BCA (Bureau of Criminal Apprehension)

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) is the state's primary criminal investigation agency, operating under the Department of Public Safety. The BCA assists local law enforcement with major and complex criminal investigations — including homicides, officer-involved shootings, public corruption, and organized crime — and also administers the state's criminal history and sex offender registry databases.

When you see "BCA" in a criminal complaint filed in Minnesota, it typically means the state agency was involved in the investigation rather than (or alongside) local police. BCA involvement often signals a more serious or complex case: statewide drug trafficking networks, financial crimes, cold case investigations, or cases where a local agency has a conflict of interest (such as investigating their own officers).

The BCA operates the Minnesota Criminal Justice Information System (MNJIS), which is the central repository for criminal history records in the state. It also runs the State Crime Laboratory, which processes DNA, firearms, toxicology, and digital evidence for law enforcement agencies across Minnesota. The BCA's Predatory Offender Registration Unit manages the sex offender registry.

MN CRIME tracks criminal complaints from Minnesota's district courts across all 87 counties. When a BCA investigation results in charges, those complaints appear in our feed at mncrime.com/latest. You can search by agency involvement or defendant name using the search tool at mncrime.com/search. DocDash subscribers at mncrime.com/dashboard get access to the full historical case database.