Proposed grant program seeks to boost efforts to solve more nonfatal shootings

Due to a combination of early retirement, attrition, and difficulty hiring new recruits, many law enforcement agencies are chronically short-staffed and must more than ever prioritize which crimes they focus on.

For example, some agencies have made the difficult decision to focus on fatal shootings and de-prioritize nonfatal shootings.

That’s a shame, says Rep. Cedrick Frazier (DFL-New Hope), because it can lead to dismal solve rates and missed opportunities to increase public safety in communities across the state.

“The majority of these serious crimes are going unsolved, leaving victims without justice, communities without answers, and perpetrators free to reoffend,” Frazier said.

He sponsors HF2742, which would create the Minnesota clearance grant program and appropriate an unspecified amount of money this biennium to the Department of Public Safety for grants to law enforcement agencies to increase the solve rate of crimes that involve a nonfatal shooting.

It was held over Tuesday by the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee.

The best way for law enforcement agencies to prevent violent crime is to enhance the certainty of being caught, said Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.

He recounted how Ramsey County and the City of Saint Paul used public safety funding appropriated by the Legislature in 2023 to set up dedicated teams of police, prosecutors, and crime analysts to solve nonfatal shooting cases from the point at which they are reported.

“That coordination helps secure scenes, preserve evidence, and increase the likelihood of solving cases,” Frazier said.

The coordinated teams were successful, Choi said, and resulted in the Saint Paul Police Department raising the clearance rate of nonfatal shootings from 37% to 71% in 2024.

Crime victims often don’t step forward as witnesses or participate with the criminal justice system due to fear of retaliation, Choi said, adding that higher solve rates of these nonfatal shootings can reduce retaliatory violence and achieve greater overall justice for victims.