As violent crime endangers communities across Minnesota, police say they were left stretched thin and underfunded while state leaders directed millions elsewhere, a gap now drawing sharp scrutiny from public-safety experts and police union leaders.

That gap is under the microscope as the state deals with a massive fraud scandal involving hundreds of millions of dollars, including allegations of taxpayer money finding its way to terrorist group Al-Shabaab in Somalia, all under the nose of Democratic leaders.

Randy Sutton, a police veteran and founder of The Wounded Blue, told Fox News Digital the crisis extends far beyond one agency or city.

“The public safety is at risk… we are in a criminal justice crisis in America,” Sutton said. “Political leadership is destroying public safety through their ideology.”

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Mark Ross, president of the St. Paul Police Federation, says Minnesota is living that crisis in real time.

“We’ve been down anywhere from 50 to over 100 officers since 2020, and we just haven’t recovered from that,” Ross told Fox News Digital. “Right now we’re about a thousand police officers short in the state of Minnesota, and we’re on pace to lose another 2,000 to 2,500 over the next few years.”

The staffing shortages come as Minnesota recorded 170 murders in 2024, according to the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), only slightly below the year before, with firearms involved in nearly 75% of those killings. Statewide, carjackings rose 5.5% and rapes increased 5.2% from 2023 to 2024. Assaults on peace officers also jumped up 1.5%.

Ross said recruitment and retention have reached a breaking point, not only in St. Paul but statewide.

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“The overall landscape for policing in Minnesota has gotten really, really competitive. We’re losing officers to other departments paying more and offering greater incentives.”

He said the state’s massive fraud losses, now the subject of multiple federal investigations, have worsened long-term pressures on public-safety agencies.

“These billions of dollars could have been spent on public safety, but it’s gone… and we’ll never see that money again.”

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Sutton, who tracks crime trends nationally, said the shortages could not come at a worse time.

“Last year, more than 85,000 American officers were assaulted… every single day an officer is being shot,” Sutton said. “We’ve never seen volume like this.”

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Both experts warn that Minnesotans may not fully grasp the extent of the public-safety crisis, especially in the metro areas where crime is concentrated. While violent crime dipped slightly in greater Minnesota, the BCA reports a 1% rise in violent crime across the seven-county Twin Cities region, including Minneapolis and St. Paul, where police staffing has been hit hardest.

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“People are afraid to even report crime… and some police agencies aren’t reporting to the FBI,” Sutton said. “The figures are skewed. We don’t even have an accurate picture of violent crime.”

Ross said St. Paul officers are doing “more with less” even as community expectations increase.

A spokesperson for Gov. Tim Walz defended the administration’s record, pointing to what they described as unprecedented public-safety investments across Minnesota.

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“The Governor signed the largest public safety budget in state history, investing money in every single police department in the state,” the spokesperson said. Walz’s office also noted Walz’s efforts to fund a new State Patrol headquarters and the recent groundbreaking of a new state crime lab, adding that “Minnesota was recently ranked as one of the safest states.”

The governor’s office also pushed back on claims that the state’s high-profile fraud cases affected law-enforcement resources. Critics argue those losses drained taxpayer dollars that could have supported public safety, but the administration rejected that characterization.

“The fraudsters stole money from programs like Medicaid that are funded primarily with federal funding, so police funding is not affected,” the spokesperson said.

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Walz’s office added that, “The Governor has made public safety a top priority for the state, providing hundreds of millions in funding for cops.”

Ross said the governor’s claims do not reflect what officers experience on the ground.

“Those are all projects that need to be done, but what we’re looking for is continued funding all the time. Not one-time funding.”

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He strongly rejected the claim that fraud had no impact on public-safety dollars.

“You can’t frame things that way. It all comes from the same pool of money. Those are tax dollars,” he said. “I think taxpayers would not be amused by that response.”

Ross said many officers fear political repercussions more than they fear criminals.

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“There is a legitimate fear they might be prosecuted or terminated for doing their jobs, even when they’ve done everything correctly.”

“The first thing cops think during a use-of-force incident is: ‘Am I going to jail for this?’”

Sutton echoed that sentiment on a national scale.

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“Officers are more afraid of their own leadership than of the criminal element and that is the saddest part of this whole story.”

Ross said fewer highly qualified candidates are applying, and some who might make exceptional officers simply refuse to enter the profession due to the political climate and scrutiny.

“You’re not going to get the big number of super-qualified candidates when the hiring pool is this shallow,” he said. “People would love the work and be great at it, but they don’t feel supported.”

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Ross said meaningful change must start with leadership at all levels — city, state and departmental.

“It all starts with leadership, political leadership, department leadership, union leadership. We need people to get up and lead.”

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Despite recent improvements in recruitment, he warned, “we have a long way to go.”

Sutton agreed, adding that until elected leaders prioritize public safety above politics, “communities will continue to be in danger.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of the Minneapolis mayor and police chief for comment.