When I am Ramsey County Attorney, I will bring my experience as a trial lawyer to bear to protect victims and prosecute criminals. I will adapt the best practices available to address both new challenges and persistent problems. I will implement evidence-based procedures to invest in initiatives that are proven to reduce crime.
My priorities are:
Protecting Vulnerable Populations
Children
- enhance child support collection efforts by making more efficient use of PRISM database information
- establish a safe schools program modeled after Amy Klobuchar’s safe schools initiative to reduce school violence
- expand the truancy intervention program across county lines to address the nature of today’s truancy
- establish a domestic violence service center to provide all the services and assistance victims need in one location
Seniors
- create a dedicated unit to vigorously prosecute all crimes against seniors
- establish a seniors’ hotline for reporting mistreatment and abuse
- proactively teach seniors how to protect themselves against financial crime and identity theft
- partner with residents, service providers, and law enforcement to identify and punish those who prey on our seniors
Aggressively Pursuing Criminals
White Collar Crime
- use forfeiture laws to take back ill-gotten gains in fraud cases
- combat fraud and abuse in county government programs
- establish mortgage fraud bureau to prosecute mortgage fraud cases
Gang Violence
- deliberately target the most dangerous repeat offenders for prosecution of all offenses
- disable gang organizations by dismantling their structure
- invest in proven programs to give kids alternatives to joining gangs
Community Based Prosecution
- assign a prosecutor to each community to work with residents and leaders to spot trends early and coordinate effective responses
Making Our Resources Work Harder
- seek and obtain additional, innovative grant funding to offset budget cuts
- streamline case evaluation procedures to resolve cases quickly and fairly and to free up resources for the most serious matters
- implement immediate consequences for probation violators to break the cycle of repeat offenses
