Duluth mayor promotes interim police chief to permanent post
Duluth Mayor Emily Larson has appointed 24-year department veteran Mike Tusken as the city's new police chief.
Tusken, who has been serving as interim chief, replaces Gordon Ramsey, who left earlier this year for the police chief job in Wichita, Kansas. Tusken served as deputy chief under Ramsey for 10 years.
Tusken outlined several priorities, including a focus on the city's growing heroin problem, and a revamping of the department's community policing strategy to put all Duluth officers in regular contact with residents to address public safety concerns. Until January, only 12 of Duluth's approximately 150 officers were designated as community officers. Tusken called that an "outdated model."
"[Community policing] is the only thing that keeps us from having relationship issues like you had in Ferguson, and in Baltimore," Tusken said, "where marginalized communities who had no relationship with the police, when things go badly, you haven't developed that relationship capital that you need to endure those situations."
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In addition, Tusken said he plans to hire a more diverse workforce. He says an African-American woman recently described to him how she welled up with tears seeing an African-American cop doing his job in a Duluth neighborhood.
"The impact of that experience, of seeing someone who looks like her representing the police, is very powerful," he said
Duluth's force mirrors the city's demographic makeup, Tusken said, but added it's important for the department to represent "and maybe at times over-represent that population," he said.
Tusken also promised to promote more women to leadership positions. He said the department currently only has one woman in a formal leadership role, something he called unacceptable.
The Duluth City Council is scheduled to vote on Tusken's appointment at its meeting on Monday.
In announcing her appointment, Mayor Larson called Tusken a champion for Duluth, "who not only has a deep passion and commitment to this city, but ... who believes wholeheartedly that we have enormous work to do as a community, and that we can get there, that we will ensure everyone feels safe within their homes, has opportunities, [and] is free from violence in their neighborhoods."