Minneapolis recorded more shooting victims than it had sworn police officers in 2021. At that time, a huge chunk of the department had walked out the door just as gun violence had surged and the city council was publicly vowing to reorganize what remained.

Someone still had to show up and run the thing. That someone was Chief Brian O’Hara.

A career law enforcement officer who started as a beat cop in Newark in 2001, Brian rose to become that city’s public safety director before taking on what may have been the hardest job in American policing: rebuilding the Minneapolis Police Department from near-collapse while simultaneously trying to win back a traumatized community.

Brian O’Hara was the 54th Chief of the Minneapolis Police Department, taking over in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. He previously served as Deputy Mayor and Public Safety Director in Newark, New Jersey, and is the founder of the O’Hara Leadership Group, LLC.