(Editor’s Note: The following column was submitted by Sen. Andrew Mathews.)
On Thursday, March 9, Senate and House Republicans presented their Safe & Sound Minnesota public safety plan to confront the threat of violent and repeat criminals, strengthen police and improve training for law enforcement, and hold judges and prosecutors accountable with public data and information.
To date, Democrats have remained silent about how they plan to curb crime in Minnesota. Yet the surge in violent crime demonstrates that it’s urgent to pass policies that will ensure Minnesotans feel safer in their communities. From supporting police officers to holding soft-on-crime prosecutors accountable, there are a number of common-sense steps we can take to address our state’s public safety crisis.
The package includes 17 different bills from 15 different Republican authors across the state. Confronting the criminal threat would include new laws to add a new crime of carjacking to state statute, increase penalties for fleeing police in a motor vehicle, align fentanyl to the same weight thresholds and penalties as heroin, and increase sentences for those convicted with at least two prior crimes of violence. Two additional bills provide grants to Ramsey County for violent crime prevention and increase sworn officers on Metro Transit.
To address crimes of gun violence, the package specifically increases the penalty for transferring a firearm to an ineligible person and requires a court to ensure someone who has been ordered to give up their firearms has indeed done so.
Republicans continue to throw their support behind our state’s law enforcement officers with robust recruitment, training, and retention plans. The Safe & Sound Minnesota plan provides $1 million for Pathway to Policing, the award-winning program that brings new recruits into public safety from other careers. The bill is scheduled to be heard in the Senate on Friday, March 10. They also include $5 million for college scholarships and technology to help law enforcement students prepare for their role, and $15 million for bodycams for law enforcement departments. The plan also fulfills a request of $168 million for police and first responder pension funds.
Tough laws and great cops can only do so much, however. The Safe & Sound Minnesota plan also puts in place transparency and accountability measures for the state’s courts. New data reporting would help legislators and the public understand how many felony-level offenses go uncharged, as well as a database by the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission for the public to conduct research about judges and their decisions to follow criminal sentences created by the legislature.
To address concerns that violent, repeat offenders are too often released, there is a new mandatory minimum sentence for dangerous criminals who commit crimes with a firearm. Finally, the plan would also make who posts bail payments public data. Recent scrutiny on non-profits bailing out violent criminals shows Minnesotans are at risk when these non-profits aren’t held accountable for their decisions.
