| Current St Paul Chief Harrington is not going to renew his term, so St Paul has started the process of selecting a new police chief. Since St Paul likes its police force, since St Paul is a leader in community partnered policing and since the police department has an active policy of growing great candidates from within, we expect to be choosing an internal candidate. The selection process starts with two community meetings of input to an already selected 22 person interview team, who then recommends five choices to Mayor Coleman. Mayor Coleman then picks one.
Since the role of police chief is very demanding, I expect there are large number of family conversations happening now among potential candidates. Maria Gottfried from the Pioneer Press has the best list so far of potential Candidates:
"Names of contenders that have been bandied around City Hall include Assistant Chief Thomas Smith, Senior Cmdr. Colleen Luna, Senior Cmdr. Bill Martinez and Cmdr. Todd Axtell."
Commander Todd Axtell is the first to respond to a request for an interview. Invitations have been extended to all candidates, so we hope to have more interviews.
The first part of the interview, in the first video, focuses on Commander Todd Axtell as a person. It explores his policing motivation and his philosophy of policing.
The second part of the interview, in the second video, focusses on the role of police chief, with some tough questions. |
| One of things that comes through in Todd Axtell's interview and indeed in all my interactions with the St Paul police is the deep respect that they have for one another. While I am sure that there are internal disputes and some dissatisfied people, this organization gives all the signals of "being on the same page", which I interpret to mean that they share the same goals and the same culture.
Commander Todd Axtell was very easy to interview, very approachable and very forgiving of problems. In the process, of editing I had to leave many good parts of interview out, to have a manageable size. Left out is the personal history of coming from the North Shore, of strong family connections and of starting out in a small police department in Breezy Point and Pequot Lakes. Left out is his educational background including a masters degree from St Thomas. Commander Axtell has long list of assignments across the city of St Paul, in many different roles. He is currently watch commander of the night shift, when the most "interesting" police work happens. In addition to police work, Commander Axtell has served on boards like "Breaking Free", a victim advocacy group for prostitutes.
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