2018 News Archives

Officials explore reducing prison use. Nearly 100 law enforcement and prosecution officials from Ramsey and Hennepin Counties convened for a leadership conference to discuss ideas on how to achieve better public safety outcomes for our residents in Ramsey and Hennepin counties. (Insight News, Minneapolis, MN, October 17, 2018).

Twin Cities prosecutors, defenders push to expand Minnesota veteran courts. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi supports the legislation and said treatment courts need stable funding. He said they should be instituted across the state and focus on proven best practices to make them successful. (Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, October 13, 2018).

Jail fewer people? Twin Cities law enforcement say they're changing the way they deal with crime. Nearly 100 prosecutors and police met in St. Paul Thursday and came away with an unusual pledge for fighting crime: arrest fewer people.  (Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul, MN, October 5, 2018).

Law Enforcement Wants More Treatment, Less Prison. It’s an alarming number – more than 53,000 Twin Cities offenders are arrested and jailed in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties each year. More than half of them arrive with serious mental health or substance abuse issues. (WCCO-TV, Minneapolis, MN, October 4, 2018).

Advocacy group calls for changes in Minnesota law on rape and alcohol. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman have both called for changes in state law like those proposed by MNCASA, arguing that ambiguity in the current statute allows suspects to claim the sex was consensual even when the victim was too intoxicated to walk or recall events. (Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, August 21, 2018).

Super Bowl Anti-Sex Trafficking Efforts Yield Template for Future Events. The Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, Hennepin County, and the Super Bowl committee recently released a 26-page template based on procedures followed before and during the Super Bowl, along with the results. (MeetingNet, New York, NY, August 21, 2018)

Ramsey County to add community services attorney. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi wants to develop an immigration policy and hire a community services attorney to help staffers handle immigration-related issues and possibly prevent deportations. (Minnesota Lawyer, Minneapolis, MN, July 24, 2018).

Twin Cities parishes react to archdiocese's $210 million settlement with abuse survivors. The Ramsey County Attorney's Office reached a settlement agreement with the archdiocese in 2015 over its handling of sexual abuse claims. It required the archdiocese to make changes to protocols for reporting and responding to allegations of clergy abuse. (Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul, MN, June 3, 2018).

Ramsey County adds more sexual assault advocates. Two new sexual assault advocates will be added to the Ramsey County Public Health Department to help support victims through the process of bringing their case to court, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said at a recent press conference. (White Bear Press, White Bear Lake, MN, May 9, 2018).

After review, Ramsey County officials look to improve how sex assault cases are handled. Ramsey County officials are staffing up and expanding training to improve agencies' handling of sexual assault cases. (Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul, MN, April 27, 2018).

Of 646 reported east metro sex assaults, only 11 percent saw charges. What officials are doing to change that. Overwhelming caseloads for investigators, insufficient training on best practices for law enforcement officers and prosecutors, as well as a hesitancy to tackle complicated and time-intensive cases are all part of the problem, the study found. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, April 27, 2018).

Minnesota's opioid crisis grows more deadly. Will a new partnership address the problem? Minnesota’s opioid epidemic was more deadly than ever in Ramsey County last year, taking the lives of 72 people, a 16 percent increase over the year before. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, April 19, 2018).

Tell the Senate to reject the dangerous 'concealed carry reciprocity' act. Under "concealed carry reciprocity," a person could be carrying a hidden, loaded handgun and if stopped by a law enforcement officer would only need to flash a driver's license from one of those 12 permitless states — no questions asked. (Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, February 12, 2018).

Audit finds archdiocese ‘substantially compliant’ with clergy abuse settlement terms. Standing alongside Archbishop Bernard Hebda and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, Johnson said he wants to help those affected by the decades of clergy abuse within the archdiocese and help ensure the climate changes. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, January 17, 2018).