More special agents, more crime lab analysts, and more funding for the state's Office of School Safety.
Those are just some of the budget priorities for Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul.
"We need to do more to invest in keeping our communities as safe as we can," said Kaul @The Table Monday night.
Kaul is requesting 19 additional special agents and criminal analysts for the Department of Criminal Investigation and another 16 DNA analysts, and toxicologists at the Wisconsin State Crime Labs.
“Our agents do phenomenal work to keep communities safe. That's one place that I'd like to see an investment," Kaul said. "It's also important that evidence gets tested efficiently and that's where crime labs come in."
His responsibilities also include the Office of School Safety, which was established after the 2018 Parkland Florida school shooting.
The program initially was given $100 million in state funding to help schools upgrade their security needs.
Federal funding is expected to run out at the end of this year and state money is now needed to keep it running.
"There's a 24/7 tip line that anybody associated with a school can contact they've received 1,000s of contacts now and helped intervene to prevent violence," said Kaul. "We're hoping to see the legislature keep that program going so that we can keep working to keep our schools as safe as possible."
Watch the full conversation in the video at the top of this article.
Charles Benson and Shannon Sims interview key people in our community during TMJ4's @TheTable segment every weeknight at 10 p.m.
