‘The good, the bad, the ugly’ prepared Booker T. Hodges to be a police chief
Bloomington police Chief Booker T. Hodges demonstrated how a radar gun works during a meet-and-greet with the community. Photo by David Pierini
By David Pierini, Editor
Given who was in the room, Booker T. Hodges was not going to make it through his first official day as Bloomington’s chief of police without some tears.
More than 200 people were on hand for his swearing- in ceremony in April and they represented nearly every step of his journey to becoming that city’s first Black chief.
His wife and children were in the front row. There were former colleagues and bosses, including the governor.
On hand were lots of friends, those who played youth hockey with him on the outdoor rinks of Northside parks and those who gave him outlets when the abuse at home was too much. And there were friends who remember him dropping out of college because he could not read a textbook and then loudly clapped and cheered more than a decade later when he walked across a stage in his cap and gown to receive a doctorate degree.
“The mere fact that I’m here before you is a true testament to the power of belief,” he said during the ceremony at Bloomington Civic Plaza on April 11. “The Lord blessed me by sending people into my life who believed in me.”
Hodges, a proud Northsider, left his post as second in command of Minnesota Department of Public Safety, to oversee 123 police officers in the state’s fourth-largest city.
If there is one lament from friends, it’s seeing Hodges be chief in another city while his hometown searches for a new chief. Minneapolis continues to rebuild as it approaches the two-year anniversary of the police murder of George Floyd and the uprising that followed. It must also address a damning report by the Minnesota Department of Human Rights about racism in the department.
“His dream was always to be in law enforcement and in service to community. I’m disappointed we didn’t get him here in Minneapolis,” said community activist and longtime friend Al Flowers, who attended Hodges’ swearing-in ceremony. “I thought he would have been the right choice for the city.
“He is one of the highest-character persons I’ve ever known. We’re so proud of him. I could talk about Booker all day.”
Over the years, Hodges has had many titles – college dropout and car parker, college graduate with advanced degrees, NAACP president, activist, officer, deputy, assistant commissioner and now, a job he says is the most fulfilling, chief in Bloomington.
But he’s not shy in discussing another title – survivor of domestic violence. Hodge’s father was violent and often beat his mother. She died from head trauma when he was 12. His dad was never arrested.
“I know that God decides everything,” Hodges said. “God gave my mom peace because that was the only way she was going to get out of that situation. Unfortunately, He gave me a story to tell.”
Booker, by his own admission, is good at talking and a recent interview with North News covered his upbringing, his career (why he bypassed the opening in Minneapolis) and his ability to forgive his father. An excerpt of the conversation below has been lightly edited for brevity.
Hodges was sworn in as police chief in April. Photo by David Pierini
What exactly got you choked up during your swearing in ceremony?
I think it is hard to explain without getting into the spiritual concept, but it was just the realization that everything that I had been through in my life was preparation for this – the good, the bad and the ugly.
It was all preparation for this. And I mean, I can say with every position I've been in, I've never had that feeling except for this one at that moment. And I think I've had some big jobs.
What are your goals in Bloomington?
I do want us to be the best law enforcement agency in the country. And you do that by being reflective of the community that you serve, and being in alignment with the community that you serve in terms of values.
We're gonna have a process where we engage with the community, to develop a set of shared values that are both internal to the organization and with the community. Once you have those shared values, and having viewed those values as the new model of policing, I believe, we can go out into the community and those values are the same, right? So if we come to Bloomington, our core value is respect.
In our community, we don't tolerate disrespect. So if you break the law, you can be expected to be held accountable. And our officers don't get to be disrespectful to people. Viewed in alignment with those core values, it makes decisions and discussions that much easier to have.
How did George Floyd’s death change you?
It didn’t change me at all. I tell every single person in the organization this: If you're operating within the lines of policy and procedure, I got your back 100 percent... But if it’s over the line, 100 percent won’t have your back and they know that. It’s easy, once you understand that. You can’t go out here and talk to people in any kind of way because that’s disrespectful. You’re going to be held accountable for that. Just think if agencies had been doing that for years. In many respects, we’ve lost our way because these agencies just aren’t connected to their communities.
What about the open chief job in Minneapolis?
I thought about it for a second. In Minneapolis, there's just this feeling that you're always one incident away from something else throwing everything out of whack.
I think any chief will tell you, there are these three fronts that you may have to fight. You’ve got internal, the organization. You have a mayor, city council, city manager and then the community. You cannot fight on more than one of those fronts at a time. You can make change within the ranks if you have the backing of the community and the mayor and city council. In Minneapolis, you're dealing with a situation where you’re potentially having to fight all three. And that's a no-win situation. But I wish them luck. We all want Minneapolis to be successful as a police department. It’s gonna be tough for them to find somebody for that job (knowing) the magnitude of what you have to deal with.
Policing in Bloomington:
We're doing law enforcement as a piece of the criminal justice system. And at the same time, we've also emphasized that it's incumbent upon us as a government to put resources in place for people should they want to turn their life around. We don’t want to return broken people to the street, because they're just going to break more people.
We're gonna really focus on trying to get people to help. We’ve got two embedded social workers at our police department. So we try to put people in touch with the resources they need, if they want them. Our social workers are good. They meet people where they're at, and they ask people what they think they need to turn their life around.
Why did you want to be a police officer?
We didn’t really see Black officers growing up. I never got into law enforcement to (facilitate change). At the end of the day for me, it was about being myself. I’ve always believed in personal responsibility. I also believe that external pressure doesn’t work because if it did, rehab would be 100 percent successful.
A young deputy told me that a long time ago that, if you go back to the civil rights movement, it was ultimately inside those institutions who decided to make change. People could yell, scream, burn down stuff and nothing would change unless the people inside didn’t make the changes. I tell people
to put down the sign and sign up for your police department. People get mad when I say that sometimes but I don’t care. External pressure doesn’t work. Change comes from within the organization.
But I didn’t get into it to change law enforcement. Ultimately, I wanted to be that person that helped people. I know that sounds cliche, but the deeper part of that is to help people when they’re in crisis and when someone is trying to harm them.
“We’re doing law enforcement as a piece of the criminal justice system. And at the same time, we’ve also emphasized that it’s incumbent upon us as a government to put resources in place for people should they want to turn their life around. We don’t want to return broken people to the street, because they’re just going to break more people.”
How were you able to forgive your father?
My dad died the same day my mom did. He was physically here but his soul was gone. We had a big fight when I was 19 where I told him he killed my mom and the whole nine yards. He tried to throw me down the stairs to give you an idea what kind of fight it was. I realized I was a 19-year-old kid and he was a man whose wife was dead. It was done with his hands and he had to live with that. I was a mama’s boy and every time he saw me, he was reminded of her. I wasn’t going to continue to hate him. We actually became friends later in life. I tell the story about him, but I had forgiven him long ago for it.
How did you get through such a difficult upbringing?
I was playing hockey and then the same people in hockey got me into camping. That’s flat out what it was. Without those two things, I don’t know where I’d be.
I was never a bad kid. I didn’t really make bad decisions but it was because of those avenues I stayed out of trouble. I really liked playing hockey and I like camping. You got to go hang with people and be in the woods and I like to fish. It got me out of the stress of being at home and quite frankly, being at camp meant I knew where I was going to eat. When we went camping, I knew I was going to get three meals a day. That was that. It made it that much better even when it was raining.
Hodges grew up playing hockey on the outdoor rinks of North Minneapolis parks. He now helps coach in that same program. Photo by David Pierini
How did you go from college dropout to earning a doctorate?
Hodges, returned to Florida Southern College and doubled majored in political science and criminology in 2000. He received a master’s in public safety administration from Saint Mary’s University in 2007 and a doctorate in public administration from Hamline University in 2015.
I wasn't a problem kid at school. I didn't get in trouble. I played sports, you know, I was very good at math and I could talk. So I got passed along.
When I got to college, I was trying to read these (text) books. If you can’t read in college, game over. My participation was always good because I could listen, but reading, no, it just wasn’t my strong suit.
I came back home and started working at Allied Parking. I was just reading the Star Tribune, in between parking cars, and watching the O’Reilly Factor (a cable TV news show hosted by Bill O’Reilly) and it just started to click. I had dyslexia really bad growing up so when I was reading a newspaper it was using my finger (to follow each word) and then cursing myself out because, you know, we get taught the newspapers written at a sixth-grade reading level. I was really interested in politics. So I was interested in politics and reading the stuff in the paper and watching O'Reilly at night.
What advice would you give your 12-year-old self?
Simple answer: Everything will work out.