For 1st Time, Woman To Lead Minn. Public Safety
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Minnesota's new top cop comes from a suburban police department -- and for the first time the job will be held by a woman.
Gov. Mark Dayton chose Maple Grove police chief Ramona Dohman on Friday as commissioner of his Department of Public Safety.
The agency oversees the State Patrol, crime lab and emergency preparedness. It also handles driver's licensing and vehicle registration.
Dohman has been Maple Grove police chief since 2001, but has been in the department since 1984. She is a former head of the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association and has worked as a patrol officer in Marshall and Glencoe.
Dohman says public safety is "primary" for Dayton as he proposes a budget next month to erase a $6.2 billion deficit.
"The governor has said that public safety is paramount and primary in his mission and in his goals," she said.
Dohman has served on the state Police Officer Standards and Training Board as an appointee of former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who made her board chairwoman last June.
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