Post 9-11 Information Sharing? Not always in Minnesota

I quickly read through a news article today describing the testimony by Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis today about the bombing suspects before a House committee on homeland security.  The Commissioner mentioned concerns about information sharing among law enforcement agencies.  In Minnesota, the Chiefs of Police Association, police leaders and a few other organizations have been pushing for a change in Minnesota law that is hamstringing our ability to receive important information on criminal activity. 



You will likely be surprised to know Minnesota law enforcement agencies are not receiving information from other states and federal entities because of Minnesota (law) Chapter 13, that makes criminal investigative data shared by agencies outside of Minnesota public data if it is not tied to an active criminal investigation in Minnesota.  Without the ability to apply reasonable protections to this data from other states we are isolating Minnesota law enforcement agencies from important information tied to multi-jurisdictional criminal activity.

The general public believes law enforcement is sharing information more than ever in a post 9-11 era.  Given Minnesota law, it still is not happening here....We need to get this law changed to prevent further tragedies.  Your police leaders will continue to push for reasonable law changes - even though we have not been successful at our Capitol to date.