Department of Public Safety seeks 5.5 percent biennial budget increase

The Department of Public Safety’s 2020-21 biennial budget request is $217.7 million from the General Fund, an $11.3 million increase over the current biennium.

Commissioner John Harrington made the 5.5 percent increase request Thursday to the House Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Finance and Policy Division. Six of the department’s 14 units are funded by the division.

In the area of technology, the department proposes to spend $1.53 million to improve hardware, software, workstation replacement and Minnesota IT Services staffing.

Three areas of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension need significant increases to ensure it can effectively complete tasks “vital to public safety,” Harrington said.

The requests are:

• $3 million to replace the 12 year old aging automated fingerprint identification system that is no longer supported by the vendor;
• $2.8 million to hire more investigators, laboratory analysts and forensic scientists to address the dramatic increase in cases resulting from opioid abuse; and
• $2.8 million to “address cyber security vulnerabilities” to ensure that, when its computers connect with FBI criminal databases, the information exchanged cannot be hacked.

Currently, the BCA is not in compliance with the FBI’s cyber security standards, Harrington said.

The department has also requested $150,000 over the two-year biennium to fund the Task Force on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, which is proposed in HF70, sponsored by Rep. Mary Kunesh-Podein (DFL-New Brighton).

The six Department of Public safety divisions funded by the House Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform Finance and Policy Division are:

• Alcohol and Gambling Enforcement;
• Office of Justice Programs;
• Bureau of Criminal Apprehension;
• Fire Marshal Division;
• Emergency Communication Networks; and
• Homeland Security and Emergency Management.