The Minneapolis Police Department is reforming its process for hiring new officers.

It all goes back to a story we first brought you last summer when social justice activists were demanding the department fire one of its newer officers with a controversial past.

MPD did fire him shortly after, but the whole situation raised questions about how he was hired in the first place, and Police Chief Brian O’Hara made a commitment at the time to reforming that process.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS started asking about those reform efforts in December. A few months later, an MPD spokesperson confirmed Chief O’Hara “identified deficiencies in the hiring and background investigations processes and has implemented reforms to remedy these deficiencies.”

Reporters first requested an interview with the department in April upon receiving that email. MPD declined.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS then turned to City Council Public Health and Safety Committee Chair Jason Chavez and gave MPD another opportunity for an interview. With only hour’s notice on Monday, they agreed to sit down 30 minutes before the story was set to air, which was past our deadline.

Chavez said he was able to get a meeting with the police chief and an outline of reform efforts within a couple of weeks of requesting information.

“I believe that transparency is important, and I believe that Minneapolis residents would be happy to hear that there’s some movement in hiring practices,” he said in an interview on Monday.

Reflecting back to spring 2023 — when a body camera video surfaced of then MPD Officer Tyler Timberlake at his former job in Virginia, tasing an unarmed man repeatedly and within seconds of arriving on scene — Chavez said, “What happened for us to be in a position where we’re not trying to hire the best and most professional police department in the country?”

MPD fired Timberlake shortly after journalists started asking questions, and O’Hara said during a July 2023 press conference that it’s “unbelievable” that the video wasn’t flagged earlier in the hiring process.

“I did observe the individual’s interview and as chief of police, I did sign off on the hire. But all of that was before I saw the behavior in that video,” he said at the time.

MPD has since added checks and balances to the system, like adding a commander as a third person to review and sign off on background investigations and by moving the hiring process under the Internal Affairs division, which is specifically versed in conduct investigations.

The chief also told Chavez the department has since turned a virtual hiring process to in person and tacked another week onto the hiring timeline.

You can see the full list of reforms below.

“This is a good step in the right direction, and at the same time, we can expect more,” Chavez reacted to the reforms.

“When we look at the folks that are signing off, that is great additional guardrails. But I think we should be adding our inspectors. We should be adding our chief, making sure that there are more folks that are looking at who is being hired and what processes are in place to make sure that we’re making the best decisions possible.”

The outline of reforms Chavez shared with 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS also set a clearer bar that council members can use to hold police accountable to promised progress, he added.