Keeping our city safe is one of my top priorities. We all need to be able to walk our neighborhoods safely and without fear.
Like cities across the country, St. Paul has been grappling with an increase in crime during the pandemic. The violence we’ve been experiencing is frightening and unacceptable. I am determined to find solutions that prevent crime in the first place, hold people accountable for crimes they commit, and give people the support they need to make sure they do not reoffend.
Here is what we have been doing:
- Police Training Academy: To keep department staffing steadier throughout the year, the City Council allocated additional funding to the St. Paul Police Department in the 2022 budget to allow the department to hold a second training academy, allowing new recruits to replace officers who have left the force.
- Office of Neighborhood Safety: The Mayor and City Council created the new Office of Neighborhood Safety, fully funded in the 2022 budget. The Office is charged with reducing crime and increasing public safety by using a combination of community engagement and data - informed strategies to invest in residents and neighborhoods.
- Catalytic Converter Ordinances: The City Council has passed ordinances making it illegal to sell or possess detached catalytic converters without proof of ownership.
- Community Ambassadors: The City Council has increased funding for the proven Community Ambassador Program. Ambassadors build relationships with teens and help them find jobs, connect with services and stay safe. The initiative’s multifaceted approach to early intervention and positive redirection of at-risk youth has led to impressive results, dramatically lowering the number of juvenile arrests and providing meaningful support to traditionally hard-to-reach youth.
- Exploring Additional Local Policies: I hold regular meetings with Moms Demand Action to develop local policies that can reduce gun violence.
- Violence Reduction Leadership Group: I participate in a working group convened by County Attorney John Choi that includes the Saint Paul Police Chief, Ramsey County Sheriff, other Councilmembers and the Mayor’s Office. We have:
- Received grant funding to create a dedicated carjacking and auto theft team of law enforcement and prosecutors to hold people accountable for carjackings and stealing cars and to prevent repeat behavior in the future;
- Secured technical assistance from the National Network for Safe Communities to help implement Group Violence Intervention, the only evidence-based method proven to decrease gun violence across our country. We will be the first site in the nation to expand its application to carjackings.
- Developed a sustainable infrastructure of support that enables law enforcement to refer people caught up in cyclical violence to social services to help meet their needs and prevent future violence.