State Sen. Kevin Kinney: Iowa police and prisons need more funding

One of the primary responsibilities of the Legislature is to keep Iowans safe in their homes and communities.

Law enforcement officers — whether they be small-town police officers or members of the Iowa State Patrol — play an important role in keeping Iowans safe. The same goes for employees in our state prisons, who help keep dangerous people off the streets.

That’s why I’m concerned about Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposed budget, which includes a status quo budget for the Department of Corrections and a $399,370 cut for the Iowa State Patrol.

This does nothing to increase public safety in Iowa.

When I say that we need to support public safety by fully funding it, that means more officers on the streets and it also means a better support system.

We know from firsthand reports, and from the analysis by CGL Companies, that Iowa prisons are understaffed and unsafe.

Last year, the Legislature approved a bipartisan, significant and long overdue increase in the corrections budget. It has yet to result in a boost in staffing levels. In fact, the seven-month security review of Iowa’s prison system highlighted a key problem. The state of Iowa must do more to recruit and retain correctional and nursing staff.

This workforce crisis affects public safety. If the funding boost provided last year didn’t do the job, the governor and Legislature need to get creative.

Recently, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts and the union representing corrections officers in that state reached an agreement that provides raises of $8 per hour and double-time for any overtime. The union president called the agreement a “game changing moment” in their efforts to address a staffing crisis.

The proposed cut for the Iowa State Patrol is not going to help the workforce crisis. There are currently 360 troopers. That’s 39 short of the 399 are funded by the Legislature.

Having fewer troopers has resulted in a substantial reduction in motorist assists, crash investigations and drunken-driving arrests on Iowa's highways and interstates.

There are other measures we can take to address the workforce crisis in public safety across Iowa. How about restoring bargaining rights for public safety officers and other public employees? This will attract and help retain high-quality public employees in all 99 counties.

When I say that we need to support public safety by fully funding it, that means more officers on the streets and it also means a better support system.

We need to fully fund crime victims’ services. This is good for crime victims because they get the professional services and protections that they need. It’s also frees up law enforcement officers spend more time investigating crimes and bringing more criminals to justice.

The governor has proposed a status quo budget for Victim Assistance Grants for next year. That’s not a step forward for public safety.

We also need to put more resources behind community violence intervention specialists and behavioral health first responders. They — along with police officers, sheriff deputies and the Iowa State Patrol — can work together to make our communities safe by addressing mental health crises and other related situations.

That’s what I’m talking about when I talk about fully funding public safety.

State Sen. Kevin Kinney is a Democrat from Oxford.