Police unions clash with Walz over Minnesota public safety funding

As violent crime endangers Minnesota communities, police say they have been left stretched and underfunded while state leaders have directed millions elsewhere, a shortcoming that is now drawing increased scrutiny from public safety experts and police union leaders.

The discrepancy is under scrutiny as the state faces a massive fraud scandal involving hundreds of millions of dollars, including allegations that taxpayer money was flowed to the Al-Shabaab terrorist group in Somalia, all under the noses of Democratic leaders.

Randy Sutton, a law enforcement veteran and founder of The Wounded Blue, told Fox News Digital that the crisis extends far beyond a single agency or city.

“Public safety is at risk…we are in a criminal justice crisis in America,” Sutton said. “Political leaders are destroying public safety because of their ideology.”

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Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara speaks to more than a hundred uniformed law enforcement officers while awaiting the release of an officer who was shot in the line of duty in north Minneapolis, Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023, outside North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minnesota. (Aaron Lavinksy/Star Tribune via Getty Images)

Mark Ross, president of the St. Paul Police Federation, says Minnesota is experiencing this crisis in real time.

“We’ve lost anywhere from 50 to over 100 agents since 2020, and we just haven’t recovered from it,” Ross told Fox News Digital. “Right now, we’re short about a thousand police officers in the state of Minnesota, and we’re on pace to lose another 2,000 to 2,500 over the next few years.”

The staffing shortage comes as Minnesota recorded 170 murders in 2024, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), only slightly fewer than the previous year, with guns involved in nearly 75% of those murders. Statewide, carjackings increased 5.5% and rapes increased 5.2% between 2023 and 2024. Assaults on peace officers also increased 1.5%.

Ross said recruitment and retention have reached a breaking point, not only in St. Paul but across the state.

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Police in Minnesota are facing a staffing shortage, experts say. (Minneapolis Police Department/Facebook)

“The overall policing landscape in Minnesota has become really, really competitive. We’re losing officers to other departments that pay more and offer greater incentives.”

He said the massive losses from fraud, which are now the subject of multiple federal investigations, have compounded long-term pressures on public safety agencies.

“Those billions of dollars could have been spent on public safety, but they disappeared…and we will never see that money again.”

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Sutton, who tracks crime trends nationally, said the shortages couldn’t come at a worse time.

“Last year, more than 85,000 American officers were assaulted… every day, an officer is shot,” Sutton said. “We’ve never seen a volume like this.”

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Both experts caution that Minnesotans may not fully appreciate the scale of the public safety crisis, particularly in metropolitan areas where crime is concentrated. While violent crime declined slightly in greater Minnesota, the BCA reports a 1 percent increase in violent crime in the seven-county Twin Cities region, including Minneapolis and St. Paul, where police personnel have been hit hardest.

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“People are afraid to even report a crime…and some police departments don’t report to the FBI,” Sutton said. “The numbers are skewed. We don’t even have an accurate picture of violent crime.”

Ross said St. Paul officers are doing “more with less” even as community expectations rise.

A spokesperson for Gov. Tim Walz defended the administration’s record, highlighting what he described as unprecedented investments in public safety across Minnesota.

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Tim Walz speaks onstage during the SXSW 2025 conference and festival at the Austin Convention Center on March 8, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)

“The governor signed the largest public safety budget in state history, investing money in every police department in the state,” the spokesperson said. Walz’s office also noted Walz’s efforts to fund a new State Patrol headquarters and the recent dedication of a new state crime lab, adding that “Minnesota was recently ranked as one of the safest states.”

The governor’s office also rejected claims that the state’s high-profile fraud cases have strained law enforcement resources. Critics say those losses drained taxpayer dollars that could have supported public safety, but the administration has rejected that characterization.

“The fraudsters stole money from programs like Medicaid that are funded primarily with federal funds, so police funding is not affected,” the spokesperson said.

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Walz’s office added that “the governor has made public safety a top priority for the state, providing hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for police officers.”

Ross said the governor’s claims don’t reflect what officers are experiencing on the ground.

“These are all projects that need to be done, but what we’re looking for is continued funding all the time. Not one-time funding.”

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He strongly rejected the assertion that fraud had no impact on public safety funds.

“You can’t put it that way. It all comes from the same fund. It’s taxpayers’ money,” he said. “I think taxpayers would not be amused by that response.”

Ross said many officers fear political repercussions more than criminals.

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“There is a legitimate fear that they will be sued or fired for doing their job, even if they did everything right.”

“The first thing cops think during a use of force incident is, ‘Am I going to jail for this?'”

Sutton echoed that sentiment nationally.

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Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, left, speaks with Michael Wilson, right, three years after the death of George Floyd at George Floyd Square, Thursday, May 25, 2023, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

“The officers are more afraid of their own leaders than of the criminal elements and that is the saddest part of this whole story.”

Ross said fewer highly qualified candidates are applying and some who have the potential to become exceptional officers are simply refusing to enter the profession because of the political climate and scrutiny.

“You’re not going to get a lot of super-qualified candidates when the recruiting pool is this small,” he said. “People would love the job and be good at it, but they don’t feel supported.”

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Ross said meaningful change must start with leadership at all levels – city, state and department.

“It all starts with leadership, political leadership, ministerial leadership, union leadership. We need people to stand up and take the lead.”

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Despite recent improvements in recruiting, he warned, “we still have a long way to go.”

Sutton agrees, adding that until elected leaders prioritize public safety over politics, “communities will continue to be in danger.”

Fox News Digital has reached out to the offices of the Minneapolis mayor and police chief for comment.

Stepheny Price covers crime including missing persons, homicides and migrant crime. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.