Privacy in Minnesota for first responders

What protects you in Minnesota

Minnesota's strongest lever for officers and judicial officials is Safe at Home (Minn. Stat. Ch. 5B). It's a substitute-address program run by the Secretary of State. Enroll, get a substitute address, and state and local agencies must use it instead of your real one. The program ties together protection across property records, voter rolls, and DMV records — file once, and the same designation flows through.

For judicial officials and their adult children not residing with them, Minn. Stat. § 13.991 adds a separate confidentiality designation. The mechanism is a written notification on a form provided by the Minnesota Judicial Branch, filed with the responsible authority that maintains the records.

Minnesota does not have a broad broker-removal statute — no equivalent of New Jersey's Daniel's Law (the NJ law that lets covered officers sue data brokers for failing to remove their home address). There's no state statute compelling brokers to remove a patrol officer's address. The 2025 attack on Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband — and the wounding of Senator John Hoffman and his wife — was carried out by a suspect who had used data-broker tools to compile a target list of more than 70 public officials. Even strong Safe at Home enrollment doesn't reach the broker layer where that kind of targeting starts. See Hortman attack: brokers as a target list for political violence.

What still leaks

1. Civil court filings. MNCIS is searchable statewide. Divorce, civil suits, and small-claims filings can include addresses in the body unless redacted at filing. Safe at Home doesn't reach court documents already on file.
2. Pre-enrollment broker data. Once a broker has your address, Safe at Home doesn't pull it back out. The substitute-address designation prevents future agency disclosure but not historical broker listings.
3. Out-of-state and commercial brokers. Spokeo, Whitepages, BeenVerified, and the rest source from out-of-state aggregators. They don't honor Minnesota law.

Laws that work for you here

• Safe at Home (Minn. Stat. Ch. 5B) — enroll through the Secretary of State for a substitute address. Ties to property, voter, and DMV designations.
• Minn. Stat. § 5B.05(d) / § 13.045 — file a Real Property Notice with the county responsible authority before a home purchase to shield your address.
• Minn. Stat. § 13.82 — peace officer personal-data classification under the Government Data Practices Act.
• Minn. Stat. § 13.991 — judicial officials confidentiality designation. Written notification to the responsible authority on a form from the Minnesota Judicial Branch.
• Minn. Stat. § 171.12 — DMV / driver record confidentiality through the Department of Public Safety.
• Minn. Stat. § 201.081, Subd. 2 / § 201.091, Subd. 4(d) — voter roll confidentiality for Safe at Home participants.

What we sweep that the state doesn't

Safe at Home shuts down agency-side disclosure for participants. It doesn't touch the brokers — and the Hortman case shows what the broker layer can fuel. We file opt-outs across 200+ people-search sites and re-check every two weeks because re-listings happen. After any property transaction or court filing, we re-check faster. The state gives you the substitute-address mechanism. We close the broker path that runs around it.