(KNSI) – Governor Tim Walz Monday announced executive action on community safety and police reform.
The governor will direct $15 million from the American Rescue Plan Act toward community violence prevention, survivor support grants, and innovations in community safety grants. Those innovations were not announced, but sources at the Capitol tell KNSI the St. Cloud Community OutPost is being held up as a model of community policing and an example of violence prevention and community safety.
The governor also directed support for a data and process review to identify what data the Police Officer Standards and Training Board, or POST Board collects and making that data available on a public-facing dashboard. Walz is also directing follow through and making the community central to the work and on the Board’s current efforts to overhaul the rules of the Board, including the complaint investigations and a full review of the compliance process. In 2020, the Board did a top-to-bottom audit and was working toward “numerous reforms in process and how the profession of policing is trained and held accountable through licensure.”
Part of the action also enacted policy changes to state video footage in a fatal encounter with a police officer. The change develops a policy to allow families of those killed to view it within five days.
Walz issued a funding proposal as part of the public safety bill for body-worn cameras, and this action follows that. The body-worn cameras affect state law enforcement agencies only. The Minnesota State Patrol, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement, Department of Natural Resources Enforcement, and the Department of Corrections Fugitive Unit are all part of that.
With the requirement of body-worn cameras comes the directive to develop a policy for their use. The announcement says, “Agencies must provide for public comment and input, and post the written policy on their websites before body-worn cameras can be used in the field. Once the public safety bill is signed into law, state law enforcement agencies will begin development of their policies to ensure compliance with state law.”
In a statement, Governor Walz said, “Right now, we have an opportunity to create safer communities for all Minnesotans by building a public safety system focused on transparency, accountability, and violence prevention. These policy changes and increased investments in safety-together with the Minnesota Police Accountability Act signed into law last summer and the bipartisan public safety plan this legislative session-get us closer to a system of public safety that truly protects all Minnesotans.”
The Minnesota Legislature is expected to take action on an omnibus public safety budget bill in the coming days. That bill includes reform measures such as restrictions on the use of no-knock warrants, increasing mental health response in crisis calls, reforming civil asset forfeiture by law enforcement, and overhauling how Minnesota enforces safety standards and reforms force guidelines in Minnesota jails and prisons.
The legislature has until Wednesday to finalize the budget to head off a government shutdown.
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