Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara has resigned, Mayor Jacob Frey confirmed in a letter sent to the police department and obtained by Alpha News and Crime Watch Minneapolis.
Crime Watch and Alpha News were the first to report Tuesday evening that O’Hara was out as chief, a role he assumed in November 2022.
“Today, I received an investigative report with concerning substantiated findings regarding Chief O’Hara’s leadership,” Frey said in his letter.
According to Frey, he told O’Hara that he would face discipline, up to and including termination, and O’Hara resigned.
In a letter of reprimand obtained by Crime Watch and Alpha News, Frey told O’Hara that an “investigation into your behavior substantiated that you interfered with a prior investigation.”
“The prior investigation included allegations that you had engaged in sexually intimate relationships with City employees,” Frey wrote.
“Although the investigators have concluded that the underlying allegations from the original investigation remain not substantiated, your interference with the investigation risked the integrity of the investigation and constitutes a significant breach of trust,” he added.
Alpha News reported in March that 30 complaints had been filed against O’Hara during his tenure.
Frey renominated O’Hara to serve another term as chief earlier this month. Assistant Chief Katie Blackwell will serve as acting chief. Blackwell previously sued Alpha News for defamation. She not only lost that case but also signed a declaration admitting that all of the judge’s findings against her were “accurate, true, and correct.”
