| For Immediate Release | For more information contact: |
| April 21, 1999 | Jon Peterson (651-296-5989) |
(ST. PAUL) The Minnesota House of Representatives has given strong support to a $1 billion crime and corrections bill that strikes a balance between metro and rural needs. The Omnibus Judiciary Finance Bill (House File 2404) passed the House 119-13 on April 20.
The bill directs funding to innovative ways of preventing crime and punishing law-breakers, said Representative Rich Stanek (R-Maple Grove), a 15-year police veteran and captain in the Minneapolis Police Department. For example, he said, the measure provides enhanced pursuit training and driving simulators for police officers, funding for a residential program for women leaving prostitution, and a controversial provision requiring life sentences for repeat violent criminals.
The "three strikes" provision of the bill requires courts to sentence a person to imprisonment for life, if the person is convicted of a violent felony after two or more convictions for violent felonies. "Three strikes" and another key initiative on the House Republican "Inspection Report," the Gang Council and Strike Force, were passed in the House bill.
"I am encouraged that we were able to provide funding to programs that reduce crime and help law officers, while still cutting overall state bureaucratic regulations and spending," said Rep. Stanek. "The 'three-strikes' legislation a central facet of the House Republican game plan this session is a bold statement to the hardened violent criminals that we will no longer tolerate their attacks."
Two programs that have shown great strides in reducing crime and helping urban residents take back neighborhoods CODEFOR (Computer Optimized Deployment-focus on Results) and Minnesota HEALS (Hope, Education, And Law and Safety)-received continued grants under the measure. CODEFOR, a program in which police officers use computers to monitor crime areas, has been credited for a 25 percent drop in crime in Minneapolis.
-More-
Page 2, Rep. Stanek
HEALS, similarly, attacks crime by bringing together the crime-fighting ideas and efforts of Minnesota corporations, community groups, law enforcement and government.
Other highlights of the 1999 House Crime bill include:
Increased penalties for fleeing a police officer. Funding for Heart Defibrillators for volunteer ambulance services. Funding for the Camp Ripley Juvenile Program. Increased funding for sex-offender probation caseload reduction. Expanding the requirement of submission of DNA samples beyond sex offenders.
Representative Stanek, chair of the House Crime Prevention Committee, serves residents of House District 33B, which includes the communities of Maple Grove and Plymouth. He can be reached by mail at 543 State Office Building, 100 Constitution Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55155; by phone at 651-296-5502.
###