Opinion: Crime victim services need a long-term funding solution

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Responding to crime means more than making arrests; it means making sure victims can find help, safety and stability.

Every day in Minnesota, crime victims search for support. Some hear about services from a friend. Others find a number online. Many are handed a law enforcement-issued “blue card” after filing a report. However they get there, these survivors are directed into Minnesota’s crime victim services network — a statewide system offering shelter, legal guidance, health care navigation and more. These services are essential to public safety. But right now, they’re not adequately funded to deliver services to each Minnesotan who needs them.

As a veteran law enforcement officer and a longtime trauma-informed service provider, respectively, we jointly call on our state leaders to turn over every couch cushion and reprioritize fees, fines and prosecution penalties to ensure crime victim services are not left behind this session. Our state must uplift victims of crime and violence.

We have seen firsthand how crime victims and their needs are not prioritized within the criminal legal system. They often face barriers in coming forward and asking for help, they fear retribution, and the services they need to rebuild their lives are at jeopardy of disappearing.

Every victim’s needs are different, but one thing is consistent: Advocates help them feel safe, heard and supported. Survivors often say that just knowing someone will pick up the phone makes it easier to face the hardest moments and take the steps needed to begin rebuilding.

So far during this legislative session the Minnesota House, Minnesota Senate and Gov. Tim Walz have put forth three different recommendations for how to fund crime victim services. Ultimately, none of these proposals address the need generated by the collapse of federal funding that has been ongoing since 2018, but they do represent a significant and appreciated investment on the state level. Additionally, the Legislature’s proposals include a key new tool for ensuring long-term funding.

Termed the Minnesota victims of crime account, or MN-VOCA, the bills carried by Rep. Kelly Moller and Sen. Clare Oumou Verbeten, which are included in the Public Safety and Judiciary omnibus bills heading into conference committee, establish a special revenue account and direct certain fees and fines to the account. Funding from the account can be utilized for grants to crime victim service providers for direct services and advocacy for victims of sexual assault, general crime, domestic violence and child abuse.

While you hear a lot about Democrats and Republicans not agreeing on much this year in a divided Legislature, the protection and support of crime victim services is a silver lining with bipartisan leadership and commitment to do better through the creation and funding of a MN-VOCA. In this way, our legislators join chiefs of police, sheriffs and prosecutors in standing firm to create a future where the promise of safety and support is fulfilled in a timely, comprehensive manner.

We urge continued leadership to ensure we don’t leave victims, and therefore hope for a better future, behind.