At a Thursday press conference, DFL Gov. Tim Walz dodged a question about whether the proposed Office of the Inspector General (OIG) should have law enforcement power. The debate about the OIG’s law enforcement powers has become a top issue in St. Paul.
Going back to last year, a bipartisan group of state lawmakers have pushed for the creation of an OIG to investigate fraud in Minnesota.
A key component of their proposal is giving the OIG law enforcement powers. In short, the OIG would have an internal law enforcement agency comprised of licensed peace officers that could conduct statewide investigations related to fraud and make arrests.
A bill to that end, SF 856, passed in the Minnesota Senate last year in a 60-7 vote, but the Minnesota House of Representatives never took up SF 856 for a vote. This year, Democrats in the House have tried to strip the law enforcement component from that bill.
SF 856 is co-authored by DFL Sen. Heather Gustafson and GOP Sen. Michael Kreun. Kreun has referred to the law enforcement division as the “teeth” of SF 856. Walz has previously said he would sign legislation creating an OIG.
On Thursday, Walz was speaking to reporters about a package of anti-fraud proposals put forward by his office. During that press conference, Walz was asked if he thinks the OIG should have law enforcement powers.
However, the governor dodged the question and motioned to Superintendent Drew Evans of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). Evans, who was standing nearby, took the governor’s place at the podium and addressed reporters.
Evans said “there should be strong investigative authority within an inspector general if one were to pass,” but “what’s being contemplated in [SF 856] is a very small law enforcement function that would be ineffective from our perspective.”
Elaborating, Evans said “it’s expensive to run a law enforcement agency, there’s a lot of regulation, it’s complicated,” and “we want [the OIG] to be effective and do exactly what everybody wants it to do.”
Evans noted that existing state entities already forward accusations of fraud to the BCA’s financial crimes division, and he said the proposed OIG “has to work very closely with an organization like the BCA” to ensure there are no redundancies.
In his comments, Evans noted that no one guides or directs what his agency investigates.
However, the BCA superintendent is appointed by the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (DPS), a position which is appointed by the governor. Evans was appointed superintendent of the BCA during Mark Dayton’s administration.
In a statement to Alpha News, Kreun responded to Evans’ comments, saying, “True accountability requires an independent law enforcement division, not subject to influence by political appointees.”
“If the BCA Superintendent worries about redundancy, one solution could be transferring BCA agents investigating taxpayer fraud directly into the OIG office to build on existing expertise while preserving that crucial separation,” added the GOP senator.
Meanwhile, a BCA spokesperson told Alpha News that “the BCA, as subject matter experts, is regularly consulted on law enforcement policy by both the legislature and the governor’s office,” and Evans is an “independent and informed” voice who “voiced his position on where law enforcement resources would be most efficient and valuable.”
Alpha News contacted Walz’s office for this story but did not hear back.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
