Legal Question in Criminal Law in Minnesota

Re: mandatory arrest laws for family violence

I am not aware of a mandatory arrest policy which is part of state law in Minnesota. I am aware that many police departments have a "mandatory arrest policy" for domestic assault. When on a ride-along with a police officer, I soon noticed that over half the police dispatch calls we got were on "domestics" and that if we'd arrested every one, we'd have sat in the jail all night on two or three arrests in petty cases. The police officer I was with was wise, I thought, to exercise discretion in who to arrest -- despite his police department's "mandatory arrest policy."

You might check the US Department of Justice's web site for statistics on domestic abuse and mandatory arrest policies across the USA.