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SRO bill clears Senate with additions
A House-Senate conference committee will attempt to resolve differences.
ST PAUL, Minn. — The School Resource Officer Use of Force bill passed the Senate Monday, but only after changes were made to the version that passed the House. The House rejected the new language, which will require a conference committee to sort out the differences.
Democrats say the legislation takes a comprehensive approach to school resource officers (SROs), by creating standards and a set of expectations within school buildings. At the same time, the legislation is designed to give law enforcement agencies the legal clarity they’re seeking to place their officers inside schools.
“It is a thoughtful bill. It has input from any number of stakeholders, agencies, the other body and this body,” said Sen. Bonnie Westlin, the Plymouth Democrat who was the lead author of the Senate version of the SRO bill.
“I’m proud of the work we did. I’m proud of the bill we produced. And I believe to my core that this bill will in fact be better for our kids. We will now have uniformity. We will now have consistency.”
She stressed that the decision on whether to have an SRO inside a school is one that is best left to local communities.
Senate Republicans spent much of the day trying to derail the bill and substitute their language for the House’s, but in the end, they voted for it.
“I think it is undisputed that our school resource officers are extremely valuable members of the family of our schools throughout the state of Minnesota,” said Sen. Zach Duckworth, a Lakeville Republican.
“For those that maybe had doubts about their value, I think it’s now universally understood that school resource officers are a great thing, and they add to enhanced safety in our schools, and they protect our kids and they protect our teachers.”
The legislation, for the first time, defines what a school resource officer is and makes it clear that officers working as SROs are allowed to apply the same reasonable force standards inside a school building as they would outside of one.
Changes made to last year’s Education Policy and Finance bill caused some confusion around the question, prompting dozens of law enforcement agencies to pull their SROs out of schools. The agencies worried officers would be held liable for lawsuits or criminal prosecution if they used the same tactics they’d used in the past, and they may hesitate to act quickly because of that uncertainty.
At least 40 of those police and sheriff’s departments have yet to place their SROs back in buildings, despite a legal opinion from Attorney General Keith Ellison that reasonable force standards remained the same.
The bill also makes clear that SROs don’t play a role in student discipline. It sets minimum training standards, and a statewide model policy for SROs. The bill mandates that the Peace Officers Standards and Training Board, known as the POST Board, will formulate the final rules after getting input from stakeholders in law enforcement and public education.
Democrats who opposed the bill were unhappy that it carves out an exception for officers, allowing them to use face-down, prone restraints when deemed necessary. By state law, teachers and other school staff can’t use those restraints but can use other types of holds to save lives or prevent injuries.
The legislation has often been dubbed the “SRO repair bill” because it’s designed to provide assurances to law enforcement that raised strong objections to new rules enacted in the 2023 Session. Senate Republicans often reminded the Democratic majority of that during Monday’s debate.
“What originally passed, driven by the governor, was a rushed bill that made it difficult for school resource officers to do their jobs and put our students’ safety at risk,” Sen. Eric Pratt, a Prior Lake Republican, told colleagues.
Pratt led an unsuccessful effort to dump all of the House bill’s language and simply repeal the original SRO provision in the 2023 Education bill. His fellow Republican, Sen. Rich Draheim of Madison Lake, was successful in an amendment that would allow teachers and other school staff to place hold on a child who is destroying school property.
“We have heard from teachers that have to leave the classrooms with all the kids but one because one kid is in the classroom destroying the room. And the staff is afraid to do anything,” Sen. Draheim said. “They are told to go teach their class outside or in the hallway. That is not effective use of state resources.”
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The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Maturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his department “failed” after a man was shot, allegedly by his neighbor in the city.
“We failed this victim. 100%, because that should not have happened to him,” said O’Hara in a Sunday evening press conference.
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Moturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
Sawchak was charged with shooting Moturi as he was pruning a tree on his front yard on Oct. 23.
Moturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion.
O’Hara and the MPD came under a heavy attack from the Minneapolis City Council after it was revealed that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had charged Sawchak, but the MPD had not arrested him.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
“We failed to act urgently enough,” said O’Hara, before citing staffing concerns as a contributing factor.
It was a stark difference from the tone the chief initially took on Friday, then saying “If we wound up in a deadly situation, the headlines would read ‘MPD shot mentally ill person’.”
On Sunday, O’Hara said his previous comments were meant as a response to accusations that the MPD “didn’t care,” about the case.
“This is the result of over-politicizing policing in Minneapolis,” said O’Hara.
O’Hara stated that the MPD will, for the moment, continue waiting for Sawchak to exit his home to arrest him, but the chief added “We are running out of options before we have to escalate the matter.”
The heated back-and-forth between the city council and the chief continued earlier Sunday when Minneapolis City Council member Emily Koski released a statement questioning O’Hara and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey actions in the matter.
“Our Chief of Police is hiding behind excuses, and our Mayor…is just hiding.” said Koski in the statement.
Cities across Minnesota expanded voting hours and locations for the upcoming presidential election.
MINNEAPOLIS — Expanded early voting hours and locations are giving Minnesotans more opportunities to cast their ballots before the general election.
Over 1,000 people visited Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services over the weekend to make their voice heard.
“We have always voted as a family. We have this right as Americans to vote, and we wanted him to know right from the get-go that you’ve got to vote in every single election because this is our voice, this is our opportunity to really pick the future that we want based on the candidate that we vote for,” said Kelly Wallander.
Kelly and her husband, Claude, picked up their son Harrison from college, so they could all vote in the general election for the first time as a family.
“It’s interesting. It’s cool to see elections on TV, basically as long as I can remember, and now know that I’m a part of it and being able to vote with my parents is cool,” Harrison said.
“I like voting early just because exactly you miss the line and you get it in there,” Claude said.
Director of Elections and Voter Services for the City of Minneapolis Katie Smith said the past two days have been busy.
“We’ve had really solid turnout. We’ve had about 42,000 people who have already voted in this election,” she said.
She anticipates next weekend will be even busier.
“Every year we kind of looking at how many people we’re planning for and how many people are coming through. We try to always expand our service hours as we get closer and closer to the election,” she said.
Smith said they’ve also started using pop-up voting locations to reach more people.
“In 2023, there was a legislative change that allows for us to have sites around the city that are open for different lengths of time as well as different dates form our main site. We’ve really taken the opportunity to host some one-day early vote pop-ups… in some unique and really great spaces throughout the city,” Smith said.
Sunday’s pop-up was at the Capri Theater. Paige Gayle voted here along with her sister.
“I like early voting because it’s convenient, it’s fast and it’s quick,” she said. “I work on actual election day, so for me it was important to get out beforehand.”
Smith said offering more voting opportunities for people in Minneapolis is crucial to their work.
“It’s so important to be able to offer all of these voting methods so that people can find something that works really well for them and make their voting plan,” Smith said.
Voters tell KARE 11 one of the perks to early voting is little to no wait. Voting early also gives them peace of mind and is one less thing to do on election day.
“It’s so much more convenient. This way I don’t have to worry about it. I’ll still be working on election day, so I would have had to go in before or after work. Now, I don’t have to worry about it. I know my vote will be counted,” Macy Bauers said.
Bauers said she votes in every election and hopes more people take advantage of early voting in the coming days.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
MINNEAPOLIS — Three people were shot, two of them fatally in a Minneapolis encampment on Sunday afternoon, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
The shooting occurred on the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue shortly after 3 p.m., said the MPD.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
A woman was also taken to the hospital after the shooting and is in critical condition, said the MPD.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
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