The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA) is suing the Minnesota Board of Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST Board) for reportedly releasing the identities of 257 undercover police officers.

The lawsuit states that it is vital that undercover officer’s identities remain confidential for several reasons, including:

• For the safety of the officer and their family
• For the effectiveness of investigations
• For public safety and trust
• To encourage cooperation with law enforcement

Additionally, the lawsuit states that the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (MGDPA) prohibits disclosing private data, which would include the identities of undercover officers.

While responding to a data request in 2024, the POST Board reportedly gave the identities of at least 257 undercover officers to the “Invisible Institute,” a nonprofit in Illinois. The information was also given to media outlets in Minnesota.

The Invisible Institute then created a public database of police officers that, unbeknownst to them, had the names of undercover officers. The database was widely publicized, according to the lawsuit.

MPPOA alleges that the MGDPA governs the POST Board and applies to the storage of information on undercover officers. The Association states in the lawsuit that the Board failed to adopt “appropriate security safeguards” and publicly released private data, violating MGDPA.

MPPOA is asking the judge to order the POST Board to comply with the MGDPA in order to stop further dissemination of the data. The POST Board would also need to tell the undercover officers of the disclosure of their data and take steps to limit the use of the data.

MPPOA is also asking the POST Board to pay for attorney’s fees and “all further relief available in equity and at law.”

The POST Board sent 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS the following statement in response to the lawsuit:

“Upon becoming aware of the issue, the POST Board promptly notified the data requestor and other recipients of the data of the incident and requested the data be destroyed. The POST Board also promptly notified all affected officers and their Chief Law Enforcement Officers of the incident and the POST Board’s steps to stop any further dissemination of the data. There were approximately 49,000 officers listed in the response and the dataset did not directly reveal or indicate those officers’ statuses as undercover. The POST Board recognizes the sensitivity of this issue. POST has been and will continue to work diligently to address and resolve concerns in connection with this incident.”

While not connected to the lawsuit, Brooklyn Park Police Deputy Chief Elliot Faust says the department does have undercover agents. 

“Minnesota law is very clear in that undercover officers’ information is to be protected,” Deputy Chief Faust said, adding: “We go to great lengths to report to the POST Board what officers are undercover, things like, so they know. And so this was just really unfortunate to hear.”

Officer safety — including for their family — is paramount, and Faust says the impact could be deeper than that. “You could be talking about years of investigatory work that could be potentially compromised. So, [it’s] problematic,” he said. 

As for how a member of the department becomes an undercover officer, Deputy Chief Faust says it’s a volunteer process.

“They’re involved in some of the most sensitive investigations, some of the most violent offenders, oftentimes dealing with, you know, drugs, guns, that type of work, and with that comes definitely an actual level of inherent danger,” he added. “The least that we can do is protect their identities so that they can go home and not have that extra stress.”

As Minnesota lawmakers learned about the shared sensitive information, co-chair of the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee in the Senate Republican Warren Limmer says he’s planning action at the Capitol. 

“I certainly can request a legislative review,” Sen. Limmer told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS. 

“This is a very serious issue, and it affects not only the safety of police officers but the safety of victims, the safety of the public at large. This is a tragic event,” Limmer added. 

Gov. Tim Walz appoints people to the POST Board — efforts to reach the governor Wednesday night were not successful.