Comprehensive Public Safety

Others talk about public safety or take pictures with local law enforcement officers, but nothing compares with actually having done the job. I have decades of lived experience serving and protecting the public as a St. Paul police officer. People in crisis trusted me to keep them safe in violent, unpredictable, and dangerous situations. I answered emergency calls day and night. I helped people deal with the most traumatic events in their lives. My credentials as a beat cop, Use of Force/Firearms Instructor, Field Training Officer, SWAT member, honor guard member, and bike patrol cop will bring a much-needed perspective to public safety legislation.

As a retired street cop of 28 1/2 years, I support our police and will work to improve recruitment, hiring, training, retaining and compensating our police force. The dramatic increase in police officers in our region who have been shot, killed, and injured in the line of duty appalls me.

Gun violence is already an epidemic in our country, but when it targets officers --the protectors of our society--then no one feels safe. I believe in the rule of law and the enforcement and prosecution of violent offenders who pose the most dangerous risk to our public safety.

With gun ownership and gun rights comes responsibility. Common-sense gun regulation is an important part of the multi-prong approach to fixing this epidemic of gun violence.

Every gun owner has a duty and responsibility to use, maintain, and store firearms safely. Every responsible gun owner understands that they are accountable for every round that comes out of the barrel of their gun and that they have a duty to safely store every gun they own. That duty extends to promptly reporting lost or stolen firearms. This is not onerous but a fundamental, basic, and serious responsibility of every gun owner.

As a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, I will serve and protect our police and communities with the same dedication to safety and justice I had while serving and protecting my community as an officer.