Giovanni Veliz retired from the Minneapolis Police Department on January 30, 2023. Since 1992, he's served the citizens of Minneapolis with a mission to improve community trust and police services, working in partnership with multiple stakeholders to develop recommendations to eliminate traffic fatalities and juvenile racial disparity, as well as reduce the backlog of sexual assault kits.
His prior assignments include the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency Task Force, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Task Force, Administrative sergeant to the Chief of Police, Investigations, Patrol, Director of the Police Activities League, U Visa coordinator, and Police Commander from the Special Crimes Investigations Division.
He holds a Bachelor of Science from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a Master of Arts in Police Leadership from Saint Thomas University, and a PhD in Management and Public Service from Hamline University. His doctoral research focuses on the intersection of police legitimacy and immigrant communities. Additionally, he is an alumnus of the Northwestern Police Command School, an alumnus of the Senior Executive in Local Government program at the Harvard Kennedy School, a proud 2016 Bush Fellowship recipient, and a 2020 National Institute of Justice’s Law Enforcement Advancing Data and Science Scholarship recipient.
He enjoys cooking, playing chess, and volunteering in the Restorative Justice Community Action Program in Minneapolis. He and his wife enjoy walks with their companion dogs. He is grateful for his spouse’s reminders that his role as a public servant is not a job but an opportunity to serve the community.