Community-First Public Safety

Vision

To put it very simply, we are much safer when we are all truly cared for. We are the keepers of our own community, and the surest way to fund public safety is to fund people’s futures. Everyone deserves to be safe and cared for in our city, no matter who they are or where they live. Period.

For over four years now, I’ve advocated for a public safety approach in our city that puts our community first. One that ensures a wide array of well-trained, accountable and compassionate first responders can meet our residents needs, and shifts away from the costly and reactive traditional model of only police as a response from 911. One that proactively and amply funds our community’s needs so that our community is stable in all areas of life, and less likely to experience or resort to violence. One that funds trusted community programs so that all of us can experience a strong network of supportive community organizations and individuals who help address trauma, prevent violence, find resources and promote healing.

In Saint Paul, one of my greatest first-term accomplishments is leading the creation of this new community safety system on the Council in close partnership with Mayor Carter and our community. This system expands our emergency responses for a range of needs and takes care of people where they are.

We now have a team of first responders that meet people in mental health crises without any law enforcement present – something that was unprecedented in our city. We now have a team of community leaders through the Parks and Recreation department that creates positive street presence and a caring, familiar face to youth in need. We have programs in partnership with Ramsey County that send compassionate and competent staff to visit gunshot victims – or those on the other side of the gun – in hospital emergency rooms, and work with them to get tangible support that breaks cycles of violence. And we have, for the first time ever, an Office of Neighborhood Safety that gives a home to these programs in the city, dedicates outstanding staff to this work, and is advised by a community commission to hold us accountable and maintain transparency.

This work feels deeply personal to me because of the context in which I’ve taken it on. Unlike perhaps any other Councilmember to ever represent our ward, I have governed through a time where our city and very neighborhood was at the center of global protests against continued racial injustice and police violence against Black people.

I lived and led our city through the events following the killing of George Floyd in summer 2020. I saw and shared the resulting rightful anger that spilled over and through our neighborhoods. I picked up broken glass, held my friends and neighbors, cried with my community, raised money for damaged businesses, showed up to food and supply drives, and carried all of our pain alongside my own. I wish I could say this was my first and last time going through this – but in Minnesota, we know we’ve all been through this far too many times.

We must stop the cycle of senseless killings of Black people, or anybody at all, at the hands of police. We need to support and codify SPPD’s best practices and policies that have led to meaningful results. Accountability is a critical piece of the puzzle, and I will continue working to uphold it.

I will also keep working to uphold a community definition of safety that centers people disproportionately at risk of experiencing violence, including from unjust law enforcement. This is how we can build a different reality. This is how we can guarantee safety and stability for all.

Results and Accomplishments

●     Leading the work to create a comprehensive public safety system for our city. Since 2018, I’ve advocated and created non-police emergency responder programs to meet the numerous needs in our community – both to ensure safer and more effective responses for all resident needs, and to steer us away from the path of a costly, reactive and insufficient “police only” public safety mindset.

  • ● Giving “public safety” a community-oriented home within the city by creating the Office of Neighborhood Safety. Our city government structure should reflect that true public safety comes from taking care of people and ensuring community stability first.
    ○ I represented our full Council on the 2021 Citizens League Mayoral Commission on alternative responses to 911 calls, a 40+ community member process with recommendations on how to build out a community safety system in our city.
    ○ The top recommendation was to create our City’s Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) and establish a permanent Neighborhood Safety Community Council that advises and oversees city strategy going forward.
    ○ I brought forward the ordinance creating this office, and have played a leading role in organizing and winning funding through federal and other sources at the Council to scale up its work.

    ● Successfully diverting city funding into community programs that already work, and winning significant increases in funds to do even more.
    ○ In 2021 and 2022, I led the development and implementation of a $100,000 annual Community-First Public Safety Council Fund.
    ○ This fund provided financial support for 9 BIPOC and/or locally led community organizations that are working to promote community safety in neighborhoods that experience the most historical disinvestment, including: The JK Movement, Restoration Inc Ministries, the Karen Organization of MN, Guns Down Love Up, Ujamaa Place, and more.
    ○ This fund created a proof of concept and initial learnings to inform a much bigger investment I voted to approve as a Councilwoman: a $4M investment in a community grants program run through our newly created Office of Neighborhood Safety.
    ○ These ARP funds will significantly boost the efforts of our community partner organizations who do things like provide mental health support services, housing relocation assistance, peer-led gun violence prevention and intervention, and more.

    ● Our city now has multiple teams that lead emergency responses for a range of crises:
    ○ The Fire Department’s Community Alternative Response Emergency Services (CARES) Team launched in September 2022, and has already helped 28 people struggling with substance use get targeted support and treatment plans – calls that were previously going to police without the needed supports available.
    ○ The Project PEACE initiative within the Office of Neighborhood Safety has provided deep supports to 14 victims of gun violence and their families, created pathways out of cycles of violence for 42 people involved in group violence, helped seize 38 guns off the street and regularly takes referrals to help families impacted by gun violence with comprehensive supports like re-housing for greater stability.

    ○ The ASPIRE initiative ensures resources and staff are embedded in our schools and rec centers with families most in need to help address and prevent violence through offering preventative support.
    ○ These early-stage programs are saving lives and taxpayer dollars with smarter, more specific and successful responses.

    ● I also expanded the Community Ambassadors to the Midway and ensured its continued funding. Saint Paul’s Community Ambassadors model gets results by hiring community members with deep relationships in our city to be trusted neighbors and positive community presence in key areas citywide.
    ○ Community Ambassadors have a designated “route” in their assigned neighborhoods, talk to people during their shifts and build relationships, provide meaningful support to traditionally hard-to-reach youth by meeting them where they’re at, and connect people to resources to help them stay safe and healthy.

    ● Putting our approach into action with ongoing thoughtful response to local situations. Instead of just “throwing police at everything”, I approach public safety/nuisance issues with a principled approach: map the problem, look for its root causes, and then assign the appropriate city resources, which can include community-supported partnership with police if necessary.
    ○ Following complaints about property management, my office collaborated with Kimball Court over several months to reduce unsafe needle waste at the site, ensure a clear line of communication between all relevant city departments and the property/residents, calibrate an appropriate level of presence from SPPD that did not create a negative dynamic, and support a more comprehensive security staffing model at the property – all of which have greatly reduced incidents and hazardous waste at and around the property. I also attended a narcan training hosted by a local church to learn about how a harm reduction approach can save lives and address substance abuse with science instead of stigma.
    ○ Following multiple violent incidents and a fatal shooting at the Hamline Ave BP gas station, my office worked closely with DSI, neighbors and the Hamline-Midway coalition to document issues, review the license of the business owner and eventually revoke it based on a failure to uphold necessary safety conditions at the site. The corner is clear now and an opportunity for community-informed development. Previous SPPD presence at the site was not effective or supported by neighbors, and our office worked to find an alternative route that solved the problem.

    ● Continuing an effective working relationship with SPPD Western District Commander Lego and incoming SPPD Chief Axel Henry. I have worked to build effective and mutually respectful relationships with our police leadership and will continue to do so for our community’s benefit.

  • I’m running to keep building on this work, and will fight for these and other priorities:

    ● Continuing to fund community-led neighborhood safety programs and alternative emergency responses     that better respond to people needing support for mental health crises, non-violent issues and other matters that are too often diverted to police.

    ● Passing an ordinance to ban pretextual traffic stops by police in the City of Saint Paul, codifying SPPD’s existing updated practices and completing all of the community recommendations from the Citizens League commission.

    Pretextual traffic stops essentially allow police to pull over a resident for minor equipment violations or other issues, like a broken tail light – a vague, dangerous, and racially biased policy norm that can and does get people killed. In Minnesota, we have seen pretextual stops lead to the unjust police killings of Black men. Daunte Wright and Philando Castile should be here today.

    Our community cannot afford to go through more trauma and devastation because of police brutality. Nobody should have to fear for their life, especially not when being pulled over by a police officer.

    Saint Paul Police Department’s current internal guidance specifies that police are not to conduct pretextual traffic stops in most cases, an important reform led by Mayor Carter and former SPPD Chief Axtell in partnership with community members. We should build on and strengthen this best practice by codifying it in city ordinance.

    ● Codify in ordinance current internal policy that Saint Paul Police Department should never execute no-knock warrants either within Saint Paul or on behalf of another law enforcement agency outside of Saint Paul.

    No-knock warrants allowed police to enter the apartment of Breonna Taylor and kill her in her sleep. They led to the death of Amir Locke at the hands of MPD.

    I appreciate our state representative Athena Hollins leading a bill last session to heavily restrict this practice statewide. In Saint Paul at the city level, we should make sure our department policy and practices are upheld in ordinance to ensure no-knock warrants are fully discontinued.

    ● Continuing a strong working relationship with Saint Paul Police Western District Commander Joshua Lego and Saint Paul Police Chief Axel Henry. I am committed to a professional, accountable, community-centered and outcomes-oriented partnership with leaders at SPPD.