire operation?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: And how long did you hold that position?
ARRADONDO: About two years.
SCHLEICHER: OK. And after that/
ARRADONDO: Then I was appointed as the first precinct inspector. And so that was a position in charge of the downtown precinct or first precinct. And that was a patrol function. So that was mainly patrol related functions, even though we do have great civilian teams who work on things such as crime prevention, and others, but I was appointed to first precinct inspector.
SCHLEICHER: OK. And what does the inspector do at that level?
ARRADONDO: The inspector at that level is really driving the work of the precinct monitoring, and working on trying to reduce crime in that precinct working with its stakeholders, its neighborhood associations, its business community, making sure that whether it's investigative of patrol in the precinct, that they have the resources and things that they need, interfacing with the city council members of that particular ward. And so that is really a lot of the work that a precinct inspector does.
SCHLEICHER: And does the precinct inspector then supervise, you know, maybe not at the ground level, but is responsible for the supervision of all of the different positions underneath the inspector?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: All right. And how long were you in that position?
ARRADONDO: About two years.
SCHLEICHER: OK. And after that?
ARRADONDO: Then I was appointed to be deputy chief, the chief of staff.
SCHLEICHER: And what is the deputy chief do?
ARRADONDO: Deputy chief at that time was a unique role and that I was really chief of staff for the chief of police, a lot of work, helping to support our Department initiatives, reaching out to elected officials, community stakeholders, boosting up programs, grants that the Department had received and in really carrying out the mission of the chief of police.
SCHLEICHER: And from there?
ARRADONDO: For about two years, I was appointed to assistant chief of the Minneapolis Police Department.
SCHLEICHER: And by whom were you appointed?
ARRADONDO: Then it was former Chief Janee Harteau.
SCHLEICHER: OK. And what did you do as the assistant chief?
ARRADONDO: That was really overseeing the day to day operations of Minneapolis Police Department and again, also supporting the chief.
SCHLEICHER: OK. And for approximately how long?
ARRADONDO: That may have been a little shorter about a year or so I think, yes.
SCHLEICHER: You've broken the pattern.
ARRADONDO: Yes, yes.
SCHLEICHER: And now of course you're the chief of police. How were you selected or who selected you to be the chief of police?
[12:35:05]
ARRADONDO: Well, I served in an acting or interim capacity, then under Mayor Betsy Hodges and then after that term ended, then Mayor Frey, of the City of Minneapolis, appointed me as chief of police.
SCHLEICHER: OK. You may take that exhibit down. So you've had certainly, it seems at every rank available within the Minneapolis Police Department in a variety of roles is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: And as such, are you familiar generally with the day to day operations, I guess from the patrol level all the way up to the level you are now?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: What I'd like you to do at this time is provide us with a little bit more information, sort of an overview of the Minneapolis Police Department and how it serves the city of Minneapolis. MPD's jurisdiction is within the geographic limits of Minneapolis. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: And what's the approximate geographic area that you're -- that you have jurisdiction over?
ARRADONDO: Well, to the north, we border a Brooklyn Park, Brooklyn Center, to the south of Richfield, to our east, just right up against the river, St. Paul, and to the west, Golden Valley. And so it's pretty large area.
SCHLEICHER: Would you agree that's about 58 square miles, give or take?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: And are you aware of the current population of Minneapolis?
ARRADONDO: Roughly about 400, 20, 30,000.
SCHLEICHER: How many sworn officers work for the Minneapolis Police Department?
ARRADONDO: Currently, around 700.
SCHLEICHER: And as the chief, are you generally familiar with the officers who work for you? It's a lot of people.
ARRADONDO: It's a lot of people. And so it can be taxing to try to we've, you know, we've got a lot of people that work in different areas, but I have a pretty good understanding of where folks are throughout the organization, yes.
SCHLEICHER: Yes. As we go on. I'll be asking you if you recognize some of the names of different people, we may have met to this point. But at this time, up until May 26th, 2020, an individual named Derek Chauvin was a Minneapolis police officer. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: And are you aware of who this person is?
ARRADONDO: I am.
SCHLEICHER: Do you recognize this person in the courtroom today?
ARRADONDO: I do.
SCHLEICHER: Would you please point to him and describe what he's wearing?
ARRADONDO: Yes. Mr. Chauvin is right there. He's appears to be wearing a navy blue suit, with a light blue tie and white shirt.
SCHLEICHER: Thank you, Your Honor. May the record reflect that the witnesses identified the defendant.
(INAUDIBLE)
SCHLEICHER: So I'd like you to please describe for the jury how MPD is structured to deploy law enforcement services to about 420,000 people over a 58 square mile area 24 hours a day, every day. Administratively, how is the department organized?
ARRADONDO: Administratively we are broken down into bureaus. And so as I may have mentioned, you have the chief of police that really leads the organization and its mission and vision and goals. And then we have an assistant chief that oversees the day to day operations.
After that, there are three deputy chiefs. And we have a deputy chief of patrol. And the deputy chief patrol is responsible for the five geographical precincts throughout the city of Minneapolis. We also have a deputy chief of professional standards. And that deputy chief oversees really two main function, and that is our training for our entire Department as well as the internal affairs portion of our Department.
And then we have a deputy chief, the third one of investigations, so all of the employees who work whether its homicide unit, robbery assault, that deputy chief oversees the investigations bureau. And we also have commanders who oversee these divisions, as I mentioned, they're above the civil service rank, they're appointed. And they serve in different divisions.
And the precincts as I mentioned, there's five geographically areas. We have five precinct inspectors in the area like the chief of police, for those precincts, yes.
[12:40:07]
SCHLEICHER: And so by my count, they were three bureaus. You have investigations, patrol and professional standards, is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: And the investigations bureau has a number of individual units within the bureau, correct?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: For example, what type of units are within investigations?
ARRADONDO: Yes, investigations bureau has homicide, assault, robbery, crimes against children. There were several different investigative unit.
SCHLEICHER: So within the investigative bureau, you mentioned homicide, that's where Lieutenant Zimmerman would work. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: OK. And the patrol bureau that provides services such as 911 response like you did when you were a patrol officer, is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: Crime prevention, traffic control, emergency services, all within the patrol bureau?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: And individuals, I'm sorry, and within the patrol bureau in order to provide those patrol services over the geographic area, we've heard about precincts. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: And if we could publish exhibit 269. Looking at exhibit 269, is this the geographic area of your jurisdiction? ARRADONDO: Yes, it is.
SCHLEICHER: And then can you just use 269 to describe the precincts and what they are and what purpose they serve?
ARRADONDO: Yes, this exhibit outlines the five geographical precincts. And this also lets our community know which precinct based on where they happen to live, which precinct their residents or business is a part of. And so you're able to see from this map here, sector one or precinct one kind of is in the center of there, covers downtown see the riverside area, the sector, excuse me, the number four at the top left hand corner, would be our North Minneapolis precinct.
And then second, precinct number two covers Southeast, Northeast Minneapolis. And then fifth precinct covers Southwest Minneapolis near the Lakes area. And then the third precinct covers our Southeast Minneapolis area.
SCHLEICHER: And focusing specifically on the third precinct. I see it's divided further into these sectors, is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: And that's for the purposes of being able to deploy patrol services, correct?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: Within the various precincts, this is primary a tool for dispersing patrol officers, correct?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: But they're also investigative functions within the precincts as well, correct?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: That would be specifically assigned to that precinct?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: OK. But professional standards that would cover all of the precincts, is that right?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: OK. If we could publish 268, I'd like to focus specifically on the third precinct. It's a little hard to see. But you can see the -- that's much better. Thank you. You can see the different colors. It appears the sectors that we looked at in the previous exhibit are listed here. And if you take a look at sector one that would be represented as 310 on the exhibit 268, is that right?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: And then sector two would be exhibit 320?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: All right. And we won't go through each of the sectors. But the purpose of these sectors, again, is to further distinguish different geographic areas within the third precinct or any precincts we'd be able to have say dispatchers deploy law enforcement resources there. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: Dispatchers like Jena Scurry, for example, could send a car to a particular location based on the different sectors that are within this precinct map. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct. Yes.
SCHLEICHER: And professional standards bureau. You can take that down, please. The Professional Standards Bureau, what's a professional standards bureau do?
ARRADONDO: One of the functions is training. We have a commander, again, that is one of the appointed ranks who oversees the training division, and they're responsible for making sure that not only our officers in compliance with our mandated post board educational requirements every year, but also really looking to make sure that we continue to evolve and that we're staying on top of necessary training that's important for us that has a benefit to our communities that we serve. And so that's a core piece to what our professional standards training division does.
[12:45:24]
SCHLEICHER: And so within professional standards, you have the training services and that staffed at the, I guess it's at the commander level, led at the commander level.
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: Who is the current commander of the training division?
ARRADONDO: The current commander for the Minneapolis Training Division is Commander Darcy Horn.
SCHLEICHER: Last year, who was your commander?
ARRADONDO: Last year it is -- she's now Inspector Katie Blackwell. But she was Commander Katie Blackwell last year when she led her training.
SCHLEICHER: And she would have been the training commander on May 25th, 2020. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: Yes, correct. There's other divisions within professional standards, I think you mentioned Internal Affairs. But there's also an Administrative Services Division. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: What is the Administrative Services Division do?
ARRADONDO: Administrative Services Division can deal with everything from grants, different types of programs that the city of Minneapolis is embarking upon, employee personnel matters as well.
SCHLEICHER: Also, you know, business software and equipment?
ARRADONDO: Technology business software. Yes.
SCHLEICHER: Body cameras, milestone cameras.
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: We met Jeff Rugel and that's where he works. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: Yes. Lieutenant Rugel is part of that, yes.
SCHLEICHER: I'd like to talk to you a little bit about the Minneapolis Police Department and reacting to calls for service. The role of the Minneapolis Police Department is generally to serve the community's law enforcement needs. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: And most requests for service come in through the 911 system. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: And you respond or officers respond to different calls for service. Could you please describe the types of calls for service Minneapolis Police Department commonly responds to?
ARRADONDO: Calls for service can absolutely range from everything from tenant trouble, to a loud party dispute, to domestic assault, to shooting and even homicide. So it can really range from a wide variety of types of calls.
SCHLEICHER: People will call to report a crime and request assistance, is that right?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: And people also call to report, you know, general emergencies?
ARRADONDO: Yes, they can.
SCHLEICHER: OK. What type of emergencies?
ARRADONDO: Medical emergencies. They can request calls for service for that. Oftentimes, we have community who are calling because it may be 3 o'clock in the morning and they don't know of any other service or who will respond. But they will call us for those types of situations as well.
SCHLEICHER: And I suppose what constitutes an emergency is in the eye of the caller somewhat?
ARRADONDO: That is correct, yes.
SCHLEICHER: But nonetheless, the MPD response?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: Do you know approximately how many calls for service the Minneapolis Police Department receives annually?
ARRADONDO: It's easily a couple of 100,000. And then we also have officers that we categorize as self-initiated activity. So that could mean an officer happens to be driving through a neighborhood and see something. And that reports out on their radio that they're going to look into itself. So it's a combination, but it's a lot of calls.
SCHLEICHER: And generally people don't call the Police Department to say, hey, everything's going great. Just wanted you to know, they have something that they want you to do.
ARRADONDO: Exactly, yes.
SCHLEICHER: OK. It sounds then like it's fair to say there's more to policing than just going out and arresting people, you provide a broad spectrum of policing services to the community.
ARRADONDO: Yes, I would actually say that the actual law enforcement part is probably pretty small compared to most of the types of calls our officers are being called to address and deal with, yes.
SCHLEICHER: So we've touched on police training, your own personal police training and how police training is dispensed I guess through the professional standards bureau. I'd like you to describe that a little bit further. Are you generally familiar with the types of training the Minneapolis Police Department provides its officers?
[12:50:01]
ARRADONDO: Yes. I am.
SCHLEICHER: Where does this training take place?
ARRADONDO: We have a large facility located in North Minneapolis, which we call our Special Operations Center. And that is where the vast majority of our required training takes place.
SCHLEICHER: Is the Special Operations Center that a dedicated building only for training purposes?
ARRADONDO: It's primarily dedicated for training purposes. Yes. SCHLEICHER: And I think you've testified and supervised by a commander. I'd like you to tell the jury a little bit about when now, currently, training begins for Minneapolis police officer who's hired on to the Department?
ARRADONDO: For a new officer who's hired on to the Department that first initial orientation to our training begins at the academy. And that, again, is overseen by the commander of the training unit. And it -- we actually have a class currently in place now at the academy had the sock and so that first initial indoctrination to our academy occurs during that first part of the training at the academy.
SCHLEICHER: Fair to say that the training that's provided to Minneapolis police officers is can be generally divided into two categories pre service training, and post service training. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: And the pre service training would include the academy that you've just talked about, is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: And then post service training as the continuing education that you've testified about previously, is that right?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: So let's again, focus on the academy of training. How many cadets do you generally have at a given time for class?
ARRADONDO: Well, we -- it's usually been a mixture of recruit classes and a cadet class. I would say that we average in terms of recruit class numbers around 30, cadets might be 20 to 25.
SCHLEICHER: So now I'm going to ask you to just define some terms a little bit and explain to the jury the difference between a recruit and a cadet.
ARRADONDO: Recruits are typically individuals who've already been focused, laser focused on a career being a Minneapolis police officer is what I wanted to do, they typically have already, at least their two year criminal justice or law enforcement degree. Most have completed their required skills training. Cadet was really created to capture diversity of candidates.
And so the cadet might have individuals who may have had a psychology degree, but it's really streamlining and then it's a little lengthier process, but it's really getting them on board so that they meet the state requirements, the post requirements to get -- to be hired. And so, the cadet program was a wonderful way for us to capture diversity within our Police Department. And so, but they both once their programs are finished, they're both classes whether your recruiter cadet, you are ready to successfully become a Minneapolis police officer. SCHLEICHER: Do you also take lateral candidates?
ARRADONDO: Yes, lateral candidates, we certainly have had hirings of laterals in the years past. Yes.
SCHLEICHER: And do those individuals also go through a similar training as a recruit?
ARRADONDO: Yes, the laterals can. It's usually much smaller in length of time just because laterals are individuals who've already served as police officers perhaps in another jurisdiction or another part of the state or out of state actually.
SCHLEICHER: We'll get a more detailed description from another witness that is at a very high level. Can you describe what the trainees do at the academy during this pre service training?
ARRADONDO: Trainees at the academy during pre service, they're really -- it's their first indoctrination into this world of being a police officer. So they're being taught about city and statutory laws. They're being trained on procedural justice and critical thinking, defensive tactics. They're having community members come in and speak to them about different aspects whether it relates to things that our cultures within our city. Technology is a huge piece of that, learning how to write reports on our computers. It's -- so it's they're really getting that basic indoctrination into the Minneapolis Police Department.
SCHLEICHER: As far as the methodology, is it typically classroom delivery, do you also have practical application? How does that work?
ARRADONDO: Yes, it's a layered approach. It's both the practical academic studying examinations that occur but it's also scenario based. And so there's scenarios that they will go through and whether that's crisis intervention training or other aspects. So it's a layered approach to the training.
[12:55:19]
SCHLEICHER: And in this pre service training, then once the officer or candidates completed the pre service training, what's the next phase before becoming a fully functioning police officer?
ARRADONDO: Once they can complete that training, they're making sure obviously, that they've met the requirement for the licensure for the Minnesota Post Board. And then ultimately, they're going to get sworn in and hired on as Minneapolis police officers.
SCHLEICHER: Are you familiar with a program called the Field Training Program or FTO?
ARRADONDO: Yes, I am.
SCHLEICHER: Is that part of the pre service training?
ARRADONDO: That would be, yes. SCHLEICHER: Can you just give us a general description of what the FTO or Field Training Program is?
ARRADONDO: The Minneapolis field training officer program is really once the recruit has gone through that series of pre service training, it's now teaming them up with a mentor basically. And they're being gauged and judged on certain performance measures. And it takes course, over a period of several months, usually about five months, and the given instruction. They're seeing how well they are able to handle certain types of situations, calls.
And they're also having feedback, not only from your FTO, but they're also having conversations with the supervisors in the training bureau, and seeing how they're doing, they're assessing their progression. In the event, a candidate is not progressing, they're making sure that their support mechanisms for that, where they need extra help. And yes, at times, we have candidates that don't successfully complete it. And so, but that's really getting them to the point where they can ultimately be really on their own and be able to function on their own as a sworn Minneapolis police officer.
SCHLEICHER: OK, And so once they've completed the field training program, and I think is, you know, per your testimony thus far, the training doesn't stop there, you have post requirements that you'd have to fulfill every year, in your post service training. Is that right?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: And is that delivered through a series of in service trainings that occurred the same training facility you mentioned?
ARRADONDO: Yes.
SCHLEICHER: Is that training optional? Can an officer go somewhere else to get their post credits and skip the in service or is that training required?
ARRADONDO: That training is required annually?
SCHLEICHER: Do you have to take it?
ARRADONDO: Yes, I do.
SCHLEICHER: What type of training is provided in the in the post service training?
ARRADONDO: Some of the training that is provided in the annual training can be a Critical Incident Training, CIT training.
SCHLEICHER: CIT is Crisis Intervention Training?
ARRADONDO: Crisis Intervention Training, thank you. Yes, Crisis Intervention Training, defensive tactics, basic CPR or first aid. Those are some of the types of training that is required annually, yes. SCHLEICHER: Even though they've already extensively been trained on all of these things before, you're still doing the same training annually?
ARRADONDO: That is correct.
SCHLEICHER: Why is that?
ARRADONDO: A lot of that is just to reemphasize the importance of the training itself, muscle memory, because all of our Department members are being taught the same thing. We may have officers that are working in patrol capacity one year, and the next year, they may be in investigations. But they may be called to assist upon and so it's making sure that all of us have that basic necessary core fundamental training to better help serve our communities.
SCHLEICHER: And so if you could give the jury kind of an idea of the amount of time that is spent training your officers.
ARRADONDO: It's a lot. We put a lot of time, energy, and resources into our training. I believe last year, the Minneapolis Police Department in terms of our mandatory in service training and leadership training, we probably spent about $8.5 million in our pre service and in service training is probably about $4.5 million. So training is absolutely vitally essential to us as a Department.
SCHLEICHER: And on officers are paid while they're being trained. Is that correct?
ARRADONDO: Yes, they are.
[13:00:03]
