Newsmakers: Rep. Cedrick Frazier Talks Public Safety Innovation
A public safety and criminal justice reform budget package passed through the House Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Committee Friday. Included in the package is the Public Safety Innovation Act, which is authored by Rep. Cedrick Frazier (DFL-New Hope).
The measure would provide communities with $150 million worth of expedited, data-driven strategies for communities to address crime, hire personnel, and rebuild community trust with law enforcement.
“What we’ve seen is when we implement these partnerships, co-responder programs, community crime prevention programs, and violence interrupter programs, we’ve seen crime rates go down a substantial rate,” said Frazier. “We want to make sure we’re data-driven, effective programming throughout.”
Rep. Cedrick Frazier (DFL-New Hope)
Frazier says the bill includes the word ‘expedited’ so it can get out to the public as quickly as possible.
An increasing number of communities are investing in groups that specialize in violence intervention, such as one in Brooklyn Park that’s worked in crime hot spots. Frazier says data shows that violence intervention is working.
“When something is working, you want to lean into it a little bit more, resource it to make it source-sustainable and you want to keep doing it,” said Frazier.
Also included in the Innovation package is a bill that Frazier has been working on peace officer standards. Frazier explains if there is a complaint against a peace officer, the peace officer standard board who awards licenses cannot take action unless there is a conviction on a gross misdemeanor level or felony level.
“Essentially what this change would do is to treat [peace officers] like every other licensing board in the state of Minnesota,” said Frazier.
You can learn more about investments in the public safety and criminal justice reform package here.
