Meet St. Paul's new interim police chief

ST. PAUL, Minn.  -- The Capitol City has a new top cop.

Deputy Chief Jeremy Ellison will serve as St. Paul's interim police chief until a permanent replacement is picked. He spoke with WCCO's Reg Chapman about his plans, and why he's not ready to take the full-time job just yet.

"This is like the front porch of St. Paul. It's a place where we can come down here, we can sit on a park bench and have a conversation," said Jeremy Ellison.

Ellison wanted to do just that in Mears Park, a section of downtown he served as commander for years. Now not just the front porch of St. Paul, but the entire city is his to serve and protect.

"It's important for me, especially as I continue to move up the ranks of the police department, to understand what's actually happening on the streets of our city and to make sure that I'm being responsive to our community," Ellison said.

Ellison has a heart for St. Paul. He was a St. Paul Police Department Explorer at the age of 14. Ellison was sworn in as a police officer in 2000.

"Becoming a police officer is something that I've known I've wanted to do my entire life," Ellison said.

He knows it will take all hands on deck: police, community, the Mayor's Office and Office of Neighborhood Safety to tackle crime across the city.

"We're looking at prevention, intervention and enforcement. And our goal as the police department is to prevent crime before it happens, to get the people who are on the path of committing violence off that path," Ellison said.

Ellison says St. Paul must succeed in recruiting and retaining officers. It's competitive since most departments across the country are looking to hire police.

"We can train people how to become police officers, we can train them the St. Paul way, but we really need to be looking at the character of the person and hire that heart and get them into our department," Ellison said.

His priorities also include increasing diversity at all levels in the department. With all these plans, he does not plan on applying to fill the top job permanently, just yet.

"I'm really fortunate to have the opportunity to be the interim chief, to see what's it's like to be the chief of police to St. Paul, so that in about six years when I'm in a different place I can make an informed decision on whether or not I'll put my name in the hat for that job. But for this round, I am not going to be putting my name in the hat," Ellison said.

Ellison has met with his counterpart across the river, Minneapolis interim Police Chief Amelia Huffman. He says both are talking about recruiting quality officers to their departments.