Luana Nelson-Brown told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS she resigned as the director of the city’s Neighborhood Safety Department (NSD) last month after getting “pushback” and “pressure” from several city council members over her attempts to strengthen and improve the bidding process and financial oversight of violence interrupter contracts.

“I could not take the pressure and pushback anymore. The humiliation and harassment on the dais, in public, was just unnecessary,” said Nelson-Brown.

Nelson-Brown was hired by the city to run NSD in July 2023.

She told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS she stopped payments to some violence interrupter groups in early 2024 when they could not provide proper documentation and records showing the work they had completed, which involved using millions of taxpayer dollars.

“This is just wrong for the taxpayers. The taxpayers should know how their money’s being spent, whether or not it’s a good investment, and we should all be working together,” said Nelson-Brown. “And that comes with receipts and canceled checks. These came with no documentation at all. So, it was just a piece of paper with an amount and pay me, basically, which is not okay.”

Nelson-Brown said shortly after she stopped payments for lack of receipts and data, City Council Member Robin Wonsley started to push back on her decision.

“As she started to send letters [to] the mayor and to the commissioner I reported to and challenged me on the dais among various things,” said Nelson-Brown. 

Then, in early 2025, after the city strengthened its requirements for receiving the violence interrupter contracts, Nelson-Brown said some of the violence interrupter groups were notified they were not getting contracts this year, and that’s when she said pressure from Wonsley resurfaced.

“Council Member Wonsley came with this resolution to move the money to Hennepin County to have Hennepin County deliver the services which does nothing but circumvent the entire RFP (request for proposal) process,” said Nelson-Brown.

Wonsley declined to comment on Nelson-Brown’s statements. But, in a news release, Wonsley said she wants to transfer $1.2 million in Gang Violence Initiative dollars from the city to Hennepin County. 

Wonsley claims there have been long-lasting concerns over mismanagement of the Neighborhood Safety Department. She also argued that moving the money and programs to the county would ensure that “crucial public safety services are deployed effectively.”

Commissioner of the Office of Public Safety, Todd Barnette, issued the following statement:

“When I was appointed Commissioner of Community Safety, my task was clear: to build a new approach to community safety in Minneapolis. And that is exactly what we are doing. I am proud of the progress we’ve made in NSD under my tenure and that of Director Nelson-Brown.

We have been working diligently to establish consistent accountability processes in our violence prevention work and build out the comprehensive safety system our residents are asking for.

We are focused on this work, and this is a priority for us and for the community. Minneapolis deserves better and are delivering change. That is what the Mayor has asked us to do. This change needed to be made to ensure sustainability, accountability, and transparency in the work we do. 

Unfortunately, several City Council members choose to only support those efforts when it benefits their favorite non-profits. This selective and self-serving approach not only hampers the integrity of our work, but also undermines the important progress being made by the Neighborhood Safety Department.

My focus to build a sustainable community safety ecosystem has not wavered. The mayor’s commitment and support to this work is stronger than ever. The people of Minneapolis have high expectation for this work, and we will not be distracted by politics or personal agendas.”