St. Paul mayoral hopefuls on how they'd stop the gunfire

After a violent weekend in St. Paul, the leading candidates for mayor are talking about how they'd come to grips with a spike in gun violence if they're elected Nov. 7.

Nineteen people have been killed in St. Paul so far in 2017, equaling the number killed all last year. Gunfire is an all-too common occurrence — 136 people have been shot in the city, an average of nearly one person every other day. Police say they've made progress but more needs to be done.

The top contenders among the 10 mayoral hopefuls agree that gun violence is a systemic problem that can't be solved quickly. Several offered detailed responses this week, all after noting the tragic consequences of this weekend's crimes.

Mayoral candidate Dai Thao wants to boost the city's forensic laboratory capacity in cooperation with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to give cops evidence more quickly and get criminals off the street faster. Thao, who serves on the St. Paul City Council, also wants to adopt some of the technology Minneapolis has tried, including an anonymous text-to-tip system and ShotSpotter, a system that alerts police when a gunshot is detected in parts of the city.

"We should pilot a ShotSpotter system in neighborhoods such as Frogtown, North End, east side, where there's a lot of gun violence, so we can triangulate and make sure that drug dealers, or people that want to make trouble, we have you," Thao said.

Former City Council member Pat Harris says the causes of violence are complex, rooted in the community and the economy. He's laid out a plan he'd try to enact quickly if elected.

It calls for hiring more patrol officers and investigators, he said, as well as "having a person in the mayor's office dedicated specifically to this issue. It includes a gun violence prosecutor in the city attorney's office, it includes the mayor being out there in the community within 24 hours of any incident, and it includes having our officers and the department working within the community, with community leaders, faith leaders, to really address this systemically."

Another former City Council member, Melvin Carter, son of a St. Paul cop, also wants to improve community trust in police but notes that even cops agree "we can't police our way out of these challenges."

"We have a lot of people in St. Paul who don't feel connected to the opportunity to go to college and to get an education, and to get a great job or open a business in their neighborhood. And they end up trying to find other ways to live," he said. "And when so many people are struggling just to pay the rent, or just to put food on the table, we find ourselves with very specific and pronounced challenges that destabilize whole neighborhoods and our whole city."

Two other leading mayoral candidates also have some suggestions. Former St. Paul school board member Tom Goldstein says police need help now, and would like to see, for instance, the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office take a larger role in policing the city, even on a temporary basis.

Green party contender Elizabeth Dickinson says the problem needs both a stick and a carrot, using police and community leaders to make clear this kind of violence won't be tolerated, but also investing in the young people who commit crimes.

"Using the gang violence task force and community engagement techniques to go to them and saying, what do you need to not go down this pathway? What are the resources that you need?"

Whichever candidate voters choose, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, who's running for governor and not seeking re-election to the mayor's office, said the city can't fight the problem alone.

"We're adding officers ... We're focusing in on mental health issues, which often lead to gun violence," Coleman said. "I think we're certainly doing the right things, but at the end of the day, we have too many guns in too many people's hands that are too willing to use them, and we need support to get some of these guns off the streets of the city of St. Paul."