Fargo’s top cop ready for Richmond

My cousin, Chris Magnus, on my mother’s side has recently been named Police Chief in one of the toughest cities in the U.S. As a long time native of the Bay Area (14 years) it feels pretty funny to know that a relative that I’ve only been around as a real youngster is now Police Chief in the East Bay not too far from where my boys live (although Richmond and Pleasanton, CA are as far away demographically and socialogically as you can get). I’d be impressed with anyone who’d take on a challenge like this but it makes me even happier to know that he’s part of my family. Good luck Chris and good on ‘ya Mate!

Excerpt From the San Francisco Chronicle

Fargo, N.D. — There has been only one slaying here this year. And it had none of the gory elements associated with the movie named for the town.

It happened when a man came upon a drunk urinating next to his parked pickup truck outside a bar. The man got into his truck and ran down the drunk, authorities said. He’s been charged with murder.

Fargo Police Chief Chris Magnus is proud that nothing worse has happened this year in his city of 91,000 people, which is considered one of the safest in the country. But soon the chief will leave this glacial Upper Midwestern town, where he’s been the top cop for six years, to head the police department in a city ranked among the nation’s most dangerous: Richmond.

And frankly, Magnus is tired of the comparison. Since he was hired in November, he has heard the snickering, read the critical articles, and seen the quizzical looks written on the faces of just about every Californian he meets.

How is a 45-year-old white guy from Fargo, which averages one homicide every two years, going to take charge in a racially diverse town that so far this year has seen 38 killings, one of the highest per-capita rates in California?

“Some of the news coverage has smacked of — well, elitism is the wrong word — but certainly of, ‘What does Fargo have to offer a place like the Bay Area?’ ” Magnus said recently as he steered his car along the icy roads to the police station.

The youngest son of an art professor and a piano teacher, Magnus started as a police dispatcher in Lansing, went on to become a paramedic, and then became an officer. He earned a master’s in labor relations from Michigan State University while working as a captain in the force.

Full story here.