Medaria Arradondo Transcript — Oct. 8, 2025

Kevin Johnson/NPF (00:00:00):

But when I was searching for someone who could address the presence of the National Guard in so many cities, and that number is increasing almost daily, I reached out to someone who I thought hands down would be the perfect person to address it. In the hours after George Floyd was murdered, the Minneapolis police chief was forced to make a difficult decision to request the assistance of the National Guard to secure a city besieged by rioters. Today, there is no fiery emergency requiring the National Guard and federal agents in Washington, Chicago, Portland, Memphis, Los Angeles, and other cities yet to come. But Medaria Arradondo was that police chief in Minneapolis, and he is with us today to address the public safety implications for the deployment of soldiers and federal agents to City Streets. Chief Arradondo or Rondo, as he prefers to be called, was appointed Minneapolis’s first black chief of police in 2017.

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He has gained enormous recognition for his role in leading the department through that crisis and implementing the necessary policing reforms that it required. He now serves as president and CEO of his own consulting agency. He is a commissioner of the Minnesota Public Housing Authority and a board member of the Fentanyl Free Communities Group. He continues to give back to his hometown. He is also the author of Chief Rondo securing Justice for the Murder of George Floyd, and on the fifth, just past the fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. I think it’s particularly appropriate to have Chief Arradondo with us today. So please welcome Chief Arradondo.

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:02:13):

Thank you so much, Kevin. Thank you very much. Good morning everyone. Great. It’s good to see you all. I have to tell you I’m a little bit nervous. I’m with a group of some talented journalists and it’s great to be here. And I want to thank Kevin for the kind invitation. I’m hoping we can have a conversation. I’ll certainly share with you my opinions on where we are today as a nation, specifically as it relates to many of our cities either dealing with National Guard soldiers in their towns and communities, or certainly other cities, believing that that action will take place in the coming days. And so as Kevin alluded to during the summer of 2020, after the murder of Mr. Floyd, our city of Minneapolis, we had suffered unprecedented unrest like we had never seen in the history of our state. Quite frankly. I was faced with a series of decisions that I had to make that I would never wish upon any police chief to have to make, but our city was undergoing so much and there were so many different occurrences occurring where I did not, and I no longer had the capacity as police chief to help our city stay safe.

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And so I made the decision. I can remember the evening I made that decision. I was in a section of our city where the third precinct was located, and I remember sitting in my unmarked vehicle and I had the police radio on, and I could hear the police dispatch say, we need officers to respond to the target store that is being looted, and its employees are sheltering in place in their offices. The next second she says, the auto AutoZone to my left, which I can see visibly has been set a blaze and I can smell the burning. It’s a tire manufacturing store, and I could smell the burning rubber. And then the next thing she says is that the Minha liquor store has been looted and I can see individuals on top of the store and they’re throwing Molotov cocktails, and this is happening in a stretch of over a mile and there’s fires arsons occurring. And I had to make the call to my mayor, and I told him specifically, I as your chief can no longer keep our city safe. I need you to make a formal declaration to the governor for National Guard assistance.

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The mayor paused. He said, excuse me, can you repeat that? And I know he heard me, but he could not believe that that was the situation that we were in. So it was a dire situation. And eventually he and the governor, governor Walls communicated, and eventually our city did have a deployment of National Guard soldiers. It is my belief that having our National Guard soldiers and citizen soldiers and airmen come into your city works best when local authorities have both retained operational lead and an operational voice. I strongly believe that those who are closest to the community are in a much better position to lead.

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When you bring in soldiers to an urban community, environments that they’ve never been trained for, that creates a lot of different dynamics. And so my test as chief was a really three approach. The first I have to look at, is there an operational necessity? Do we need them first and foremost? Is there a community legitimacy, meaning that is the community going to look at our soldiers coming into our communities as a protective presence or are they going to look at it as an occupying force? And every leader will have to, whether that’s a chief of police or mayor, is going to have to really make that decision.

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And the other third part of that is it has to be a time limit. These soldiers cannot occupy our cities indefinitely. First of all, logistically they can’t. They have other main duties that they’re responsible for. It is very and extremely costly to have and deploy soldiers into our cities. And so that approach, that three-prong approach was very important and necessary. The National Guard, if they are deployed into cities, and certainly as it was in the summer of 2020 in Minneapolis, they’re a bridge of capacity. I did not as chief have the capacity to deal with just the regular 9 1 1 calls, but we had to have a fire response. We had to have police officers attend with them EMS, there’s all of these things going on. So National Guard Soldiers for us in Minneapolis under those types of situations, they were a bridge capacity because we no longer had the resources.

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But a bridge capacity is not a cure. And so I’m losing you here. We have to recognize that anytime that they’re deployed into our communities, it’s not a cure. It should be really defined. Now, have we utilized National Guard in our cities in America? Absolutely. It is not unprecedented. The first, historically, the first time the President has utilized National Guard soldiers in our American cities. We can go back to as early as 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas. And for those of you who know your history, there were governors and elected officials at that time who wanted to keep their, particularly their educational institutions segregated. And so the president brought in federalized troops to help with segregation. Fast forward 1967 and 1968, when protests were breaking out across the country, specifically in major cities like Detroit, Chicago, Newark, Baltimore Governors mainly requested guard soldiers to come in to help keep their city stable and calm.

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1992, after the beating of Mr. Rodney King in Los Angeles, then the governor also requested federal troops to come in to help quell some of the disturbances. There we saw soldiers that were operating under a Title vii, a federal Title VII for Katrina. And just so you understand, the majority of federal, excuse me, national Guard soldiers that come into our American cities at the request of governors is under what they call a section 30 tour, a Title 32, and the governors request that they’re working collaboratively with their city communities, local communities, they have specific plans, and we see that whether it’s river flooding, fires in California, those types of things. Title 10 is when it’s really a federal initiated where there’s either federal facilities are being targeted, those types of things. And there’s another component, legal component called the Insurrection Act. It’s over a hundred years old, and that is basically that there are cities that are basically denying its people their civil rights. There has been conversation over the last 48 hours of our administration considering utilizing the Insurrection Act.

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It is legal, the Insurrection Act is legal, but it’s heavy in terms of on the politics and operations. And none of us in this room were alive the last time that was really rolled out. So when you do utilize National Guard soldiers, there’s a lot of considerations that I just mentioned. But the other thing that gets overlooked is what is the community’s temperature for that? Many of the cities that I mentioned had gone through a lot. Matter of fact, in Minneapolis, we also had National Guard soldiers back in the late 1960s after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King. And there are a lot of members in our communities that still carry that generational trauma of what it’s like to see national soldiers walking through their communities with rifles and their gear. So communities have to be in any part of that. Communities have to be a part of that.

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When our National Guard soldiers came in to Minneapolis, it was important that we were giving daily briefings to them, and it was mission specific. You’re going to see National Guard soldiers at this intersection. They’re going to be in this business district. There was a liaison, we were briefing them. We had daily briefings, six o’clock in the morning, excuse me, six o’clock in the morning, and at 6:00 PM if there was an incident of force, we had promised our communities that we would investigate, look into those and report back to them within 72 hours. Community has to be a part of that and any of those discussions, because eventually the National Guard soldiers will leave, and we don’t want to erode any sort of trust that was there to begin with.

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So those are some of the factors and dynamics that all of you are seeing in dealing with. Again, it’s not unprecedented that National Guard soldiers usually at the request of governors have come into cities and towns across America. But we’re seeing now this more robust, these actions of wanting to bring National Guard soldiers into our cities. I certainly want to open up for questions here soon, but I want to say that the actions right now that our administration is taking place, I think that I’ve always looked at it as kind of a three a triangle, a three-pronged test. Is there legal clarity to it? Are courts saying that there is justification legally to bring in these soldiers? And when I say this, this is if it’s going to be a unilateral decision to bring in these soldiers without state’s request. So is there legal clarity to doing it?

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The other question that should also be asked, is it mission specific? Do they know exactly what their roles are, what the ROEs, the rules of engagement are going to be? And then also, is there community legitimacy? Does the communities that you’re bringing these soldiers into that they recognize and understand and accept the fact that they’re needed at this time? Those are all very important. And by the way, if one of those triangle pieces is not there, there’s a high propensity that mission failing and failing our communities. So we’re going to continue to stay tuned. I am so appreciative of the work that all of you are doing in your spaces. Free press is so very important and has always been, it’s one of the cornerstones of our constitution. And so I appreciate all the work that you’re doing and the platforms that you’re doing to make sure that you’re getting the facts and the truth and holding those in positions accountable. I’ve been in enough press conferences and I have to be held accountable as well. And so it’s an important function in our democracy that all of you are engaged in, and I truly appreciate the work that you’re doing and support you in that. So with that, Kevin tells me this is not a bashful group. So yes, sir.

Kevin Johnson/NPF (00:15:42):

Yeah. But while you’re waiting for that

Sean Keenan | Atlanta Civic Circle (00:15:51):

Test, test, test, sorry. Hey, go ahead. My name’s Sean Keenan, I’m here from Atlanta. Thank you for joining us, chief. So this conversation is reminding me of an article I read, I think two years ago in the Atlantic that analyzed Steven Miller’s plans for a second Trump administration and mass deportations, and the author theorized that when blue states or blue cities were reluctant to participate in these deportation efforts, there was room for conflict between either Red State National guards coming into Blue States and clashing with local law enforcement, or maybe worse, red State National Guard clashing with Blue State National Guard. And this all rounded out to a warning about what could be the starting gun for Civil War. So I’m curious, how much do you think about or worry about an upcoming Civil War and could you just reflect on some of the possible sources of tension, whether it’s between local law enforcement and federal troops or other wives?

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:17:03):

Yeah, that’s a great question. So one, I by nature am a hopeful optimist, not Pollyannish in that sense, but I’m very hopeful and I look every day. And by the way, I believe that hope is not a mood, it’s a practice. So every day I look for those situations that play out in our lives where hope exists. I have seen that play out, quite frankly, even more recently, there have been federal judges who have been appointed under this current president administration who have said, we need to pause. We need to make sure we’re doing this right. And there will always be other administrations. And so I am hopeful that there will be, and there should be. I mean, we have the co-equal branches of government, and that there will continue to be people who will speak up and examine the facts as they see them and make sure that we’re going about the right path specifically. And I did not follow that specific story in the Atlantic, but I will tell you that we’ve even seen more recently leaders in our business community and our tech industries when it comes specifically to immigration, where they’re going, we’ve got to rethink this here. So I don’t see this as a civil war. I’m also reminded about our history.

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The late 1960s, we were certainly early sixties going into, we had seen a president assassinated. We had seen his brother assassinated. We had seen Dr. King assassinated, Medgar Evers, Malcolm. We had seen a lot that was gripping us, by the way, and we had the Vietnam War taking place, and for the first time in our history, those images were being televised back home to people as well. So we’ve gone through crises in this country before the mere fact, or I’ll also tell you where I’m hopeful, all of you, the moment you stop doing your work, then I’m concerned. And by the way, and I don’t say that Pollyannish either. I know there’s pressure on large corporations, large media organizations, me and Kevin were just talking about that. That’s a reality. But the moment you stop asking these important questions, then I’m concerned, but I’m hopeful. I don’t believe we’re going to have a civil war. The second part of your question, sources of tension.

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Yeah, the sources of tension. So I will tell you right now, we’ve seen this more recently in Los Angeles with the deployment of ice and troops out there. These things are for the officers, for the men and women who are out there every day serving their communities that trust, they got to earn that each and every day and one incident can set them back. Now you bring in another group of whether it’s National Guard or federalized agencies, and if they’re not operating on the same plan, that’s why is there a unified command system? Are we all operating under the same plan, the same mission? Our main goal, by the way, so if I’m a local chief and you’re the National Guard general, are we on the same plan? Our two main functions protect life and property. By the way, our other plan and mode, we are about deescalation, by the way.

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We’re also sharing any sort of threat picture. I can’t have you seeing intelligence that there’s a threat picture and not sharing that with us locally and vice versa. All of those things matter. And by the way, are we keeping our community plugged in when that doesn’t happen? And that’s why I said traditionally and typically when these soldiers, national Guard and Federalized folks are brought into our cities, it has worked best. When the locals lead that, it has always worked best. Those who are closest to the community, they know that community and it always worked best. Remember Citizen Soldiers, many of those folks, they work at the local hardware store. They’re teachers during the day. I mean, they don’t know those communities as well as those folks who are out there each and every day. So one, I don’t believe we’re headed to a civil war.

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I’m sure there are people who would like that to happen. The other thing is, I think in terms of trying to quell that tension, we have to communicate with each other. And I think that’s the, I believe, and you’re certainly will have the mayor here in a little bit, but I believe that’s the other one goal too, is they want to just make sure if we need your support, if you have to come in, let’s work together, let’s collaborate. Let’s make sure if there’s specific areas or federal institutions that we need to have protected or safeguarded, let’s work together on this. By the way, the community’s watching, if they see that friction, it makes them feel nervous. Yeah.

Carmen Russell-Sluchansky | WHYY (00:22:59):

Sorry, testing. Oh, okay. Good morning. Thank you so much for being here. I’m Carmen Russell-Sluchansky from Philadelphia, which is really kind of been able to avoid any threats of this having federal troops sent there. And I think part of it has been that Cheryl Parker has been able to, or our mayor has been able to fly a little under the radar. So I’d like to get a response to that. But somebody who has not flown under the radar in this regard is our district attorney, Larry Krasner, who even he had this presentation where he basically, I don’t want to say threatened, but he had this demonstration where he was, you brought up the Federal Guard going into cities where they were having in the sixties and seventies, especially over the Vietnam War. And he used that as why federal troops should not be sent because he brought up the Kent State incident. So

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Since you were bringing up history, I want to ask you if you know what operationally went wrong at Kent State. And then also I’m wondering what role does do you think that the DA could or should have in a situation like this? I mean, because obviously very opposed to this, he said anybody coming into the city, including federal troops who commit any kind of crime. And I think that he’s talking about possibly arresting people who may be arresting people or maybe even ice agents who are taking people hostage and such like that. So I’m just wondering, is there a concern about potential conflict between within those power dynamics that could explode, I guess?

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:24:42):

Yeah. Yeah. So the limited history about Kent State, I can only speculate that I think some of the dynamics that took place back then was a very clear directive to quell it, shut it down, quell it. Getting into this, back then, young people on college campuses were referred to as hippies, right? Beatniks. And it was just television for the first time was really, again, airing all of these types of images into American homes. And I think there was a, we need to quell this and send the garden there, and just there was no coordinated rules of engagement. We didn’t have words in terms like deescalation, those types of things. National Guard soldiers back then did not carry other less lethal weapons when they were marching through that college campus. It was their rifle and their gear sack, and that was it. There’s no pepper spray, no flex.

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So it was a different time back then. I will say one of the things that we have seen district attorneys across America, embroiled in politically is, and you’ve heard this progressive das, are they truly caring about victims of crime? And by the way, and if their city happens to be experiencing a violent crime uptick that is being magnified. And I will also say that that plays well to communities who feel that. Think about the dynamics here. If there are communities in cities that have felt that their local police departments have not really had trusting relationships with them, and they’re more disproportionately suffering violent crime, and they see or feel or perceive there’s a district attorney that is also not holding those accountable, that’s a mixture for others to capitalize on. And so you are seeing that there’s been recalls of district attorneys sort of under that same sort of lens.

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And political opponents, local, state and federal will certainly use that. And we’ve seen that. And so that’s why I think your roles are so very important to report out the facts. I’ve spent time as chief where you have a couple of horrific acts of violence, and even though crime is going down, you would think that the city’s on fire. And so it’s important to make sure that that messaging gets there. But district attorneys are certainly in the forefront, Ralph, in terms of politically and whether they’re targeting, maybe that’s not the best word, but whether they’re looking at them specifically in local races and campaigns, that’s a reality. Yeah.

Charlotte Matherly | Concord Monitor (00:28:16):

High. Hi, Charlotte? Yes,

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Yes. My name is Charlotte with the Concord Monitor in New Hampshire. And I’m curious about the relationship between local police and National Guard. You mentioned wanting to work together, make sure you’re sort of running out of the same playbook. I think maybe we’re starting to see some situations where there might be some friction between what these cities want their police to do and what the National Guard is being told to do. So I’m curious, in your experience, what is that relationship like and if there is that friction, do local law enforcement have any leverage or control in that situation? What is the power dynamic?

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:28:58):

Yeah. So I will tell you in the summer of 2020 in Minneapolis, I knew the general of our Minnesota National Guard real well. We were in the same operational command post each and every day. I knew his leadership team. We talked all the time. If there were 10 National Guard soldiers assigned to a district, we had a Minneapolis police supervisor with them all the time. Remember, many of these folks are coming from communities that are not in the city that they have. So we’re communicating all the time, Rondo, what’s the rules of engagement? How are we doing this? If an incident happens, are you going to have folks out there to investigate? We’re also meeting with community members, we’re advising. So we had that worked out really well. And that’s what the intent is supposed to be. When that’s not there, am concerned about things of deconfliction.

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If we’re not on the same page, and by the way, they have to follow their orders. If they’re not being asked to do anything illegal, they have to follow their command orders. But if we’re not talking, and I don’t know that you as the National Guard General is deploying folks out in this area, I don’t know that you’re going to have folks out there at two in the morning. Are you visible? Are you wearing armbands? Can people, I don’t want a friendly fire situation, someone on the nine one one call saying, there’s folks walking around our backyard or at this intersection stopping people with guns and our folks pull up and we don’t know. That’s important. Simple things like radio interoperability. Are we all on the same channel? Can I hear what your folks are going or where you’re going? Those rules of engagement are important. Again, the threat picture, if your folks are seeing someone on a rooftop with a rifle and you’re not telling us that’s a problem. So all of those relationships, that’s why. And from personal experience, the people who are closest to the community should have that operational voice. They should retain that authority and that we will work together. By the way, that general he wants it. He doesn’t want his soldiers harmed in any way. So that’s where it works better. But I understand the friction that can happen when they’re not talking and that can be problematic. Yeah.

Micaela Watts | The Institute for Public Service Reporting  (00:31:36):

Hi, sorry I’m all the way back here. Hi. Thank you for being here today. My name’s Micaela and I cover the criminal justice system in Memphis, Tennessee. The first National Guard troops are expected to arrive at the end of the week, but we already have hundreds of federal officers from all the acronyms in place already. It’s really clear to reporters there that they are not coordinating with our police department. They are usurping their power and policy. And I don’t want you to ask to speak for our chief of police, but I do wonder what you would have to consider before talking to a reporter in the press about the moment you’re in where you did not invite this federal intervention, and you’re not necessarily being given the courtesy you just spoke about. What do you need to consider when you’re speaking with press? And then maybe also what do you tell your officers privately? Thank you.

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:32:29):

That’s a great question, Mikayla. As chief, the first thing, if I’m in a conversation, the press, let’s say you’re interviewing me, you asked that question. These are all community members. I think being transparent and honest, recognizing the fact that yes, we have National Guard here deployed in Memphis. Probably your next question is Rondo, have you talked to the folks in charge of National Guard? No, but I will hope that we will have that open communication at some point. It’s critically important. I would probably try to at least surmise to our community. You can expect to see individuals in these uniforms of the National Guard somewhere within your community.

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We will continue to keep you appraised of the situation. I think it’s also very important to minimize rumor control. We experienced a lot of that in Minneapolis as well. You get one person who tweets out, there’s a hundred National Guard and they’re just stopping. Now you have to run and chase that down. And then I tell you what, I would also want to make sure I’m having an ongoing, please call me if you’re hearing something and I can either tell you yes or no. I think that’s going to be very important. Again, that’s one of the crises you run into, especially in this day of social media and how getting stuff out there so fast is if we’re not talking my counterpart with the National Guard, it has a tendency to make things real worse.

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There was a situation later that summer in Minneapolis where tensions were so high and in our downtown corridor earlier that day, a man had shot and killed another man. And a few hours later that afternoon, that suspect was walking along one of our busy downtown corridors, and two officers, two of my officers saw that person. And as they were approaching him, he looked at them, took the weapon shot and killed himself. What do you think was the first initial social media that went off? Who do you think they said killed him? I had to for the first time and I had to pause, but I had to do this. I had to get that video, which is very graphic, as you can imagine. I called my community leaders and activists because they’re hearing it now. Their phones are going off. You guys shot and killed this man.

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And I had to show them that video. And many of ’em said, Rhonda, we trust you, but they ain’t going to trust me alone. Loan trust, but verify. So you can imagine a National Guard soldier. The media gets out a rumor like that. I mean, these are all the things that as a reporter, I would be telling you, that will keep me up at night. If we’re not communicating, that’s going to be problematic. And by the way, it’s going to be problematic for the National Guard leadership as well. So those are the things that when we don’t have that relationship, and again, that’s why I say traditionally across America, that’s where it’s worked best. When governors are requesting that assistance, when local police chiefs are working with their National Guard folks, that’s when it works best. If we’re sending in people, and by the way, again, I don’t fault the National Guard soldiers, they’re being told a directive, they got to show up and do it. But when we don’t have that relationship of even just sheer communication problems can happen real quick. Yeah. Thank you for That’s a great question.

Kirstin Garriss | Independent (00:36:31):

Hey there. Thank you, chief for being here today. Yes, Kirstin Garris. I’m an independent creator, journalist based here in dc, so he has to say, I’ve seen a lot of the National Guard over the last couple of months or so and even covered it for The Guardian. My question is in a situation like DC where obviously the mayor,

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:36:47):

No governor,

Kirstin Garriss | Independent (00:36:48):

No governor, and the mayor did not ask for National Guard, and there were thousands of them here and still some here. And for a lot of people I’ve talked to or things we’ve seen on social media, a lot of people are like, the guard is just hanging out. They’re cleaning up DC quite literally cleaning up trash or they’re just walking around.

Mike Tony | Charleston Gazette-Mail (00:37:07):

And

Kirstin Garriss | Independent (00:37:07):

We mentioned there’s a cost to this. I guess, what are your thoughts seeing this enormous cost in this city? And for a lot of people, for all intents and purposes, they feel like nothing is being done or they feel like the guard isn’t doing anything, or there isn’t a mission driven purpose for them being in dc. What are your thoughts seeing that cost that’s still here?

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:37:25):

Yeah, that’s a great question. So I’m a firm believer that service is an honorable thing. When I would have our recruitment team with the police department put out videos of recruitment, I wanted them to be helping a victim of crime, taking that police report. But lemme tell you something, recruiting people to join the National Guard, which is a great service, how do you think that helps recruitment, right? Those are long-term effects that you have to consider. And what do you think the morale is for those folks? You got a 10 hour shift and it costs to feed. When we had our National Guard, we had to utilize our Minneapolis convention center. Food has to be brought, I mean, it costs rotating shifts, all of that. It is not cheap.

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Who do you think pays for that? So those, again, they’ve worked best when there’s that mutual collaboration. We have a singular operational plan, a mission specific, and it’s limited. It’s time limited. This doesn’t say that I talk about operational necessity. Does this look like it’s operational necessity? I told you about the radio call. I’m hearing target’s being looted. Folks are barricading in target, the tire shops going up. Yeah, it’s an operational necessity. I don’t have any officers to respond now just to 9 1 1 calls. You can justify that. It makes it difficult to do this. And so in DC’s, in a really interesting, your government structure, you don’t have a governor. And so that’s a great question. I’d love to hear your mayor respond to that. Oh, I’m sure you do. I’m sure you do. Yeah. But those are the dynamics you have to have. And by the way, I would think, again, if I’m the general of your localized national guard, their leadership has to look at those folks. Hey, you all are a squadron or platoon. Yeah, you’ve got garbage detail DC today again. So those are all things that have to be considered. That’s a great question.

Taylor Vance | Mississippi Today (00:40:14):

Yeah. Chief, thank you so much for your time today. My name’s Taylor Vance. I’m a reporter from Mississippi today, and I was wondering if you could speak to, after the National Guard left, I would assume that there was a large segment of the community who was not happy with your decision to bring them in. They might’ve felt betrayed already in a situation where there was some resentment toward the police. So could you speak to maybe how you worked to regain their trust and maybe some of the reforms that you did there and how you may have worked with the press to accomplish that?

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:40:51):

Yeah, Taylor, that’s a great question. So you’re absolutely right. When you make that decision, even when literally there are fires raging, what have you, there are going to be people in your community that are not going to be happy with seeing that presence in their community. So one of the things I made sure I was doing was, I mean, I was on the phone daily and at times I was going into mosque and temples and university campuses, and by the way, who’s with me a National Guard liaison and explaining this is their role, this is their purpose. Because if I’m going by myself, they’re going, well, that’s what you’re telling, but we’re seeing something different. And so making sure there was a lay liaison with me, also letting them know they are not going to be here forever. Now, we had a two-pronged or a two-factor situation.

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The guard came in within a week in Minneapolis that summer after Mr. Floyd was killed. And then they were on the ground probably for at least three weeks after that. But we were informing our community, but then I also had to tailor, we had to get ready. We had a court trial that was coming up the next spring, and they were going to also be deployed then. And so it was really making sure, and again, with National Guard leadership by my side, explaining that we had an interesting situation where many of our American indigenous native community had strong feelings about soldiers within our city. And the National Guard had a soldier who really had a lot of cultural competency in our native indigenous community and talked with them, listened to them, learned about the different tribes and tribal leaders and why it just really worked. But you have to put all that in. Again, if they’re just dumped in and there’s no communication you seem to do. I mean, it can make, and there’s a lot of work that just, even when you’re working together, there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done. And you’re still going to have some community members that are not going to be feeling good, but it’s easier to work with and get over those hurdles if you’re all on the same page. Yeah. Thank you. Taylor.

Amir Khafagy | Documented (00:43:15):

Hi, good morning. Good morning. My name’s Amir Ka fgi. I’m a reporter from Documented New York. So I’m listening to what you’re saying, and I understand in your situation, you invited the National Guard into your city in this situation, it’s being imposed on a lot of cities around the country, and they don’t necessarily want them there. The National Guard, I don’t think are there other than to just prove that this administration is tough and is trying to intimidate all these other cities. So how do you reconcile this idea of building bridges with communities when the National Guard come in, when they’re not there to build bridges, they’re really there to cross bridges and invade these cities and impose this feeling of fear, I feel, onto these cities. So how do you reconcile that? Because I think in this situation very different than your situation.

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:44:03):

Yeah, that’s a great question. And I will just say that communities, leaders have to be honest with the situation. They have to report back. Honestly, obviously you’re seeing that with governors, you’re seeing that with mayors that either they’re making public statements that, no, our city is not on fire. Our crime rate is not out of the roof. We believe we have the capacity by local law enforcement to handle this. We did not request this. If they are going to come into our cities, we want to just at least make sure if there are things that we can assign them to do or work with their leadership to do, let’s do that. Now, more recently, I believe it’s Chicago. I believe it’s Chicago, correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s a city that their mayor has basically said, you are not allowed to use any of our city property, whether that’s our convention centers or this. And so again, it it makes it very, and by the way, again, I talk about how does that help in a positive way, the National Guard or the federalized leadership that have to go report to their folks, and they’re hearing this that we weren’t asked for, and it’s playing out. So politically, it makes it tough. It makes it very tough.

(00:45:53):

Yeah. It’s a very difficult dynamic that we’re dealing with Now, when a mayor and a governor is saying, while we appreciate it, we don’t need the assistance. Well, they’re coming anyway. And the community’s response to that, and I was talking about our native indigenous community, what some of the tailored some of our community members were. They didn’t want them there anyway. Matter of fact, some communities are still trying to adjust to just their local police department’s history, just their local police department history. Now this is, and they’re saying, well, not only do we not want them, even our governor, they’re saying they’re not needed. So it makes it very, very difficult. And by the way, just lastly, I will just say that if I were a mayor or a governor and certainly police chief, whether it’s in Memphis or in Mississippi, I would start having a team involving local officials and community about, we need to start working on how we’re going to heal from this after this is over. Yeah.

Olivia Diaz | Associated Press (00:47:06):

Hi. Hi. My name’s Olivia. I work for AP. So a lot of my coverage recently has been about ICE is impact on the community or people getting arrested in the middle of the night by mask officers in plain clothes and cars that aren’t easily the detectable as law enforcement cars. You mentioned earlier about the toll these types of policing can maybe have on trust, right? It takes one bad incident and one person’s camera to just really make people scared and distrusting. I know you mentioned mayors and governors using their voice. I’m wondering about the responsibility of the police chief’s voice and what you would do if you were still in that role. The responsibility to protect communities and make people feel safe in their communities, but also to work with law enforcement partners. You, you’ve spoken a lot about trying to open those bridges of communication, but if you feel as though then you see things like this happening in your city, how do you navigate that and do you say openly, this isn’t helping our cause, or this isn’t helping meaningful work we’re trying to do here?

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:48:24):

Yeah, Libby, that’s a great question. I think the police chiefs have to now police chiefs also. And in my situation, I reported to the mayor of the city. We had a separation ordinance that’s been in place for over 20 years. And that separation ordinance basically said that Minneapolis police will not engage with a community member strictly or solely based on seeking their immigration status or their status. That’s been in place for over 20 years. Have I recently been into Minneapolis with the convoys and all that? Yes. I, you have to continue, I think, as chief to continue to use your voice, use your platform to let your community know, be very transparent and honest with them that this is still our position. We do not have any jurisdiction over federal folks and ICE coming to our community, but I will guarantee you that our officers, that has not changed. We are strictly providing by that policy that’s been in place for over 20 years. If you by chance, are experiencing other law enforcement agencies, local, state, or federal, harming our communities in any way you believe they’re violating your rights, we need to know about that. So there still that message, we can still and chiefs of police still need to deliver and carry out because again, at some point in time, I’ll say this again, they’re going to leave. They’re going to leave. And are we preparing our communities right now for that pain and that healing?

(00:50:02):

And so I’d say even more so, police chiefs have an onus to really be there for their communities because at some point in time, the cameras are going to leave. They’re going to leave, and it’s going to be us to have to repair those relationships.

Whitney McKnight | The Edge (00:50:18):

Okay. Thank you, chief. I think this has been really instructive, and you’re very positive and very optimistic. By the way, I’m Whitney McKnight from Kentucky. I have a paper in Kentucky at the Edge, but I can’t help but wonder about worst case scenarios You’re talking about this is what should happen.

(00:50:39):

Our president has already told us what’s coming. He wants to do training on war operations in our cities. I think I’d take him seriously. So I wonder, are other police chiefs, are other mayors scared? Are you guys talking about how this could actually go really south? And what will you do when all of these protocols that you’re saying have to be in place don’t get followed? And I think Charlotte’s question’s a really good one about what happens when there’s a question over national guards surpassing whatever it is the local authorities know about the community and usually do in the community. I’m not really sure that a clear line of communication and a clear line of authority, I am sure that’s not what this administration is looking for when they place the National Guard in the cities that they’re coming to. So the question is, what do you do when it doesn’t end? You keep saying optimistically, there is an end. Is there an end? How do we know there’s an end? I know we have due process, but we don’t always see that happening.

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:51:47):

Yeah. Thank you, Whitney. So let me say, and you’re going to say, Rhonda, this is you being hopeful again. Last week, everyone, there’s an organization called the IACP, the International Association of Chiefs of Police. They put out a statement that I had never seen that ever put out before, and that statement basically said that due to the increased political rhetoric that we are seeing on both sides of the aisle and the people that wear this uniform are the first face of government who have to respond to these communities, we need all of you to tamper it down. They even went so much as far as to say that even if elected officials are putting out rhetoric that is violent or harmful or threatening, we will use the laws to hold you accountable. I’ve never seen that before. I think that’s also why they realize we’re the ones on the ground day-to-day in our communities and having to deal with this, and it’s not helping our local communities at all. And so you asked me, okay, so Rondo, what if it doesn’t end or where does it end? I refuse to, I just believe, Whitney, that the people ultimately, they rise up in some form of matter, whether it’s at the ballot box, whether it’s going to their local officials protesting. The people have always had the last say and so, yeah. Yes.

Laura Guido | Idaho Capital Sun (00:54:07):

Hi, I am Laura Guido from the Idaho Capitol Sun. I had kind of more of a legal question. You talked about the precedent for what happens if the governor requests it, or what happens if the federal government kind of is the one sending the National Guard? What happens when one state’s, what’s the, I guess, legal avenue for one state sending its National Guard into another state? So for instance, Texas sending its National Guard to Chicago. I mean, who, I guess, what’s the legal pathway for that? Or is that clear and who’s responsible for if something goes awry there? Who’s accountable for that?

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:54:47):

That’s a very good question. Admittedly, I do not have a law degree. I will tell you that what I have publicly observed, Laura, is that has recently, that question has played out in California, and Governor Newsom had taken a court action to prevent his National Guard from going into the streets and deploying into California. And then a recent action was taken federally to use those troops and put them, try to get, I think, to Portland that was blocked. I know that Texas now is looking at taking their troops and putting, it’s going to be played out in the courts. And where the governor’s positions are is that is a state resource for us. And what if we have wildfires or this or that? And by the way, if we didn’t feel that it was of a necessity, remember we’re talking about operational necessity. If we didn’t feel it was a necessity here, if the other state you’re trying to take our resources and put, they’re not saying it’s an operational necessity. They’re saying that that’s not legal. And so a lot of that, what you just said is going to continue, in my opinion, to be played out in the courts, and more likely, we’ll probably go to the Supreme Court. Yeah, yeah. Has it happened before? Not, no, not that I’m aware of. No.

Mike Tony | Charleston Gazette-Mail (00:56:21):

Mike, turning to Gazette-Mail in West Virginia, thank you for your time. I wanted to read a sentence from a statement, our governor, Patrick Morrissey, released in August upon agreeing to deploy 300 to 400 West Virginia National Guard personnel here to DC saying, well, West Virginia is proud to stand with President Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation’s capital. The men and women of our National Guard represent the best of our state, and this mission reflects our shared commitment to a strong and secure America. What are your thoughts on Republican governors being eager to deploy their National Guard contingent, even when there’s a lack of that point on the triangle, the community legitimacy point that you mentioned, according to the folks that are and leaders that are in these places, what does that say about, what implications does that have in terms of the National Guard and how we as Americans think about emergency response and what the role is of law enforcement across the board operationally?

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (00:57:48):

Yeah, Mike, that’s a great question. Obviously, there’s a lot of politics in that Mike’s question, being that the governor of his state very publicly is supporting the president, allowing him to take his resources of National Guard into dc. And so what type of friction or tension does that naturally? Well, I’ll tell you this right now. I mentioned in Minneapolis that summer of 2020 that we had a lot of our community that was not happy with just even the presence of our own state guard. Even with us requesting them and working with them, Mike, I can’t even imagine if we didn’t need them, or our governor or mayors were saying we didn’t need them. And another governor was bringing his, you certainly your governor can say that and certainly want that, and certainly want to work with the administration to that. It creates a host of problems for that city that is going to receive those National Guard soldiers. And I also want to just emphasize, I mentioned that those folks in the sixties had to suffer through Kennedy assassination, king session, all of that. Well, today’s generation is also experiencing political violence. And I hope that we do tamp down the rhetoric because we don’t need violence directed at, for example, soldiers who were just following their directive.

(00:59:49):

I didn’t choose to be, this is what I was told to do. Whether they’re picking up garbage or what have you, they’re following out their directives. And so it is my hope that all governors think long and hard about that decision when we had to have them come into Minneapolis that summer. Oh, there was a need, and it was still tough on many of our communities. But I just think that if you don’t consider the cost of the community impact of that, it could be costly. Yeah. Thank you, Mike.

Kevin Johnson/NPF (01:00:32):

Well, unfortunately, I know there are many hands still in the air, but comes a time and we do have to shut it down. I hate to do it, but can’t thank Chief arradondo enough for spending the time and sharing his experience with you all today. So please thank

Medaria Arradondo /Former Minneapolis Police Chief (01:00:48):

Chief. Thank. Thank you.