Police Chief Jason Ohotto

Excerpt from a conversation with Jason Ohotto, Park Police Chief, conducted May 17, 2023 by Angela Salisbury, Archivist & Records Specialist, at Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. Interview done for the MPRB 140th anniversary celebration, Our Parks, Our Stories.

The Ohotto family has served the Minneapolis Park Police for over 50 years, Richard “Rick” Ohotto beginning in 1972 and Police Chief Jason Ohotto in 1995. Here, Chief Ohotto shares stories about his father.

“My dad started working for the Park Board in 1972 as a Park Patrol Agent. Like today, Park Patrol Agents are not sworn police officers, but they wear a uniform, have patrol responsibilities, they can conduct some ordinance enforcement, and many are aspiring to become police officers. When my dad started, he was only 20 years old. He was going to Normandale Community College and grew up in St. Louis Park. He used the park system widely as a youngster, especially the lakes. It was a place that he knew, and he was really drawn to working here.

My youngest childhood memory is when my dad brought his squad car to preschool so all the little kids could see it. I went to preschool in the Linden Hills neighborhood, so it was on my dad’s work assignment, and he just stopped by. I remember it visually, all these little kids coming through the backseat and milling around the car and just how proud I was that he was a police officer. That’s a great memory to have.

Back then, Park Police colleagues, and their families, spent a lot of time outside of work together. They always had seasonal barbecues and picnics. They played softball together. They were in horseshoe leagues together. There was this sense of community where families knew each other, so I grew up with those relationships. I knew these police officers in an environment outside of them doing police work. I saw them as my dad’s friends and co-workers. That gave me a huge amount of admiration for these folks growing up. From a young age, one of the things that drew me in to working for the Park Police the most was getting to know all these police officers who I really thought were remarkable people, really nice people.

When I first started working here in 1995 as Park Patrol Agent, my dad was an investigator, so we worked out of the same building, but we had very different functions. We worked together for probably about seven years, and I am very grateful for that. I learned a lot from him my entire life but being able to have somebody who you could go to and work through questions and problems, I was very thankful for that.

My dad retired in 2002 but returned to the Park Police Department from 2003-2004 to service as a school resource officer. He returned in time to see be get promoted to sergeant in 2004. I think that made him proud.”