Rep. Demuth Joins Minnesota GOP Call for Action on Bolstering Public Safety

(KNSI) – Republicans in the Minnesota House called a news conference Tuesday to call for action on policing and public safety changes as the Legislature plans to meet in a special session later this month to approve a new state budget.

District 13A (Cold Spring) Republican Rep. Lisa Demuth was a guest of KNSI’s Dan ‘The Ox” Ochsner and says she was motivated to join this call to action after three children were shot, two fatally, in Minneapolis several weeks ago.

“That was my line in the sand,” she said. “I’m a legislator, but I’m also a parent and a grandparent, and something has to change. So, my colleagues and I are willing to step up and try to get something done to make the streets of our cities safer today and then with some long-term planning, also.”

The GOP legislators laid out several public safety proposals, including asking Gov. Tim Walz to assign Minnesota State Patrol officers in high-risk areas of Minneapolis, expanding the Group Violence Intervention program and adding more officers to the Minneapolis Police Department’s payroll.

One proposal is modeled off of a current St. Cloud Police Department project: launching pilot programs for Community Outpost Houses, or COP Houses, around the state.

“What I would like to do is work with community leaders within the neighborhoods of Minneapolis that are most hit with crime and could we possibly pilot that?” Demuth said. “When communities are hurting, you are looking for opportunity, and I think one of the things in some of those conversations specifically about the COP House is that it does more than just a police station. It actually provides some of those human services.”

An additional proposal the Republicans brought forward: placing ShotSpotter gunshot detection devices in places identified as having higher rates of crime in Minneapolis.

“We can put ShotSpotters wherever, and if there are not a lot of shots in that area, then we move that technology someplace else,” Demuth said. “But when we are watching the news and we’re hearing about children and adults dying by gunfire or other criminal activity, we need to do that.”

The Minnesota Legislature will convene in special session next week to address the state’s two-year budget plan and other unfinished business.

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