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Threats to lawmakers, state officials more than doubled in last year, Minnesota State Patrol says

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Caroline Cummings
Caroline Cummings
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Caroline Cummings is an Emmy-winning reporter with a passion for covering politics, public policy and government. She is thrilled to join the WCCO team.
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Caroline Cummings

/ CBS Minnesota

The number of threats against people who work in and around the Minnesota State Capitol more than doubled over the last year, a state law enforcement official told a panel of lawmakers Monday.

Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger of the Minnesota State Patrol, who oversees Capitol security, said the agency investigated 19 threats against state agency commissioners, lawmakers and the governor's office in 2024. But this year, there have been 50 threats, and 13 of them are being referred for criminal charges.

Several are still under investigation. 

In response, the State Patrol is elevating a trooper to a "threat investigator" within the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to work as a liaison to Capitol security.

"The reason for that is what we've talked about in past committee hearings, [which] is the rise in threats to many on this Capitol complex," Geiger told the Advisory Committee on Capitol Area Security during its latest meeting. 

The state patrol is also assigning new troopers to the Capitol grounds, and it hired 20 new security officers, Geiger added. That announcement is the latest development as state law enforcement evaluates safety measures following the lawmaker shooting attacks in June and a breach of the Minnesota Senate chamber in July when a naked man broke in after hours. 

It was the third meeting of the — which consists of a bipartisan slate of lawmakers, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Natalie Hudson — since those two incidents. They are expected to meet twice more before sending a report to the Legislature about safety recommendations early next year. 

Separately, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety this summer contracted with a third-party, the firm led by former Saint Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell, to evaluate security protocols on the 140-acre Capitol complex. 

Axtell told the panel it could expect the reports with the safety assessments by the end of the year. 

"Our role is to provide a clear, evidence-based recommendation that allows leadership to make informed and balanced decisions about how much risk it's acceptable and what level of protection is appropriate for the people in Minnesota's people's house," said Axtell, now the CEO of The Axtell Group. 

At a previous meeting, the committee heard from the National Conference of State Legislatures about what other state capitols have implemented for security. An official with the group expanded on the findings.

Geiger said he's visited capitol buildings in Iowa, Idaho and Colorado, and has future visits planned in Ohio, Kansas and Nebraska.

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