Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, who helped devise a program to sharply increase arrests and prosecutions of non-fatal shootings, pressed state lawmakers Thursday to pass a bill for $1 million in grants to help other jurisdictions continue the successful experiment.
The bipartisan bill (HF1082), authored by House public safety co-chairs Reps. Kelly Moller and Paul Novotny, is modeled on Ramsey County’s non-fatal shooting unit, which has succesfully reduced gun crime in Ramsey County, and especially St. Paul.
Previously, police and prosecutors spent few resources investigating non-fatal shootings, which were viewed as less important than homicides and often involved engaging with difficult witnesses.
The logic of the program is straightforward: Non-fatal shootings are esentially failed homicides, and they often spur a cycle of retributive violence. By solving and prosecuting so few of them, authorities lost any chance at deterrance. The non-fatal shootings often escalated to killings.
“Safer communities start with solving crimes, and solving non-fatal shootings will help remove illegal guns and dangerous individuals off our streets,” Choi said in a press release following a Thursay event at the State Capitol.
