Public Safety Reform in Minnesota: Are the Right Questions Being Asked?

Public safety proposals are laying claim to a large share of Minnesota’s projected $9.25 billion budget surplus. Plans have been offered by Democrats and Republicans for everything from ill-defined public safety community grants to recruitment and retention incentives for current and prospective police officers to start-up money for new non-profits that offer early intervention with at-risk kids and young adults.

No doubt everyone is sincere in wanting a safer Minnesota. It may be that some of the recommendations are the right solutions. But before spending a billion or more in taxpayer dollars - the price tag of the proposals to date - reform would be better served if more policymakers were asking questions instead of scrambling to hastily offer answers.

Here’s one obvious question: Are police right when they call out prosecutors and courts for being too lenient in dealing with juveniles?  The Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association (MCPA) and Hennepin County Chiefs of Police Association (HCCPA), among others, complain that juvenile suspects in even the most violent crimes are back on the streets soon after arrest; even many of those convicted are given probation or light sentences.

The answer (and the solution) may require a different question than the one focusing only on the presumed leniency of prosecutors and courts. Is it practical to get tougher with juveniles when there are few places to place them after arrest or sentencing? The “catch-and-release” of juveniles may be tied to inadequate facilities for young offenders.

Until recently, the metro area had residential juvenile facilities. However, Glen Lake in Hennepin County and Totem Town in Ramsey were shuttered as other options for treating juvenile offenders prevailed. In retrospect, closing those facilities without providing adequate alternatives seems to be a mistake.

One good use for a share of the state’s $9.25 billion surplus might be to listen to what police are saying and invest in a state-of-the-art center that can hold juvenile suspects while awaiting trial and will get them off the streets and into a productive program if they are convicted. Locate it to be accessible for transportation-challenged family members to visit. Provide the funding for well-trained instructors to bring structure and discipline to the lives of young offenders. Most importantly, assure that juvenile residents are provided with rigorous academic, vocational and life skills curricula.

Here’s another question that seems to be overlooked. There are many proposals on the table to recruit new cops and aggressively screen candidates for their demeanor and ethics. But what pool of candidates are proposals targeting? No one talks about the reality of Minnesota’s demographics. In the last fiscal year, the state had a net population gain of 225. The biggest drop-off, according to the state demographer, is among college-aged young adults.

Certainly, some of the dismal population numbers are due to Covid and the 2020 economy. But a good part is structural, from declining birth rates to inconsistent immigration policies. So where will all these new officers (or teachers, or health workers or most other professions) come from, even with one-time incentives?

A better approach, or at least a parallel plan, may be to question whether law enforcement agencies are organized in the best way to meet the demographic reality. Minnesota has 418 law enforcement agencies with about 10,600 licensed and active officers. Perhaps the luxury of local police departments should give way to better and fully-staffed public safety agencies that can put cops and other resources on the front lines and out of administrative positions. Combining departments and agencies - consolidating suburban departments by geography, for example - allows greater efficiency in how police are deployed, reduces overhead and promotes consistency in training and procedures.  Yes, there are barriers, not least of which are unions, cultural differences and parochial pride and a sense of security in having local cops, but policing needs to respond to the reality of shifting demographics.

And, a third question. How long will policymakers ignore the criminalization of health issues? Yes, police departments should integrate mental health and other crisis intervention specialists in responding to some public safety calls, as many have recommended. But the problem is bigger. Minnesota should be better able to care for these medical issues long before police are involved.

Consider mental health care in Minnesota. Resources have been inadequate at least since the 1960s when the state started to move from institutional care to community-based services.  “The reality is, our system isn’t broken. It was never built,” Sue Abderholden, executive director of the advocacy group NAMI Minnesota told a legislative committee last year.

Mental health services are under-staffed and under-funded at every level. There aren’t enough inpatient beds for mental health care. School counselors - often the front lines of dealing with kids in crisis - are overwhelmed. Police too often end up putting people in a jail cell when they should be in a care facility. It’s great to add mental health resources to police, but if Minnesota continues to ignore early intervention and treatment of health issues like mental illness and addiction, dealing with those in crisis will too often continue to fall on police.

Finally, ask perhaps the most important question of all: Can communities be safe without the basic infrastructure of a strong society? Safe, stable housing too often is unaffordable, schools don’t meet the needs of many kids, health care is inaccessible for man, and easy access to guns are among the challenges pushing communities into crisis. And communities in crisis are breeding grounds for crime.

Is it government’s responsibility to solve all these issues? No. But public safety certainly is a core  government obligation. And if policymakers don’t ask the right questions and find innovative solutions, Minnesota will continue to face a crime crisis.