The Minnesota Senate today passed a comprehensive public safety bill that provides critical funding to hold criminals accountable and keep Minnesota’s communities safe. This legislation focuses on supporting law enforcement, addressing growing crime rates throughout the state, and increasing transparency and accountability in prosecution decisions. There are three main objectives in the bill: provide support for law enforcement recruitment and retention; toughen penalties for criminal activity; and increase transparency and accountability in judicial and prosecutorial actions. 

To provide support for law enforcement, the bill includes two provisions already passed by the Senate this year. The first is funding for the Department of Public Safety to develop and conduct an advertising campaign to elevate the law enforcement profession. The second provision contains funding for the award-winning Pathways to Policing Program to support non-traditional candidates for law enforcement who already have an associate’s degree in another discipline. To retain current law enforcement officers, the bill also provides $3,000 in one-time bonuses to all licensed police officers and an additional incentive of $7,000 to officers nearing retirement who choose to continue serving.

This bill also incorporates “tough on crime” bills that increase penalties for repeat offenders, carjackers, and violent crimes involving firearms. There is also enhanced support for the Violent Crime Enforcement Teams (VCET), which have been successful at targeting drugs and guns across the state. In response to the growing instances of violent criminals becoming repeat offenders and frequent decisions by prosecutors and judges to go easy on criminals, this bill takes several steps to improve transparency for the decisions that lead to early releases and failures to fully charge criminals.

“In the midst of rising crime rates and excessive anti-police rhetoric, our State finds itself at a critical point—there is a great deal of stress being put on our public safety systems every day. Every Minnesotan deserves to feel safe in their homes, and to accomplish that, we need to support our law enforcement officers, hold judges and prosecutors accountable for sentencing, and strengthen penalties for criminal activity,” said Senator Andrew Lang (R-Olivia).

The legislation passed the Senate on a vote of 48-19 and now awaits action in the House.