An ethics investigation into whether former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo misused city resources has been closed, nearly two weeks after he quietly retired from the force.
The city's Ethical Practices Board dismissed the complaint against Arradondo on Tuesday. The Minnesota Reformer first reported that because Mayor Jacob Frey issued Arradondo a letter of reprimand in December, the ethics board could not continue with the complaint.
Frey's reprimand stated the chief violated a series of Police Department, ethics and social media policies. The mayor's office did not respond to a request for comment.
The former chief did not receive any discipline in addition to the letter. Arradondo could not be reached for comment.
The ethics complaint stemmed from the final days leading up to the November election, when Arradondo held a press conference at a South Side church urging voters to reject a ballot question that would have erased minimum staffing of police officers and replaced the Minneapolis Police Department with a new department of public safety. Arradondo dressed in full uniform and stood against a photo backdrop featuring the police department logo.
Minneapolis voters ultimately rejected the charter amendment.
The day after the press conference, then-City Council President Lisa Bender filed an ethics complaint against Arradondo, charging him with violating ethics codes prohibiting city officials from using the city logo and city resources to engage in political activity, as well as an internal Police Department rule against campaigning in uniform.
In a statement at the time, Bender said, "We need a full and accurate ethics investigation of a press event ... including the role of the Mayor of Minneapolis in directing or planning the event."
Last fall, Bender filed a concurrent complaint against Frey. That complaint was dismissed Nov. 17.
