BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — It's only his third day on the job, but with 17 years of law enforcement under his belt, Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges is ready to serve the City of Bloomington.
"I've been fortunate to be handed the keys to one of the best law enforcement agencies in the country," he said.
Hodges is Bloomington's first Black chief, in addition to its first chief to hold a doctorate degree. According to career and jobs website Zippia, about 71.5% of the nation's police chiefs today are white, while only about 8.5% are Black.
"That's part of the importance of being in this role," Hodges said, "for people to see that a kid from north Minneapolis can be the police chief."
The married father-of-two, who is also the former Prior Lake chief, already plans to change the department's mission and core value statements "to simply be respect." Hodges said he's meeting with each employee to go over what that means.
"We respect our community so we're going to protect our community, right? But when we arrest people we're going to do that respectfully," he said. "Where, if these people who do break the law, that we do have something in place for them should they choose to want to turn their life around."
It's a vision that goes beyond Bloomington.
"What I've noticed is, specifically here in Minnesota? The 'blueprint for hate,'" Hodges said. "The 'blueprint for hate' is putting people in that them-and-they category, right? And being a black male, I've been in that them-and-they category. And now we've seen that, in some circles, shift to law enforcement."
"My hope is that we stop using the 'blueprint of hate' and we stop switching out one group for the next. We need to do that in the metro."
Bloomington also just hired nine new police officers. Hodges says staffing levels are "okay" compared to nearby departments. Still, he plans to recruit more officers and says good values are a must.
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