Governor Tim Walz and Republican lawmakers are addressing public safety as the legislative session and an Election year get underway.
Crime nationally, in Minnesota and in the Twin Cities has been up. Police numbers are down and violent crimes are happening more frequently. Most believe that is the number one issue facing the legislature this session.
As citizens of the Twin Cities look at those increases and wonder why it is happening, some are blaming the city and state leaders for the uptick including the governor, wondering if they’ve done enough to slow down the rise in crime.
Walz, who spoke to WCCO Radio’s Chad Hartman Thursday, said he thinks that sentiment is true.
“Public safety is a top priority for everyone,” Walz told Hartman. “That extends both to crime and violent crime, gun violence, there’s a lot of multiple things here. And then seeing policing numbers down.”
Walz notes that the rise in crime is not unique to Minnesota, and is not even unique to large cities.
“What I would note to folks is that those numbers, per capita-wise, are up in all parts of the country and all parts of the state,” says the Governor. “Some of our rural counties actually have a per capita rate that’s higher but there’s the population. With that being said, not a single one of these is acceptable. We need to have zero tolerance on these gun crimes and we have to have zero tolerance on those causes.”
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There is a concerted effort among lawmakers in St. Paul to increase funding for law enforcement across the state. Walz is proposing several pieces of the budget go to assisting in public safety and says he has demonstrated his commitment to law enforcement since he came into office.
“What I would make the case of, in my first budget, I asked for 19 state patrol,” Walz told Hartman. “The legislature said no. And then I asked for something that now, I’m going to ask for it again and I think it’s going to happen. I’m going to ask for a fusion center. What I was seeing when I took this job was, the communication between local, city, county, rural and state, is that the communication could have been better. We’ve learned much over the years of what it’s like to share information.”
The governor also says the state is not a police force, and there needs to be a multi-level commitment from communities across the state.
“Many of these crimes are being perpetuated by a small number of people and getting information on them going forward,” says Walz. “My budgets have always been there. We’ve had a 20 year freeze on local government aid. And you can go ask your local mayors. This is how they hire police and fire fighters. They use the local government aid formula. So I would make the case we have been partners in this. The state is not the police force. Whatever’s happened post-COVID, we need to have a multiple level approach to stopping it.”
Meanwhile, former Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka who is now a GOP candidate for governor, says Walz has not done nearly enough to support law enforcement’s efforts. Thursday on the WCCO Morning News, Gazelka said Minnesotans don’t feel safe.
“People want to know that they're safe out in their backyard and in the streets,” Gazelka told WCCO’s Vineeta Sawkar. “The police want to know that they're appreciated and adequately funded and I'm the guy that's been standing up for them when Tim Walz and the Democrats wanted to defund them, never appreciated them. And that'll be the biggest issue without a doubt.”
Gazelka adds that he would like to see much stronger sentences for certain criminal activities that have been increasing in Minnesota the last two years.
“I've been firm on the fact that we need more police on the streets,” says Gazelka. “They need to be appreciated. We can't take away their tools when our judges and prosecutors, some of them are not giving the adequate sentences. I now have submitted two bills that say if you are carjacking, you're going to jail, you don't get released and if you're a felon with a gun a second time minimum sentence five years in jail. You're not going to get released. And that is a different direction than what Tim Walz and the Democrats have gone, they continue to lower sentences.”
A new GOP straw poll showed former state legislator Scott Jensen leading at this point over Paul Gazelka. Jensen has also said Walz and city leaders have been “out of touch” when it comes to the safety of the public.
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