St. Paul Honors Retiring Police Chief With 'Todd Axtell Day'
ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) -- St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell spent the final day of his 33-year career with the department doing something he'd never done before -- patrolling the streets alongside his son.
Axtell, who has served as the department's chief since 2016, is moving on from the department to pursue a career in police consulting with Assistant Chief Robert Thomasser, who's also retiring.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz issued a proclamation declaring Wednesday "Chief Todd Axtell Day" -- praising the chief for his work creating transparency, trust and community engagement within the department.
MORE: 'Heart Of The Guardian': St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell Reflects On 33-Year Career
"This has been an unbelievable honor," said Axtell Wednesday. "An honor of my lifetime to serve as St. Paul Police Chief and serve as a police officer in this city for 33 years. I'll take the memories, the good and the bad, with me for the rest of my life."
Deputy Chief Jeremy Ellison will replace Axtell as interim Chief of the department, although he won't seek the permanent role. Axtell says he's hopeful a replacement could come from within the department. Mayor Melvin Carter said he hopes to have a permanent chief appointed by late summer or early fall.
Axtell says the decision to patrol the city's east side with his son Randy was his entirely.
"To do that with him, it's really a deeply personal and profound moment for me to be able to experience that with him," he said.
"It's so special," said Randy Axtell, who himself has spent nearly a decade with the department. "Not everybody gets to experience this. To be able to spend my dad's last day as a police officer with him is just super special, I'm really fortunate to do that with him."
Axtell says the decision of where to patrol was intentional also, as the city's east side was where he began his career as a patrol officer more than 30 years ago.
"I got into this job to get behind the wheel of a squad car and help people during the worst moments of their lives," he said. "It's been wonderfully overwhelming -- the phone calls, the text messages, the personal visits, the reminiscing of a career of 33 years serving this city has just been such a wonderful honor. To be able to have those connections not just as the chief, but to be able to take those connections with me moving forward, to have those relationships, really means the world to me."
Axtell, a Minnesota native, told WCCO in March that he plans to stay in the city he's served for more than three decades.
