By Valory Schoenecker/Murphy News Service
- Colleen Luna
The two finalists for the University of Minnesota police chief have all kinds of experience, one being a 2009 Minnesota High School Softball Hall of Fame inductee and the other who was incident commander for the 2014 Major League Baseball All Star game.
The university announced recently that Minneapolis Police Department Assistant Chief Matt Clark and St. Paul Police Department Commander Colleen Luna are the finalists to replace University of Minnesota Police Department Chief Greg Hestness. Hestness will retire in June after 11 years on the job.
During separate forums (Matt Clark forum, Colleen Luna forum) held in late March for four finalists, each candidate gave a brief presentation and answered questions posed from audience members and those watching online.
- Matt Clark
The two runners-up included Metropolitan Transit Police Department Captain James Franklin and University of Minnesota Police Department Deputy Chief Charles Miner.
In a public safety update released to the university on March 26, Vice President Pamela Wheelock said, “We had a good number of people in the auditorium and even bigger groups watching on UM Connect, and the questions posed to each candidate were thoughtful and challenging.”
Besides being a Minnesota High School Softball Hall of Fame inductee, Luna’s professional career included being the senior commander for internal affairs, the West District, and homicide and evidence units for the St. Paul Police Department .
Clark spent his professional career as a an inspector, a lieutenant, and a sergeant for the Minneapolis Police Department, along with being the incident commander for the 2014 Major League Baseball All Star game. The Star Tribune reported that Clark was offered the police chief job in Bellevue, Wash. in 2014 but turned it down.
Pamela Wheelock, U vice president of University Services, said the plan is to have a new chief in place by mid-summer.
Reporter Valory Schoenecker is studying journalism at the University of Minnesota.