Walz Pitches $300M Public Safety Plan
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Will millions of dollars fix the metro crime problem? That remains to be seen, if the governor's new public safety plan is approved.
Gov. Tim Walz says he plans to invest $300 million in public safety. Not just here in the metro, but in every city, country and tribe with a police department across the state.
That $300 million would be distributed over the next three years. So, $100 million a year to all 292 cities, counties and tribes. The amount each city gets is based on its population size.
The average Minnesota city is getting nearly $240,00 a year. But the state's largest cities are getting over $1 million a year over the next three years.
Walz and Lt. Gov. Flanagan met with city leaders and first responders in Eagan Tuesday for a roundtable discussion about public safety. Eagan is one of the larger cities receiving over a million dollars for the next three years to improve public safety.
The city's police chief says he hopes to invest that money in police recruitment programs and training, including recruiting and training more school resource officers. He also plans to use the money to invest in mental health support for employees.
Chief Roger New says he knows crime isn't as bad in his large metro suburb compared to Minneapolis and St. Paul, but he said this investment helps them prevent crime from growing in their community.
"Our crime here in Eagan for the most part is flat, but one of the things that we are experiencing, we are seeing is the trickle effect of some of the crime that's coming from the bigger cities or other communities into Eagan, and we see an uptick in those numbers, which is an area of concern for me," New said.
Another public safety investment Walz announced this week is an initiative with the Minnesota State Patrol to aggressively monitor the interstates in the metro over the next 10 nights. In the first night, troopers stopped 37 vehicles for speeding, made seven DWI arrests, responded to two crashes and arrested one person on an outstanding warrant. They also found a stolen car and arrested a suspect in connection to it.