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Panel backs grant program to improve clearance rates for non-fatal shootings
Summary
SF 33-47 would create a Minnesota Clearance Grant Program to fund investigative capacity for non-fatal shootings; Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and others described pilot results that raised clearance rates and the committee recommended the bill to Finance with an appropriation discussed around $3.5 million.
Senator Clark described SF 33-47 as a program to award grants to law enforcement agencies to improve investigations of non-fatal shootings and said the model is based on Ramsey County's program. Will Cooley, policy director at the Minnesota Justice Research Center, and retired detective David Summer said non-fatal shootings are among the most difficult crimes to solve because victims and witnesses are often reluctant to cooperate, and that focusing resources on those investigations has delivered improved clearance rates in pilot programs.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi described using state public-safety funds in 2023 to target non-fatal shootings and said his office's work to treat those cases like homicides helped boost clearance rates: "We came up with an idea that we would figure out a way to treat those cases like a homicide ... we could actually move the needle," he said, and reported clearance-rate gains in Saint Paul and Ramsey County. The appropriation line was updated in committee testimony to roughly $3.5 million; the committee recommended the bill to the Finance Committee.
