As gun crimes rise, Gov. Tim Walz promotes public safety investment, legislative action

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday renewed his call for legislators to return to the state Capitol to pass a comprehensive crime package, pointing to increasingly violent gun crimes happening across Minnesota and the nation.

Fresh from a tour of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in St. Paul, Walz promoted his proposal for millions of dollars in new public safety funding, saying further delays will keep more illegal firearms on the streets.

"The sooner we get these things off the streets, the sooner we prevent things from happening," the DFL governor said.

Walz and all 201 legislative seats are on the ballot in November, and the governor and DFL leaders are trying to win both chambers of the state Legislature. Public safety is already shaping up to be a major issue for voters, and lawmakers failed to come together on a target to spend $450 million of the state's budget surplus on public safety initiatives. At the start of session, Walz pitched a $300 million plan that he said would go to Minnesota cities and counties for public safety.

Republican legislative leaders have disagreed with Walz's public safety priorities, saying they wanted to focus on putting more cops on the streets.

"Senate Republicans made public safety a priority by increasing funding for law enforcement recruitment and retention, and passing numerous crime prevention measures," said Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, in a statement responding to Walz's call. "But Democrats tabled public safety in the last week of session and Gov. Walz couldn't compromise to find an agreement before the session ended."

Walz's push comes amid a surge in gun crimes across Minnesota and the rest of the nation. BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said his agents usually find 100 or more bullet casings at Minnesota crime scenes, which can take a dozen or more hours for investigators to process. Last year was the deadliest for the Twin Cities, as homicides claimed the lives of teachers, students, young men and grandparents alike. Most of them died by gun violence. And data from the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive shows the nation has weathered 356 mass shootings so far this year.

The building Walz toured houses teams of forensic scientists and investigators who comb through crime scene evidence in order to prosecute criminals. Walz has proposed building a BCA field office in Mankato, paid for by a bonding bill, to help process the backlog of evidence.

"There are finite resources at this point," Walz said.

Catherine Knutson, the BCA's deputy superintendent of forensic science services, has worked in the field for nearly two decades. Knutson said the number of firearms she's seeing now is unprecedented, and her team is struggling to keep up.

"We have approximately 120 scientists spread across the full disciplines — all over. The DNA section is significantly large, but still trying to keep up with the demand," Knutson said. "We've done what we can with the personnel that we have."

Such trends worry Minnesota Department of Safety Commissioner John Harrington, who spoke with state departments that are reeling from mass shootings this year. Although he says an increased police presence has helped to fight crime, concern that a mass shooting may strike Minnesotans has kept him up at night.

"It keeps up other homeland security advisers, keeps up the troopers and BCA agents, and all the rest of us, to think about what's the next worst thing that could possibly happen — and how do we get on ahead of that?" Harrington said.