EXCLUSIVE: Former security officer reveals major problems at the State Capitol

A former state employee, who wished to speak anonymously, shared his experiences as a security officer at the Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul.

He reached out to Liz Collin after the shocking and almost unbelievable incidents involving a man found naked inside the Senate chamber last Friday.

The intruder, identified by authorities as Dominic Peace, was taken to Regions Hospital for a mental health evaluation. He then returned to the Capitol grounds two more times within 24 hours before he was finally arrested. It wasn’t until later that his long history of arrests in Minnesota and an active warrant for his arrest out of Wisconsin became known.

Collin started off by asking a question many have been wondering about: how could anyone get inside the Capitol on a Friday night after hours—and then trespass again two more times?

In response, the former security officer explained, “I could point to physical security, such as the 16 doors and another set of handicapped doors. But the main problem is they don’t want to arrest people, mostly because it generates a log at the jail. The log is public info, and creates a paper trail showing crime at the Capitol. This is the main security problem.”

The former security officer also spoke about some of the problems with alarms, sensors, and monitoring, while pointing out how “80 percent of the time, there is only one dispatcher on a shift who has to monitor everything.”

Along with the three trespassing incidents, caused by the same suspect in 24 hours, another recent incident raised concerns about hiring practices.

A Capitol security officer was arrested for impersonating an undercover police officer. He was drunk at a bar in Minneapolis threatening customers, and then was encountered driving drunk with a loaded firearm.

The former officer who spoke to Alpha News, who has plenty of insight about hiring practices over the years, explained that, “hiring standards have been lowered. If you look back to job postings, back in 2022, you needed a minimum of two years’ security experience to get hired and you had to pass a background check. Today, it’s just six months. And the current job listings do not mention passing a background check. They are scraping the bottom of the barrel in hiring staff and supervisors from outside.”

Collin asked him about some of the confusion between the Minnesota State Patrol and the security officers who work the Capitol buildings and grounds. The former officer pointed out that security officers are not licensed police officers per se and don’t carry firearms—even batons, handcuffs, and tasers are off limits.

He also pointed out how after “the Unicorn Riot people requested a ton of stuff after the Philando Castile protests, including text, email and video footage, all the posted orders at the stations were taken down and the Captain told us that all orders will be verbal. This way, if something goes wrong, there is no printed order for anyone to follow. It falls into a he-said/she-said situation. And if something goes wrong, it is the officer who will be in trouble.”

He then explained how “Patrol has to look good at the Capitol. They’re funded by both parties so they have to be nice to everyone.”

He recalled that in the past, “there were several times that officers were sent to deal with people smoking fentanyl. They would just send a trooper in an unmarked car. But they wouldn’t get out of the car. They would just sit behind them because they didn’t want to be seen, they didn’t want people in the state building to see them pushing people out. They did the same exact thing with the homeless encampments.”

Perhaps most telling of all, the former officer said that, “over the years, I tried to make some changes and reached out to politicians on both sides. I sent plenty of emails but I’ve heard nothing back—except for one who did reply to my emails. But here we are … ”

Department of Public Safety responds

Department of Public Safety communications director Howie Padilla said that “if there is anyone who believes that their colleagues are shirking responsibilities for any reason, we would hope that information would get to supervisors so those issues could be addressed. Not doing so by any employees is actually a shirking of their own responsibilities. As such, we won’t be further addressing accusations from former employees.”

Padilla confirmed that batons, handcuffs, and tasers are no longer used by security officers, which was a change made through an “accreditation review process, and based on national best standards.”

“There is a delineation between sworn law enforcement and use of force and non-sworn response and reporting. The security officers and sworn troopers work together and each have the tools needed to carry out their assignments,” Padilla said.

“Our hiring practices and standards have not deviated from the high standards we have always had. We work closely with our Human Resources and have a procedure to ensure a fair and professional process to make sure we hire the best candidate for the job,” he continued. “Those that work on the Capitol Grounds are held to a high standard, and work closely with legislators, staff, and visitors.”

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