MINNEAPOLIS — Hennepin County Chief Judge Todd Barnette oversees 63 judges and works with court administration in his current role.
Mayor Jacob Frey tapped him to oversee five public safety offices, including the police, as Minneapolis' second Community Safety Commissioner. He sat down Friday for a one-on-one interview with KARE 11's Lou Raguse.
Lou Raguse: One of the questions you get asked the most is, "Why do you want this job?" Why do you think people are asking that question?
Todd Barnette: I think people are surprised that I would leave being a judge to come over to the city and want to be a part of the transformation when it comes to community safety. This job excites me because of the idea that we're going to take a holistic approach to community safety. It excites me because there is a willingness to act, to change things. It's new. What we're going to try to do is new. It hasn't been done before. That's why I'm leaving. That's why I want to be here.
Raguse: What are some of the specifics as far as the direction you want to take this position?
Barnette: Are we duplicating services? Are there things we can do better with a partnership within the city? Collaboration with the county and the state. I think that’s what really excites me.
Raguse: How will you be different in this role than Dr. Cedric Alexander.
Barnette: I don't know because I don't know what Dr. Alexander was like in this role.
Raguse: He came from a police background. You come as a judge.
Barnette: I think it brings a different perspective for sure. I think in this particular role we have these five departments. The police department gets most of the attention. From my perspective, the way I see it is, the police are at the end of the road and when you look at neighborhood safety, they’re at that prevention piece. So we’re trying to build up some alternatives before you actually get down the road to the police. Having that perspective and maybe my relationships I have with and partnerships I’ve established with the county and the state — I bring that. That might be different than Dr. Alexander’s.
Raguse: Crime in Minneapolis began to spike in 2020 during the pandemic. Why do you think that is?
Barnette: I don't know.
Raguse: What kinds of things did you notice began to change from your perspective as a judge?
Barnette: It's the age of the some of our defendants that we see, the people before us on the more serious crimes that I don't think we saw before. I think that we see more horrendous crimes than we saw before. I think for the first time, 2020, 2021, we started focusing on the wellbeing of our staff and our judges, which we really never did before, it was this is your job – tough it out. And now we are focusing more on the wellbeing of folks that are seeing these cases.
Raguse: What have you seen change over the last three years for the better?
Barnette: I think it’s more of – some of the approaches we’ve taken. We've seen increased number of folks in our treatment courts. We started a felony restorative court that I handle every two weeks. That's a change. I just think we've changed some of our approaches to people who've come into our system. It's trying to get people connected to services so they're not coming back.
Raguse: From what you’ve seen, what’s improved public safety in Minneapolis and what has not?
Barnette: I don’t know what has not. I know the changes that have happened with the behavioral crisis team that goes out instead of the police. That’s a change and that’s a good change. The social workers that are embedded with the police departments that are connected with families and trying to get them services where the police have had contact with them or others have had contact with them.
Raguse: What will be your first order of business when you take your new role?
Barnette: Find out where my office is. (laughs) To get to the point, I think one of the most important things for me to do is come in, get input from other people, and really understand what’s going on. It’s easy looking from the outside to think you know what to do or what’s going on. It’s different when you’re on the inside and you can rely on other people who have expertise and know what’s going on and get that input from them then move forward.
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