Transcripts For CSPAN2 Law Enforcement Leaders Testify On Officer Safety 20220729

Vote scheduled early and to try to accommodate the members the story of a young lady a hero to me and many from the Chicago Police department. The embodiment of selflessness she loved people, she loved her family, she loved animals particularly stray dogs. She was known for picking them up and her squad car and getting them off to safety. With the communities that they served. Last year sadly she made the ultimate sacrifice in her line of duty. She was shot and killed while making a traffic stop with her partners. She was 29yearsold. The gun that was used to kill her and seriously injure was purchased and indiana. I would like to share a brief video to help tell her story and the threats that Law Enforcement officers save. Let me show the video. The night of july 1st there was a mass shooting on a day that had already seen a child shot on the south side. This one left a one monthold in critical condition. The officer played a key role in saving the childs life rushing the bd to the hospital. Saturday night, french was killed in an ambush attack. Smuggled through an alltoofamiliar pipeline. Indiana and illinois. Thousand Police Officers. Thousands wrapped around the perimeter. The archbishop described the connectedness to the community that she served and the people she worked with. Two Police Officers both in their 20s shot in the line of duty while responding to a domestic dispute. A Police Officer shot and killed in the line of duty. The Police Officer has been shot. Shot during a traffic stop and lifethreatening injuries. It can end any minute. You go to work and make a traffic stop it can be over in a heartbeat. Im not reporting on a fistfight that keeps happening in and around the community. I am reporting on double and triple shootings. They are more dangerous to the drugs. Its too easy for people to use straw purchasers and i want to protect i want to protect my Police Officer. My own son is a Police Officer and we can achieve both of these objectives without infringing on anyones rights. We need to change. We need to change a system. Parents are being shot. This needs to stop. The officer is remembered and beloved for her profound generosity and passion for service. My wife and i went down to the chapel to join in the memorial service. Weve never seen an outpouring of grief like we saw that day. We joined hundreds maybe thousands who were there. Her mother is with us today. I want to thank her personally for being herein for honoring the legacy of her wonderful daughter. [applause] officer french and their family remind us all of the sacrifice Law Enforcement officers make everything they put on the uniform. I met the officer the south side in a golf cart with his dad and had a very positive spirit and determination to do Everything Possible for the rest of his life. With every disturbance call and Domestic Violence incident. Whether it is and he fell on the left were the donald trump incident on the right, no political grievance can ever justify attacking Police Officers and we should honor the service and sacrifice not just with words but with action. In may the committee reported five bipartisan bills to increase federal support for the officer hiring the retention and for the support of those of trauma. In the omnibus spending bill and more than 10 billion, 10 billion from the American Rescue plan has been dedicated to the Community Policing and over 300 communities. President biden has called for more for further funding. There are some on the other side who falsely accused democrats of wanting to defend the police. The record is clear. We are funding the police and we should. But our work cannot end there. We cannot ignore the role. Our nation is awash in guns estimating over 400 million firearms in the nation. Some of them from straw purchase handguns to assault weapons can pierce the vests that are supposed to protect the Law Enforcement at least one witness today has a personal experience of that. From 2012 to 2021, 456 Law Enforcement officers across america were killed in gun attacks during the same period, 12 Police Officers were fatally shot in canada. Four were fatally shot in the United Kingdom and three were fatally shot in australia. 456 in america. Twelve in canada, for in the United Kingdom and three in australia. Guns are the second leading cause of the office of the line of duty deaths in america after covid19. Just last year in illinois we st Police Sergeant wayne county Deputy Sheriff and tyler timmons, champagne Police Officer christopher overwhelm and officer french to gun attacks. My heart goes out to each of their families for their losses. We take an important step forward with last months passage of the bipartisan saver communities act that includes finally a provision and i joined others inviting for for years, cracking down on straw purchases. Today im announcing a new bill which would provide funding to the Multijurisdictional Task forces that investigate and disrupt the straw purchasing and illegal trafficking with the gracious permission of the family the bill will be named after officer french. We must do more than prevent officers being shot. Last month the Chicago Police officer shot in the head while making a traffic stop by the grace of god she survived. And reflecting said the situation demonstrates how quickly and officers day can turn into something catastrophic. Shes right. We have to do more to protect our Law Enforcement officers from the threats they face and now i will turn to my friend senator grassley for opening remarks. First, let me thank you to charmander been for responding to my request to hold the hearing on this issue of danger to Law Enforcement officers. I appreciate it very much. The attack on Police Officers are rising across the country. We see news stories on a regular basis about ambush attacks and murder of Law Enforcement in los angeles, philadelphia and elsewhere, even in my home state of iowa has not escaped this violence. Nationwide, 73 officers were killed in felonies last year the highest number since the 9 11 attacks. Thats a 59 increase over the previous year. 133 officers were shot in the ambushed style attacks at an increase of 123 over the previous year. The most recent data shows a Violent Crime is rising across the country. But violence against Police Officers is even higher. This is a unique and very critical problem and this hearing recognizes that and once again i thank senator durbin for bringing attention to this part of crime in the United States that doesnt get the attention it should. So i recognized one of my guests here is officer zach anderson, deputy in Grundy County last year when tim smith of the iowa state patrol was murdered in an ambush. I had previously spoken in honor of Sergeant Smiths memory on the senate floor. Itreaks everybodys heart to hear stories like this come out. Its a tragedy for the officer that sacrificed his or her life and a tragedy for families and friends left behind. A tragedy for all of us that rely on brave men and women to keep us safe. It goes handinhand with the rising attack on police and we see more criminals resisting. And the hostility towards the people in uniform. This is a growing crisis and theres much Congress Needs to do to help address it. Senator durbin talked about a bill hes put. One of the challenges and legislation that im introducing it collects basic data on attacks against police that result in serious injury or death. We dont have much data on contributing factors. Also good data on attacks against police that dont result in death or serious injury. For this reason, i introduced a bill that i entitled improving Law Enforcement officer safety and wellness through data act. This bill will help expand our understanding of the tax to better identify motives and trends and any coordinated efforts to target those who put on the badge to keep the country safe. I work with Police Groups including major county sheriffs associations, the national natil association of Police Officers to identify gaps in the reporting. Senators lujan, tillis and cassidy are the original cosponsors of this bipartisan bill. There are several bills proposed by members of this committee that would make it a federal crime to attack Law Enforcement and that would enhance penalties to do so. Senators cornyn, tillis have sponsored those bills. A main cause of the violence against police is the demonization and disrespect shown to the profession of Law Enforcement throughout the country. When you allow hatred of a group to spread, people find it easy to justify Violent Attacks against Law Enforcement. Kathy smith, the wife of the late Sergeant Smith that ive already spoken about to send us a letter that id like to introduce into the record. She tells us about what a wonderful and selfserving man Sergeant Smith was good over the past six to eight years, he told her that officers have been treated with more hostility. She writes that during the riots, quote, my husband stood with his Tactical Team protecting the state capital in iowa and had a frozen water fror bottles and rocks thrown at them. Protesters insulted them three hours at a time. I held a roundtable a couple of months ago with iowa Law Enforcement in Davenport Iowa and one thing that i heard constantly is that officers recruitment and retention is a major problem. There are not enough Police Officers to go around and theres not enough young people joining the profession most new hires they are seeing come from other Law Enforcement offices so one person, one department gains a person and loses a person. The question that comes up is how we can ask young people to join the profession if we dont take care of them how can we ask them to protect us if we dont protect them and if we dont have enough officers we can only expect to see other Violent Crimes get worse. Cultures diminishing respect and the lack of protection to continue down this dark path permitting more families to face the same fate as ours or you can do something about it. You can listen to the problems we have, develop a plan to fix them and save the lives of our officers. I agree with kathy and i hope this hearing will help to examine all aspects of the crisis for police and how we can help protect them. Before i close i would like to introduce into the committee a letter from the national nationl association of Police Organizations and a statement from the fraternal order of police which states that antiPolice Rhetoric amplified by social media platforms leads to brazen acts of violence against them. I think all of the witnesses for testifying. We will certainly include the e end of the others that you referenced. We are joined today by the distinguished panel. We will introduce you to swear that man and each witness will have five minutes for an Opening Statement. Senators can follow up with their own five minutes of questioning. I will introduce the witnesses and then turned to senator grassley for introductions before the administration. From the Chicago Police department serving for 21 years including as the operational in the 25th district Commanding Officer of the neighborhood policing initiative, deputy chief community police. A graduate where hes currently pursuing a masters degree in Public Safety from xavier university. Thank you for your service in the city for being here today. Michael harrison is a commissioner of the baltimore Police Department. A position hes held since 2019. Current president of the executive Research Forum. Before serving in baltimore he served in new orleans and the Police Department for nearly three decades rising through the ranks and becoming the superintendent for over four years. He has a masters of criminal justice from Loyola University new orleans and is a graduate of Northwestern University school of police staff and command. Commissioner, thank you for your service and thanks for being here today. Dwight has served as the chief of the colorado Police Department since 2002 and current president of the International Association of International Association of chiefs of police. Member of the executive committee for eight years. 2010 was congressionally appointed to serve on the local state tribal Preparedness Task force has a masters degree from the university of california irvine and san diego. Thank you for your service and joining us today. I have two witnesses to introduce, Zachary Anderson works for the cedar falls Public Safety office. He was a deputy in the county Sheriffs Office in april of 2021 and he was there when the iowa state patrol sergeant was murdered in an ambush attack that also happens he attends the same church i do in cedar falls iowa. Officer anderson has worked in Law Enforcement since 2017. We see the certification of the extraordinary personal action from the American Red Cross for using lifesaving skills in medical emergencies and before that he worked helping juveniles at the el dorado training school. We thank him for his service and for testifying today. My next introduction is sheriff Mike Broussard runs one of the largest sheriff offices in america in the Oakland County michigan and served since 1999 and has a total of 35 years of Law Enforcement. And the Government Affairs at the major county sheriffs of America Association where he has also served as president. He was also appointed to president Donald Trumps commission on Law Enforcement and the administration of Justice Working Group in 2020. Hes received so many honors and awards that i can only name a few. He was named in 2022 by Michigan Sheriffs Association and 2016 by the National Sheriffs association. He earned a silver star for bravery from the American Police hall of fame and much more. Sheriff, thank you for appearing to testify today. I believe the sender is going to introduce the next witness. The antiPolice Rhetoric in the summer of 2022 the Progressive Prosecutor Movement and lockdowns and the lack of prosecution and bold and criminals across the board. Its been especially deadly when it comes to uniform Law Enforcement officers. As of june of 2022 according to the fraternal order of police, theres already been 178 Law Enforcement officers shot in the line of duty which is a 19 increase from 2021. I would ask unanimous consent to introduce the update that indicates the figures at the end of my introduction. As we can see this hearing is long overdue. Today im pleased to introduce a fellow texan who is a surgeon but also a doctor get from texas tech university. But more to the point experienced a personal tragedy that will shape the trajectory of his life when his cousin was shot and killed the day before her wedding. They put him on a path to protecting and serving the communities and served in the army simultaneously graduated with the associate degree in administration of justice from Honolulu Community college. The surgeons and made his way back to texas and joined the dallas Police Department where he eventually rose to the rank of sergeant. While serving on the force, he continued his education and obtained multiple advanced degrees including a bachelors bachelorsdegree in criminal jusm midwestern, masters degree in counseling from prairie view a m and the doctorate of education in texas tech. In july of 2016, dallas texas experienced a horrific attack on our Law Enforcement officers when the gun man shot and killed five officers and injured nine others. The chief of the Chicago Police department, chief of the dallas Police Department where i met him at the time. A surgeon to penny uses unspeakable loss to fuel his efforts to stand up for his fellow officers and their families. He now serves as a president and executive director of the National Officers association and has worked tirelessly to bridge the gap between police and the communities they serve helping raise awareness for fallen officers and their families and hes advocated for policy changes that would protect Law Enforcement and protect, provide Financial Assistance to the family of those fallen officers. I want to thank you for being here today. And thank you for your service. Thank you, senator and i ask the witnesses to please rise and raise your right hand. If you swear or affirm the testimony youre about to give before the committee is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god . Thank you. Let the record reflect that all of the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. We each have five minutes for an Opening Statement, starting with the chief. Good morning charmander been, and members. I serve as the chief of the policing reform with the Chicago Police department. Thank you very much for holding this hearing. I am honored to represent the Chicago Police department and speak on behalf of those who often feel unheard, the sons, daughters, mothers, fathers behind the badge risking their lives every day to protect the communities. Policing is a dangerous job and while it is our job to protect our communities, we cannot underestimate the emotional toll that it has lower officers. We are the ones responding to victims, processing crime scenes, taking those images home with us and putting that uniform back on the very next day. Those experiences stayed with us forever bearing an impact that words could never express. Not every officers physically injured in a violent encounter. But every officer indoors the emotional scars of repeated exposure to violence. And this is one of the toughest times to wear the badge. This year alone, Chicago Police officers have been shot at 36 times, with seven of those struck by gunfire. In the last two and a half years, all officers have taken more than 24,000 guns off the streets of chicago. Im joined today by my fellow officers including the deputy chief who last year was shot in the line of duty. Im also joined by elizabeth french, the mother of our fallen hero, officer ella grace french almost one year ago today officer french and her partner were shot in the line of duty. Officer french lost her life to the wounds that she sustained and each day they continue to heal from and adapt to the catastrophic lasting injuries. It allows partner and friend spring into action and helped to save officers life although he didnt sustained a gunshot wound, the emotional toll that he will have to endure from that incident cannot be overstated. These are the moments we know can happen but we hope they never happen. Ella was a source of light and joy for all who knew her. Her partner remarked that she was beautiful inside and out. He shared her love of animals and how she lived to help others. Her friends say her bubbly spirit was a constant in the situation. Carlos comes from a Police Family and his colleagues always admired his determination. In fact when his doctor told him he would never be able to use the left side of his body, carlos said i accept that challenge. He danced with his wife in march of this year. Carlos continues to recover with his family and remains a source of inspiration for our department. Early in my career my partner and i responded to a call of a woman crying for help and we encountered. I ordered him to drop that weapon. Hes about to drop it when suddenly he fired a round in my direction. I still remember the look on his face before he fired and i felt around before i heard the shot. But i didnt realize is the bullet pierced through the side of my chest and traveled and collapsed my lungs. I radioed my location and later i learned that id inadvertently radioed my mothers home address. The injuries sustained remained with me today professionally, physically and in the private corners of my mind. I still struggle with my wounds as many officers are struggling from their injuries that theyve sustained with a traumatic Human Experience theyve witnessed every single day on the job. They do this while trying to balance the realities of the profession with their everyday lives. You cant exaggerate the impact that our experiences with crime and violence has all caps. Protecting those that protect us has to be a priority. I cant help but think of all of those that have been left without them. I think about ms. French when she shared how ella became a Police Officer to make the communities safer and the responses by hearing, quote, it was important to get as many weapons off the street as possible. Her death and that of so many other innocent people are why we must keep working to get guns off the streets. It is a piece of the puzzle and the reason that i am willing to be here to help something good come out of the death of my dear daughter. Thank you very much for the opportunity to share with all of you here today. I want to share with you today a recent experience unfortunately is not so much or too many of my brothers and sisters in Law Enforcement for an april 9, 2020 want to work with my former agencies as a shares jeopardy in Grundy County, iowa. My inning start off like normal with a few calls and traffic stops. I then stopped for dinner and heard a call come out the officer was in pursuit. The situation worsened as i learn the officer vaulted been assaulted and quickly responded in that direction. The suspect fled to the his residence in the city of grundy center, was followed by fellow deputy britt i arrived on scene shortly after the subject should barricade himself and his residence. Many additional officers arrived on scene and countless attempts were made at all entrances to call him out of his house think we do not want to hurt you, come out with your hands up. Unfortunate all these attempts were met with no response from did not know what the suspect was alive, awake, or okay. Responding agencies on scene forming a plan of entry into the home partly that plan was sgt jim smith the leader thought i was state patrol Tactical Team. It was decided to first send a canine end to clear the basement of the residence. That was completed and officers begin knocking and announcing the pending entry of the canine to the main level of the home. The suspect ambushed us for the next doors open. He is waiting for us with the shotgun. He fired two shots killing sgt smith. The suspect retreated into a semi member shouts, jim, jim, trooper matt calling out to provide care to move from the garage for two officers are trapped in the basement, the subject began making threats to kill us all. Come in and start shooting i will kill you like i killed your buddy. I was nice, shot him in the chest but come sunup i wont be semi social you in the face. The words i heard what i witness to be with me for the rest of my life. But a day goes by that i can tell im doing okay i know others are not. Action seemed to be taken to protect us in this line of work image of an officers been in recent years, rhetoric used by the media does not address any favors with quick bait headlines of an officer did or didnt do we take an oath to do our best for the communities we protect. The men women i had opportunity work with stand behind ramped up his hatred with the way of the world had one goal that day he had succeeded in achieving. I did question of when to continue in this field, as a direct result of this incident. Is it worth it question requesting support us after Major Incident like this. Neither prioritize resources for officers but have people to talk to, debriefings, trainings, not all officers but of help they need. And eb steps in place they dont fall through the crooks. I encourage my wife encouraged me too call matt not evelyn has at support close to them events like this also take a toll on families. They need to be supported. My wife knew i was supposed to be humble called into emergency. Being from a Small Community word travels fast. An officer was shot of the field, she got hurt for me. She knew where i was but i had my gps hadnt moved for hours, she sat along time that night in the unknown. She struggles survivors guilt because of relief knowing i was okay. And coming home, the harsh reality that wasnt the case for another family. April 9, 2021, kathy smith lost her husband, sandra and jasmine lost their father in a lawenforcement family, lost their brother. Sergeant smith made ultimate sacrifice and from all that ive learned about him, all 5 learned about him, the leader that he was he wouldnt have had it any other way but to protect his men. I asked you to lead like jim, protecting us, caring for us in validating the work we do as Law Enforcement officers. We talk about holding that line, the thin blue line, serving and protecting those in need, have our backs as we fight to hold the line because without that support that line cannot be held, thank you. Thank you for the powerful testimony. Commissioner harrison. Thank you, mister chairman and members of the committee for the opportunity to testify before you today, serving as a member of Law Enforcement is not just a profession, it is our calling. In my 32 years of experience as a Police Officer and my a years as Police Executive and two major cities ive witnessed the challenges we face on a daily basis. As president of the Police Executive Research Forum im part of a network of Police Executives in major cities and mediumsize and small cities who share with me there are accounts of the work they are doing to combat gun violence in their jurisdictions. The proliferation of illegal guns and availability of those illegal guns in every major american city, town, and jurisdiction is a significant factor in why we are seeing an upward trend in gun violence across the country. In addition to the proliferation and availability of guns we are challenged with todays offenders mindset and willingness to use a firearm, to enact violence on others sometimes shooting indiscriminately into a crowd and an attempt to strike one person sometimes in the proximity and presence of a Police Officer and other times shooting directly at Police Officers. This is an environment in which officers wake up every day, put on their uniforms, arrive at rollcall and go out and protect and serve communities they are sworn to protect. I want to highlight one such officer from the baltimore Police Department who died one week after being shot in an ambush style attack while she was in her patrol vehicle. The tragedy of her death brings into stark relief the danger our officers face but it is the story of her life that exemplifies what we want in our officers, the kind of service we ask of them, the kind of person she entered the profession to police, she joined our department in 2019 and did so because she wanted to serve her city and protect the community. Even during her time at our Police Academy she gave powerful testimony about improving Police Community relations and her passion to serve. The night she was shot she was picking up a voluntary overtime shift, she was where she was supposed to be, providing visibility in an area with a significant level of gun violence. Confronting the National Challenge of gun violence must have an approach that involves more than Law Enforcement. We must invest in historically disinterested communities, Wraparound Services to victims of violence and intervene to prevent retaliatory violence, invest in violence prevention programs, drug rehabilitation programs, reentry programs, to provide pathways away from Violent Crime but when cities are engaged in all these programs, the sheer volume of illegal guns make it difficult for officers to perform their duties safely. It is having an impact on the rate of office operations, having an impact on the rate of recruitment of new officers and because of staffing impacts, it is having a Significant Impact on overall Deployment Strategies that could enhance officer safety. Officers are doing great work in seizing illegal guns and Holding Accountable those who commit gun violence, but lets be clear, in many cases the number of guns outnumber the populations in some cities and with police about was facing these challenges the impact we can have on reducing gun violence is further diminished. Recent passage of federal legislation of guns is certainly welcome, additional investment in Law Enforcement investigative resources can serve as a force multiplier for local Police Departments. In addition i refer you to recommendations found in our first publication entitled reducing gun violence, what works, what can be done now. We welcome the support and greatly value the efforts of agencies like fbi, etf, us marshals, hsi and other department of justice agencies. As Police Officers we take an oath and are trying to protect and serve under difficult circumstances. We are called to be guardians and work in cooperation with the communities we protect. Im constantly impressed by the achievements of Police Officers who perform this duty with distinction and honor knowing full well the danger they face when they put on the uniform each day. I thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Thanks, commissioner. On behalf of Law Enforcement across the country i am honored to appear before this committee to speak on a topic that is near and dear to my heart protecting our police and protecting our communities. Accorded to the fbi 2000 want one marked the highest number of lawenforcement officers murdered in two decades. Of the 633 deaths last year, 73 felonious killings, that should be no surprise to anyone especially the coordinated efforts used to undermine our police. As the chants to defend the police got louder more Police Officers died and families were left to pick up the pieces. The rise in antipolice sentiment has led to a rash of attacks on Police Officers nationwide. In 2021 alone there were 86 premeditated ambush style attacks. So far in 2022 there have been 35 and this trend doesnt appear to be slowing anytime soon so how did we get here . 2014 the ferguson riots gave rise to a new paradigm of violence against police under the pretext black lives matter. Although many people from churches and schools and innercity Communities Just wanted to peacefully protest, radical groups and extremists had a different agenda. Didnt matter if the police were right or wrong, black lives matter organizations saw an opportunity to exploit high profile incidents involving the police to fund raise and further their radical agenda. For me it was undeniable what black lives matter was doing because they will pulling directly from the black nationalists playbook. Which overlooked Violent Crime in black communities but magnified incidents involving the police. I was very familiar with this tactic because they were similar to the tactics black nationalists used in the 1990s in houston, texas when i grew up as a teenager, the only difference was black lives matter use social media instead of a bullhorn microphone to amplify their radical message. Some of the writing tactics used in the early 90s included organizing protests late in the evening and encouraging people to wear dark clothing so they could hide their cruel behavior. They understood the police were limited in their responses and capabilities so they used diversionary tactics to distract police and because more damage, looting, violence and destruction. They also knew how to use media to manipulate the message and turn everyone against the police. I warned about this threat early on but no one would listen because of the race dynamics. Even after the july 7th, 2016, attack in dallas, texas but claimed the lives of 5 Police Officers, four of which were personal friends, no one would listen. By summer of 2,020 black lives matter had escalated to fullblown riots. Coincided with the george floyd murder. Realizing Police Officers were at a disadvantage other anarchist groups around the country began waging attacks against Police Officers as well, we saw that in the cities like minneapolis, atlanta, washington dc, philadelphia, cleveland, los angeles, portland, seattle, kenosha, the riots were uncontrollable, Police Officers, Police Agencies didnt have the resources or manpower to deal with the mob nor did they knew, police were forced into an untenable situation. The rules of engagement were imbalanced. In 2020, washington dc mayor the prove to have the word black lives matter painted on sixteenth street leading to the white house. The message ended with defund the police. The defund the Police Message became the rallying cry for radicals across the country to protest and riot and loot across the country. The response to the defund the Police Movement, cities across this nation began cutting budgets in solidarity with the movement, the lack of support for police led to Police Officers resigning, retiring, many withdrawing from police academies. As Violent Crime increased Police Struggle to maintain due to the high attrition rate Police Officers were required to work stress shifts to compensate for lack of manpower. The reduction in resources and low morale increased Mental Health problems for Law Enforcement officers, accommodation of these factors lead to overwhelming stress on Police Officers which resulted in higher suicide rates. The defund the Police Movement is responsible for the overcorrection by progressive das and their refusal to prosecute criminals. Police officers nationwide express their frustration with having to arrest the same criminals over and over again because of no bail initiatives. The defund the Police Movement has done more damage than anyone can imagine. Thank you. Thank you. Dwight henninger. Thank you, members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in todays hearing, let me start by saying it is personal to me when i started my career 40 years ago i was shot and one of my partners was killed, a motorcycle gang member with a handgun, two citizens were injured. This experience influenced my career since that night. I made my mission to provide the safest working environment for my officers and the tools and training to each of them to make sure they go home safely to their families at the end of their shift. Its always possible to lead through the loss of an officer. Tragically my story is not unique as you heard today. When you take the oath to serve our jobs are dangerous but this does not mean we dont need or deserve adequate support. I appreciate the committee to support our officers. To many have witnessed the death of a colleague or suffered physical injury and psychological trauma resulting from their jobs, we dont need to look at the statistics, 83 of officers were killed by gunfire. To provide a quintet 22 you heard also there is nearly a 20 increase, officers are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers who devote their life to public service. In some of the statistics the reality is every Police Officer must approach every encounter with thought that the person could have a gun. I cant underscore the level of stress and the daily toll that takes on us and our families. The icp commenced Bipartisan Group of senators for their leadership in the Safer Communities act. I believe this legislation is a step to reduce gun violence more needs to be done, progress cannot stop. Its imperative we identify Workable Solutions to reduce the 40,000 americans who die each year from gun violence. We are committed to the safety of the community and officers that serve them. Congress has taken the initial action and it is time for Police Officers and the public to act. For our part, we will be working with members to ensure they are prepared to enforce new provisions targeting straw purchasers, sharing information and investigating attempts by prohibited individual purchasers and promoting adoption of statelevel red flag laws and continue to work closely with our brothers at the fbi and atf but its not only Law Enforcement responsibly, but also falls upon the rest of the criminal Justice System. History has shown us we cant wait to only punish repeat offenders, the first crime committed with a firearm has severe repercussions. Our criminal Justice System owes our communities nothing less. We are constantly hearing frustration from members regarding challenges in prosecutorial direction and decisions and how this can be attributed to the rise of Violent Crime. By this we mean when prosecutors enact blanket policies not to prosecute certain crimes and take nonenforcement approaches to the law as an active. Prosecutorial decisions and discretion are tentative our judicial system there must be alignment between the police and prosecutors to ensure agreement on prosecution of offenses. Of prosecutors are disconnected from the police, the public loses faith in the system and rule of law. The icp supports congress to increase resources to better allow state and local Law Enforcement and the doj to enable greater prosecution. In addition we support firearm projects such as project safe neighborhood and project exile. Studies have of shown firearms offenders have the highest recidivism rate, more than sexual offenders. Therefore we support creating a federal registry that affects offender registry for offenders who previously convicted felony firearms violation, which involves violent or threatening acts with firearms. This has benefit toward investigating Violent Crimes and establishing lists of dangerous offenders who could establish notification systems and alert officers of that danger during contact. Instances of gun theft has seen significant increase and is contributing to guns getting into the hands of juveniles and criminals. There needs to be a concerted effort to educate citizens to lock up firearms. Beyond increases in gun violence we are facing opioid overdoses and community Mental Health crisis which take on more roles and responses than ever. On any given day officers may save a life, console a family with a suicide loss and deescalate a situation to get a person in crisis to Mental Health services. As Police Officers doing more to protect their communities they are feeling less and less appreciated. Officers deal with media portrayals that only highlight the bad and foam and anger at the time of the police, stress is high and morale is low but in the face of these challenges officers show up every day dedicated to doing their job and preventing crime, supporting victims and keeping communities safe. They enter this position because they care and stay because of it. We owe it to these officers to reduce burdens and help them cope with the stressors of this dangerous and demanding job. Im proud of being in front of changing the narrative around Law Enforcement Mental Health and wellness, the National Consortium on preventing Law Enforcement, Multidisciplinary Group of meeting experts to continually assess and address evolving Law Enforcement Mental Health needs through evidencebased recommendations and resources, the Law Enforcement resilience training reached hundreds of officers to help them learn skills they need to navigate adversity, grow and thrive in the face of this job. The new Police Academy will be made available nationwide to be sure officers have the tools they need to have long and healthy careers. We commend doj for continuing to expend funds for Law Enforcement, Mental Health and wellness act, this is helped many agencies in support and Wellness Services but there are many agencies that dont have the training and resources they need to provide support, congress should consider increasing Resources Available for this act. Finally in addition to taking care of current officers we need to address the hiring to reduce stresses on Law Enforcement agencies and individual officers, we urge you to expand the hiring fund for recruiting, retention through national campaign, loan forgiveness and educational incentives. In conclusion officers face risks daily, our officers to serve support whether through an enactment of legislation that keeps guns out of the hands of criminals. A commitment by all members of of the common a Justice System to investigate and prosecute all violence and gun related crimes, providing officers with assistance and tools they need to keep them safe. I urge you to use your position to pass meaningful legislation and will further safeguard communities and officers, thank you for this opportunity. Thank you, chief, michael bouchard. Thank you for your invitation to testify today and your bipartisan focus on officer safety. After nearly 40 years in lawenforcement including 23 as sheriff, the board member, i could not agree with you more on how critical this issue is. Last week, an officer in rochester, new york was shot and killed in an ambush while on patrol in this past weekend in missouri city, texas, was shot in the face when responding to a carjacking of a deputy yates in harmony, ohio, was killed going on a welfare check. Several deputies sustained significant injuries being assaulted in the last week. My agency alone in 2021 we had 32 deputies significant he assaulted in the line of duty, so far this year, only 6 and a half months into, weve already had 30 one deputies assaulted. Weve seen significant increase in resisting arrest, last year we saw 216 in my agency, so far weve only seen almost one hundred 40 this year. I know our situation is not unique. And overwhelming majority of daily contacts with the community are positive, the number of assaults on officers are up, the reasons behind this trend are complex but respect for fellow citizens, respect for authority seems to have greatly diminished in our society. We have to acknowledge the demonization of police is added to this problem greatly. As much as we know about the assault statistics dont tell the full picture because use of force against officers is significantly underreported. For example if a person resists arrest and in that struggle the officers knocked down or bitten there is rarely a record of the assault unless they sustained significant injury. In that situation even though the officer was simply overcoming resistance, to do their job and get it done, stats may reflect one instance of officer use of force and 0 instance of use of force against the officer. In addition most of these actions are successfully deescalate it every day with our deputies getting no credit in the public eye. So mister chairman it is clear to me we need to do a better job of collecting and reporting data on use of force against officers so we can better understand the trends and inform our training. That is why i support senator grassleys Bipartisan Legislation, improving of Law Enforcement officer safety and wellness through data act. It would lead to more comprehensive data collection. Anyone who signs up for this job knows they will face physical violence at some point but even though violence is part of the job that does not mean we have to accept it. We have to constantly work to counter it, to deescalate it if possible, to discourage it, to deter it, but to make sure people are responsible for it face real consequences. I also believe it is critically important, we speak with one loud and united voice to make clear to the public that the place to fight police is not on the street, the place to fight criminal charges is not on the street but in a courtroom. You may all remember last november, and 7 others injured in Oxford High School, hundreds of my deputies from my Agency Responded to the threat, after the shooting i flew experts from across the country for a debrief for all personnel that responded to the incident to help from cope with the trauma this amount of trauma. I watched my deputies i watched my deputies going into that debrief hollowed out, they were drained, just a few days after the active shooter a call came out across the radio when i was attending the wake of a student killed, i responded to a large building alongside my deputies, it was clear many of them had also responded to the school just days earlier yet there they were rushing into another potentially lifethreatening situation to do their job the community expects. I tell the story to illustrate how we must provide support to officers and deputies subjected to violence whether it is trauma from a massive incident like Oxford High School shooting or assault of a indoor outside the headlines, we have to support them with the resources, training and Mental Health services that allow them to recover from this trauma. One way congress can help is by providing more funding for the Valor Program which is administered by the bureau of justice assistance, thank you for the opportunity to testify today and your attention to this critical issue. I encourage the committee to sustain focus on helping our deputies and officers on the front lines and i look forward to questions. Thanks to all the witnesses. I pause at this point and think to myself how many doors are we open to talk about your testimony, there are so many elements here, some of us want to address what is on the mind of the shooter, and that is certainly relevant, important, worthy of our time, some of us want to address what is in the hand of the shooter, what weapon do they bring to terrify or assault Police Officer, they are both relevant and theres no question there are elements of it that are politically controversial and we disagree on this panel. I have met with members of the Chicago Police department off the record, at the Training Academy and said come on in, we will spend whatever time you want to spend here and you can say whatever you want to to this politician, whats going on in the ranks, 20 showed up out of nowhere, some on the force two years, some over 20, black, white, brown, women, men, they wall wanted to tell me something and wanted me to be educated by people risking their lives every single day. It was a valuable exchange and i met with noble, black officers organization, several times. I have never run into a policeman who has made an excuse for what happened to george floyd or Laquan Mcdonald and we need to start, good police know when things go wrong too and are honest about it. Same thing is true when it comes to the weaponry involved. It is hard for me to understand, many of you have mentioned this, there are so many firearms out there, chicago is awash in firearms, many came from illinois but some came from surrounding illinois which has different standards and we know from Highland Park and other places they are 50s are becoming a common weapon used against police and innocent civilians, we think 10 to 20 million of these assault rifles have been sold in this country, we are awash in weaponry. Commissioner, you have seen firsthand some people argue if we give more americans guns they can carry we will be safer. I question that. Whether you are a policeman or member of the military you need to be trained in use of a weapon to be effective with that weapon. Even if we wanted more people carrying weapons, what are your thoughts in terms of this proliferation of firearms. The other microphone turned on . Thank you for that question. Ive not seen, working in two a major american cities, nor have i heard from my colleagues in small, medium and large departments the more people carrying guns make them safe. I can tell you with tough gun laws, one has to have a permit to carry a gun outside her home. Every year we have exceeded 300 murders, 335 last year and on basis for that this year, none of those murders in my city or any other cities are committed by a person who has the lawful right to carry a gun. It is the unlawful carrying of guns with illegal guns used in those crimes that if there are justifiable cases they are rare, the number is very small so we are not seeing, we use data to answer those questions, data does not support that more legal lawabiding citizens carry guns make some safer because we are not seeing that, those individuals who can lawfully carry a gun are using those guns in selfdefense. Are being used in any other crime. Repeat violent offenders, it is large number of guns on the street being bought on the street, some being bought with purchases and being used by violent offenders, being stolen from lawabiding citizens because of the number of issues as poor gun handling and management and used by criminals to commit crimes, to commit robberies and shooting so we are not seeing that more guns by lawabiding citizens a short time left. You lived this, whats your thought in terms of proliferation of guns and whether it makes a safer nation are not . My first thought is there are many gun laws and many of them are seen as a low priority for prosecution so when an officer takes someone into custody for a gun violation a felon with a gun, we are not seeing much consequence for that behavior and that is an area we need to refocus on that there should be significant consequences for that first use of a firearm. Angel novalez, you were trying to make a better law and i think senator cornyn for his leadership on that with the bill we supported. Can you comment on the types of guns being used to not only harm the police but obviously used in crime in the city of chicago. What i can say is what we are seeing is increase in firepower, the caliber of weapon they are using in the street is much greater, we are recovering more drum magazine so we are not faced with a 10 round magazine. We are faced with magazines that when you are standing in the center of an intersection in chicago, lets say polasky and jackson and you are standing in a see of 30, 40, even more shell casings you know that the increase in firepower and capacity is growing. We are seeing more assault style weapons being used and it is scary for our officers to know they have to go out and be outmanned and outgunned. Senator grassley. Officer anderson, thank you for your moving statement to us. You were present as you told us at this murder, testified at the trial. Speak to the motivation of the murderer, what you heard about it at the trial. The individual showed little to no remorse. If anything his facial expressions were incredibly disrespectful, smirking or almost smiling when hearing the things that were said or done. He had clear, known disdain for Law Enforcement in the community, very wellknown and on the day of that incident he baited an officer into pursuit purposefully to get to draw the officer out of town to attack that officer. He had a crazy idea that he was going to teach that officer a lesson that day, some of his statements supported that. You spoke about supporting the legislation and i talked about, in your extensive experience running one of the countrys largest Sheriffs Offices have you seen a substantial increase in the rate of dangerous but nonlethal interaction between your officers and criminals, suspects, and what can we do to improve the ability to identify in these situations . Thank you for the question, we have seen an increase, dramatic increase both on assaults but also on resisting arrests which i think comes from the overall disrespect for authority in each other in general, last night we had four people resist arrest, last night. Its not unusual for people to argue, to resist arrest, lawful orders, lawful commands and that is why it is important we collect data per your proposed legislation to better inform the public and our training but also that we again speak with that voice that the place to fight criminal charges were the police is in a court room. Everyone seems to think it is okay these days to argue or fight on the street and there is no good outcome that comes from that. Demetrick pennie come you spoke about the online radical organization of individuals who target the police and organize targeting of Police Officers, what is the relationship between the d fund the Police Movement and the targeted violence against Law Enforcement. Thank you for the question. You have something as benign as defund the police like it was just a logo but once you take on social media, the message proliferates with the hashtag and that is what we lost so much, so much in discussion because we think of it as just being benign but the reality is radical groups, individuals use this same content to incite violence against police. Think about it. Minneapolis alone it was trending with defund the police, right . Not the city of minneapolis wants to burn down their own city but they did defund it by 8 million but the bottom line is the message of defund the police was trending on social media and radical groups, individuals, ones that hashtag, once that image begins being transferred on social media more people are attached to it, we need to have Better Regulation of social media platforms, better control over the content to incite violence against police. It may not be the benign image itself but when that image is attached to hashtag black lives matter, defund the police can, kill the police, thats the thing you have to worry about, proliferating with the message and that is how those groups organize. In your written testimony you acknowledge some good people only wanted to peacefully protest Police Brutality. Yet the Research Shows Police Officers rarely use excessive force, for example only one of Police Shootings are unjustified and yet sometimes used as an excuse to justify attacks on police, do you think it is reasonable for critics to say Police Brutality is the cause of attacks on police . Absolutely not. We are talking more nuanced type issues. We have to qualify what Police Brutality is. An officer can be accused of use of force violations, happens all the time but a lot of times when they are adjudicated in court it comes out they followed use of force continuum and these officers are acquitted and the case goes away. We need to qualify what we are talking about in terms of Police Brutality. But no. The bottom line is we cannot under any circumstance allow attacks on Police Officers regardless what these individuals say, they are protesting Police Officers for, were not going to get validation for, we need to Start Holding individuals accountable which we have not done a great job of, prosecuting radical groups of people than incite violence against Police Officers, what we have on the books already, the mystic terrorism policy. 18 usc 2331 section 5, essentially lays it out, the doj tells us individuals that use force and intimidation for change in governmental policy, acting in line with domestic terrorism so why dont we have penalties for the individuals that do that . Thank you. Thank you. Senator feinstein. Thanks, mister chairman. I strongly believe assault weapons have no place on our streets at all and i think we should all at least be able to agree that teenagers who cannot even buy a beer should not be able to buy assault weapons. Ive introduced a bill called the age 21 act which would prohibit the sale of assault weapons and highcapacity magazines to anyone under the age of 20 one. Under current law, people under the age of 20 one are not allowed to purchase handguns but they are allowed to purchase assault weapons and this disparity simply doesnt make sense and certainly costs lives. What particular risks do Law Enforcement officers face when young people are allowed easy access to assault weapons and highcapacity magazines . We have more than one chief, all chiefs. Please. Thank you very much. When i think of young folks, i think of folks who are still going through Mental Development and we want to make sure people have that opportunity to exercise the right but when you think of a young person who cant appreciate the consequences of that, i am personally, i speak on my behalf, concerned to see young folks having that ability to carry those firearms. And i worry about our officers. The last thing our officers want is to have an encounter which leads to a catastrophic end where some young person loses their life. Use of force is something officers take incredibly seriously lose being put in that kind of situation is difficult and those catastrophic events are hard for officers to process. I would agree with the chief. We are talking about people who are not fully developed not only physically mentally, totally unaware of the longstanding consequences of that decision. Number one, that is a weapon of war designed to create great carnage and damage, not just a weapon for one to defend oneself. They are making that decision, to create carnage and damage not realizing the longlasting effect on the families, of the person or persons they hit and killed but how much damage it actually does and how much they will deal with that in their own lives after pulling the trigger. The decision to pull the trigger is not made when the trigger is pulled. The decision to pull the trigger is made when a person puts their hand on a firearm and walks out the door. They have been predisposed to use that weapon should they need to or havent used against them so it is a way of thinking we have to change not just with younger people but all people but with young people specifically they are just not aware and dont have enough life experience, how difficult it will be for them and what they do to families of victims they kill and even victims who survive how badly damaged those people are because of the volatility of those weapons. Anybody else have a comment . When the assault weapons ban was in place in the past and we had 66 reduction in use during that 10 year period, makes perfect sense to go back to where we were. Just a comment. I saw an assault weapons ban before and i am at it again so i would appreciate any support from Law Enforcement that is possible. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Senator tillis is next on the republican side. Yes, thank you for holding this hearing and thank you for the work we did together with sinema and murphy to address Mental Health and other challenges we have to make sure we are keeping weapons out of the hands of people that can harm themselves. Mister chairman, i came into talk about legislation but you said something in your opening comment, every member of the committee, democrat member rejects the notion of defend the police but i thought you can do it too, i didnt have this printed until i looked up, i typed in act blue, one word and defund the police and i got to this sub page and the aggregation engine for progressive candidates. What does it say . 31. 12 run for justice, a direct contribution to black lives matter, what is most fascinating about this is the first question they answer under frequently asked questions, why 3. 12 miles . Because 3. 12 translate into the alphabet for a cab which equals are bear stearns, this is on the act blue website that they way raised 250,000 on, the same website, between april 1st and june 30th of this year. This radical concept of defunding the police is gone from the radical left, minority of the party, to something the primary fundraising engine for liberal progressives is touting. This is a cancer and we have to understand we have to do work, its why i took the step to work on the Community Safety bill. We have to take steps on that side but for us to be dismissive about this not being a problem i ask you or anybody else in Law Enforcement do you consider your colleagues best roads . They didnt say some of them, they didnt say most of them, they said all of them. So we have to recognize this is a cancer, this has to stop. Somebody that knows act blue needs to know this is not helpful. After the democrats who genuinely believe this is not a good strategy they have to stand up and stand against this. I didnt plan that speech so sorry it came out this way but this makes me mad when we say one thing and see another thing. Our best roads, are you kidding me . Imagine what a young impressionable person that lands on that website that may be on the bubble right now what that could do . That could inspire them to do the very things you all talk about, go out and try to kill them. If you punch out of this website it goes directly to a black lives matter, i saw this during this hearing, time for a change and then they go and talk about how to defund the police, it is time for a change in time to stop this crap, this is killing people, endangering Police Officers and making the very communities they suggest are most at risk less safe, i want to talk about a few pieces of legislation. I am a cosponsor of senator grassleys bill, i hope we can get more data and i wish the fraternal order of police were here because this is one of their Top Priorities and they have data, we should make datadriven decisions the same way senator cornyn and i made datadriven decisions on the Community Safety bill, i think we should look at the protect and serve act, it makes it a federal crime to assault or murder a Police Officer. They will know and they will react and Law Enforcement officers will be safe. I think we should look at back the blue and thin blue line and defending our defenders act. All bills this committee could take up and move forward, all bills that will make progress and im here to do everything i can to be driven by data, take a look at Community Safety issues where we see too many guns in the hands of people who want to do harm but we have to understand this is foundational. When i can get my friends and family to donate to the our best herds run and also encourage running around police stations playing music, this needs to be a primary focus of anything we do that comes out of this committee, thank you. Since you refer to my Opening Statement i want to make a comment. I would like to submit this for the record. Without objection. I want to comment, i thank senator cornyn for the bipartisan gun safety bill. I should have acknowledged you, sorry i did not and you played a role establishing that. I have never been called to a meeting of back, never been asked to approve their agenda or their website. It is true they raise money in the name of progressives and liberals but nothing to do with their agenda whatsoever. I shouldnt be held responsible any more than ask republican members to be held responsible for the proud boys are oath keepers or any other group that might associate themselves with conservatives. People should be judged on how they vote, and that is what i asked personally and offer members of the committee. I dont begrudge act blue. They give to candidates and theyve given to several members of the senate who are friends of mine. For advancing a progressive world view but when they also use the same engine, this is how this works, you log on to support the the our pastors run and then act blue knows when they have future candidates they will do a separate email saying support candidate a because they work to defund the police, thats the way the process works and why it is a cancer that has got to be taken out. We could get into a conversation about january 6th and i wont but i want to hold members accountable. Every single one of them should be in jail. I want to hold members accountable for how they vote and what they believe. The next step. Thank you, Ranking Member grassley, thank you for holding this valuable and critical hearing. I want to thank each of our Witnesses Today who have not just testified but demonstrated for your lifetime of service with what commissioner harrison said, but policeing is a calling and having courage and determination to stand up and serve and continue serving, officer anderson, after being harmed in the line of duty, having the opportunity to understand how challenging this calling is i want to open by expressing my gratitude to each of you individually, and to the families and fellow officers who are here, i know its more difficult than i can comprehend to testify about a horrific life altering day in cedar falls in the line of duty, to see patrol Sergeant Smith killed. To have been wounded your self and have with us elizabeth and to continue serving and leading an agency that looks to you for leadership in a difficult and dangerous time. I had the honor to serve, 380 sworn officers during most of my time there and i will never forget one of the hardest days of my life in this body, when someone known personally to me, 18 year veteran of the force, talent, warm and one of the best was killed in the line of duty, and doing what lieutenant surber, a sergeant promoted posthumously, what he always did was lean in, take matters into his own hands, help solve and track down and he was stabbed in the neck and killed by someone whos now serving life but i will never forget that funeral and his widow, kathy, and what she said. At the very end there were 5000 people, Law Enforcement from all over the nation and thousands of delaware inns, she said do not cry for me, other women, other people will have decades of marriage to an ordinary person. I had a few brief years with an exceptional man, with a hero and you couldnt hear a pin drop in that room and our community, the New Castle County Police Department and so many others, have every year renewed his memory and continue to invest in the training and support and the needs of the men and women of Law Enforcement. I could continue. I went to a funeral, had the blessing of knowing his mother and daughter, Corporal Stephen ballard whose widow Louise Cummings continues to lead Law Enforcement efforts in delaware to respect her state police, her husband was an exceptional patrolman killed in the line of duty, corporal caulk from delmar whose funeral last year, a riveting moment. You have brought to this hearing the quiet dignity and determination that is so important as we address this issue as a nation. I will tell you that whether it is working together to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of those who would do harm to Law Enforcement, making sure weve got. Proof vests for agencies large and small that are appropriately fitting, stateoftheart, something ive worked hard to make sure we sustain the Bullet Proof Vest Partnership or investing in Mental Health resources, training, and support to make sure officers have the resources they need to continue to serve or go on and lead Productive Lives theres a solemn obligation on us not to turn this into a show but to be serious and elaborate about the work we do with you. I am a delaware in, i succeeded on this committee and the senate, i know that our president doesnt just say thank you for your service, doesnt just say he supports Law Enforcement, we can debate about defunding the police, he has put into action in his budget and his priorities making america safer. The American Rescue plan delivered 10 billion for state and local hiring, Law Enforcement and the safer america plan Just Announced highlights in his fy 20 prebudget theres 37 billion for Law Enforcement that includes funding to hire 100,000 more officers. The agency, i was fortunate to have some response Russell Senate Office Building benefited from cops grants many years ago. I hope we will provide these resources to you. Im running short on time so let me ask two questions of chief hen injured or in particular. I work closely with i acp providing critical advice in leadership and management decisions i had to make as county executive, i am grateful, i am leading along with Ranking Member grassley a bill that would direct the doj to propose programs to better address ptsd in Law Enforcement, we colead the Law Enforcement caucus in the senate and we had an event about this to better understand ptsd resources, my impression is unlike the military which is working to address Critical Issues in terms of soldier suicide which has a unitary chain of command, 18,000 agencies, disaggregated resources at the federal, state, and local level, how can we address the lack of resources, training, and support, are there models you would urge us to invest . The question is very broad and a lot needs to be done to solve Mental Health related crisis issues. It goes to the way officers are treated on a regular basis and we feel the fact that we have pooled in the military and experts to identify the best practices is moving forward with that but the Mental Health check ins for our officers on a regular basis is important and funding that is a difficult thing as you know from the local level, very expensive proposition, those are important things to the wellness of our officers. One last question. Members havent voted yet. And i appreciate the major county sheriffs association. I look forward to following up on that. You talked about the antiPolice Rhetoric and the lack of respect for men and women in blue and district attorneys that dont prosecute crime. Some people saying we ought to aluminate Legal Protections like qualified immunity that protect Police Officers from civil lawsuits unless they cross that line that they should not. This attitude start at the top. You recall back shortly after President Biden was elected president nominated kristen clark, the associated attorney general of the United States headed the department of justice, significant portion of the department of justice who wrote an article in 2,020 entitled i prosecuted police killings, defund the police but be strategic. President biden nominated, the senate, bonito group to who at various times advocated defunding the police. And decriminalizing drugs. The wall street, Washington Post fact checker fact checked her testimony at her confirmation hearing and gave her, the tango of previously unacknowledged flipflops, she earned an upside down pen tokyo. Is important for the leadership of Law Enforcement community to send a clear message of support for Law Enforcement as opposed to blaming them first . Absolutely. Let me say in response to the leaders of congress as well who have promoted this idea of defunding the police. They forget how things work in the real world. It allows individuals who are actually out there to become vulnerable to certain attacks. I will say this. The bottom line is we cannot allow Police Officers to not be protected. We cannot allow certain messages to be put into American Society that dont allow us to be attacked because of the job we do. So many people out here have convoluted these arguments about what it means to protect police with gun rights and all this other stuff that has nothing to do with it. We are talking about human behavior, individuals going out to attack Police Officers because of the job they do, because of the uniform that they wear. Enough is enough. Weve got to stop leaking these things together and doing the right thing to protect the interests of the american given up too much. I will add the cities that did defund the police we saw 150 million from austin, texas right there in texas. What is arson going through . Increased level of violence, we saw the same thing in baltimore, 22 million, an increased level of violence. An increased level of violence. Thank you, senator. I want to talk a little bit about the nexus between drugs, guns, and violins in our communities. Last year alone 108,000 americans died of drug overdoses. Almost all of those drugs come across the border in my state, in texas, from mexico or other countries south or even the precursors as you knowor from china which are used to make some synthetic opioids like that and all. Would you agree with me that the distribution network, whether its in minnesota or any state we could identify here as primarily through criminal street gangs who then protect their market share and their territory using guns and committing other crimes o violence . Would you make that connection between thehe border, drugs, d violence in our local communities . Many levels we agrh that statement. A very firm and belief we need to secure our borders. We believe the system needs to be fixed to help people that want to come here for the right reasons and for a better life. But we need a process to make sure that that border is secured to prevent whats happening there. The flood of drugs across the border. I run one of the largest Narcotics Enforcement Team consortiums in the state and we are seeing tremendous amount of fentanyl. We saved three people last night from drug overdoses. My deputies deployed narcan as the first in the state to save lives and often times we see drug dealers that are willing and actively prepared to use violence to protect their turf. I received a text on the way into the hearing that the Narcotics Enforcement Team asked for potential support on the rain today because the suspect is a career felon that is known to carry firearms and is willing to use them. Senator whitehouse. Thank you, chairman durbin and to you and the Ranking Member grassley for holding this hearing. Just in my time steven schall, jimmy allen and Cornell Young were all chopped to death serving in the providence Police Department. One Police Department. And as the chief described very eloquently the traumatic effect throughout the department was very real so its very good that we are having this hearing to focus on these cases. For what its worth, the man was killed at the scene by fellow officers and the man that murdered jimmy allen is serving life in prison. And the death of Cornell Young was a death off blue on blue incident that was also extremely painful for the providence Police Department. Im very proud of the providence Police Department, i will say, and i just want to express. It im going to ask three questions and ask if you might do me the courtesy of answering them in writing. Its called a question for the record. If you dont care to, you dont need to but if you do, i would appreciate it. We have been working on a bill to improve crisis intervention resources for Police Departments. Its called the deescalation training act and i would be grateful if you and or your organizations would take a look at that. And give any advice that you might have. As senator holly and i sometime ago did the act that provides Mental Health resources for Police Officers to deploy even in the brief time since then weve learned a lot more and i would be interested in any thoughts on how that act might be updated and passed into law with very broad bipartisan support, so im sure the amendments could pass quite quickly if you would be interested in providing some ideas about that. And the last thing i would be interested in hearing about is high velocity ammunition. We talk a lot about assault rifles, but the speed of the projectile itself is another separate factor. And as i understand it is a factor in the ability of your body armor to withstand the bullet, and its a factor in the physical destruction brought by the projectile in the human body when it hits it. So i would be interested in your thoughts on what harm there is from high velocity ammunition, two people in your profession and any thoughts that you may have about trying to restrict that particular type of ammunition. And i will close because i think its impossible not to talk about the dangers to Police Officers and injuries and fatalities. As a member of Congress Without referencing the heroism and simple plain, hard, tough work that our Capital Police date on january 6th sending off the mob that President Trump sent up here to do damage and obviously they did a lot of damage to Police Officers. Theyve done a very fair job of presenting with that today looked like to the Police Officers who were here. And for those who were injured. And its worth i think just expressing a moments honor and appreciation to them for their service on that bloodied a. And with that, i guess im the senior person here, so i will now turn to senator lee, followed by senator klobuchar and senator carlton if the order should change. Thank you and thanks to each of you for your service and for being here this morning to talk to us. I will never forget some of the emotions i experienced in 2020 when watching one weekend in june of that year the violent protests erupted as they hadnt had inso many other cities at tt time. Not in Salt Lake City. Protesters took a police car, turned it all the way up side down and then lit the thing on fire for dozens of officers injured in those violent riots and protests that morning. It was concerning and felt as though it was foreboding something bad in addition to being an awful thing in and of itself and the fact is played out since then have shown the feeling to be accurate. Two years later. Homicide rates are up 40 compared to just a few years ago in 2019 along with assaults and property crimes and all sorts of other offenses. Attacks on Police Officers are at their highest level that weve seen since 1985. In 2021, there were 73 officers nationwide who were killed in the line of duty and nearly one third of those 25 officers were killed in unprovoked attacks. Now, to give that ugly statistic a terrifying context, only to unprovoked attacks against Police Officers were recorded in 2020. In utah, more Police Officers were shot at in 2021 then any 2y other recorded year resulting in injury to aid Police Officers and one of the cases to officers were injured when they went simply to check on a man who was lying in the grass near the Sheriffs Office in Salt Lake City. As they were doing that, the man opened fire on them. In march of this year, a man ran up behind Police Officer as he was on patrol at the Salt Lake City International Airport and punched him. Just last week, a 4yearold boy shot at Police Officers from inside the vehicle claiming that he had been encouraged to do precisely that by his father. This is troubling. Mr. Anderson, can you tell us what impact some of the antiPolice Rhetoric may have had over the last few years and what impact that rhetoric and these alarming statistics might have in your experience when it comes to officer safety and officer morale . And the incident i was involved in a had a direct impact like i said before the individual clearly didnt like Law Enforcement. I wont get into all of that as far as for things that led up to that that we didnt know that we later found out. When you go through these types of incidences it just hits everybody very hard. I dont know how you would prevent that unnecessarily but thats why we are here. Do you think antiPolice Rhetoric and violence trickles down into the community and what impact do you think this has on members of the community through the country . The major impact across the country especially the communities of color. I am active in the black Community Around the country, not just locally in texas but i travel the country and try to engage with the community because i want to build a relationship between the police and the community. What many of these people have told me is that theyve never agreed to a defined the police initiative. What happened is you had these politicians that got online and put out the messages about defunding the police and it proliferated through social media but the reality is those communities were people of color being victimized and the bottom line is we havent found any way to hold the individuals accountable that have proliferated this message that have allowed the police to be attacked. We just have to find a way, senator, to where we can hold individuals accountable for using rhetoric and a lot of leadership here in congress. We have to find a way to hold these people accountable for encouraging the type of act is happening right now in our society. So the violence that occurs as a result of the Police Rhetoric very often is and focused in the gated communities of the wealthy and the wellconnected. Absolutely not. If the communities are already having problems. A lot of these people cant just pack up and leave the community. Thats like the catch22 would be the arguments. Like why dont they just leave, a lot of people cant leave. Half my family is are in the innercity right now they dont have the resources to up and go but they are being victimized by those that are living beside them in these communities, so i will say there has to be accountability for the rhetoric to incite violence. Thank you. My time is expired. Thank you so much for being here and i was persecuted for eight years and ran the Biggest Office in the state and ive made it my mission the police chief that we are still recruiting are still down but weve seen improvements in morale and literally after what happened january 6th ive made it my mission to make this place better for them, so many of them injured and so many are never going to be the same. I also wanted to just clarify a few things about defunding the police to give you an example. That is my first question of you you called for an expansion in your opening remarks and i lead that Bipartisan Legislation to reauthorize the program. Have you seen the program help Law Enforcement to improve training and upgraded technology and retain experience officers . The last 30 years the program has been wonderful to all sizes of organizations to improve their ability to support their communities to bring additional officers to show the need or from a Technology Project to get it off the ground and started its worked well to help make us a better profession. Thank you for your support of so many of those kind of things. I want to mention on the program one of the challenges that a lot of the communities have is the match. So our brothers and sisters have fire service and most of the grants and personnel grants but especially in urban community. But they are constantly budget struggled and so the match in impediment that exists in Law Enforcement especially for personnel. I encounter this with the mayors and worked with the Justice Department but i would like to improve that so thanks for bringing that up. You testified the availability is a direct factor in the spike in gun violence. With senator peters of michigan to crack down on devices that can turn semi automatic guns into fully automatic weapons. These devices as you probably know can be purchased from foreign manufacturers for under 20 and can be installed in under a minute. Its a great proposal. Weve seen an increase that can be fined automatically not just from people who can buy the devices and put them into weapon but can actually make them off laser printers so its more of an increase then the traditional firearms in the city of baltimore. Its difficult to stop the number of shootings because with those fully automatic weapons perpetrators are shooting and striking multiple victims as you heard in the Opening Statement while they may only intend to shoot one person they are shooting multiple people so weve had a number where we had three or four or five people shot with only one being of the intended target. I think all of us are seeing the increasing challenges with that a specific issue so we need to find a way to be able to eliminate the purchase of those devices and the creation of those devices and have strict penalties and consequences for those that are caught with it. Very good. Appreciate that and i think part of it isnt just responding to things in the past but is lookig to what is right in front of us. Its motivated me for doing a lot of things ive worked on including closing the boyfriend loophole and senator murphy and attila santos and emma and others putting together. The case i am most remembered of an officer being killed was a guy in lake city that responded to a Domestic Violence case. A young woman who called in a boyfriend who completely having Mental Health issues, a veteran and the officer came to the door and had a bulletproof vest. You talk about protection but the guy shot him in the head and i went to the funeral. At that funeral in the church, that dad who was killed, the cop, had a been there a few weeks before for the nativity play with his two little boys and there was a little baby as well. There was the same church her husband have been in the front row watching with the little girl with of the blue dress with stars on it and the two little boys by her side. Weve got to remember this violence so many times its officers who are on the front end of it and that gets forgotten. That was part of my motivation because i think officers know some of the most dangerous scenes you get called to can be a Domestic Violence so i want to thank you for your service and i continue being from the state where a tragic murder of george floyd occurred, devoted to reform but at the same time believing that we can invest in Law Enforcement and get that respect that you deserve and move Forward Together so i want to thank you for what youre doing. Someone passed me a note it was senator blackburn. So it wasnt a choice it was the order. Senator blackburn, thank you. Thank you very much and to each of you for being here today. We are so grateful for you taking the time and being here to talk with us. I know senator tillis talked on some of the issues and senator klobuchar just brought up the issue respect. When you look at some of the issues between the communities and police thats of concern but theres a dramatic decline in trust between police and the district attorneys who choose not to prosecute some of the crimes and cases of illegal positions of firearms into andDomestic Violence, resisting arrest, theft, and there is also they have a tendency to promote the reform measures. If i could come to you on this i know chicago has had as many as 100 alleged murderers released on their home monitoring. That is shocking to me and also in chicago i was looking at some of your staff. Police made arrests in only 12 of the criminal incidences in 2021. They noted a deep mistrust between Chicago Police officers and the das office also stating and im quoting we no longer believe that your office will trade our members fairly either in the arrests they make or when they are victims of crime. So, you are a 21 year veteran in the Chicago Police department, correct . Yes maam. What are you doing and why are you not calling for a change in prosecutors who are pushing this decriminalization and policing the efforts and rhetoric . We do the best we can and work with our attorneys to but the best cases forward to achieve the desired result. And voluntary resignations, that has been an issue with your department, i think i know its an issue with large Police Departments around the country they have increased by nearly 300 and weve seen the entire police force resign in colorado, north carolina, georgia, missouri, fewer Police Officers and increased risk for the remaining officers. So what are you doing to turn the tide on this tumultuous state that you are seeing in the Police Departments . One of the things weve done in the Chicago Police department is put up something that we didnt have before. We understand weve seen an increase in the number of officers applying for positions and for example, we have 400 currently. I see you shaking your head and i know you want to respond to that. Releasing them back onto the streets theyve said its double work over and over again. I want to talk about the real beast in the room. We are talking about an 85 recidivism rate they come out and within five years they are going back for the crimes, so we have to figure out how to close the loophole. Let me interrupt you there. This goes to the issue of respect and the tearing down of respect and ability of Law Enforcement to do their job. On the issue of qualified immunity, what are the effects, positive and negative from the qualified immunity from the Law Enforcement officers . The effect is terrible. On the morale there are already feelings of unsupportive on so many levels. People will say they shouldnt have immunity from being held accountable, and i agree they dont have immunity. They have qualified immunity meaning if they followed the constitution and the law of the state policies and its an established practices then they get immunity so if we have an incident a deputy is pursuing a suspected full through often times they sue the officer even though they were committing a crime and fleeing from the police. They say this wasnt the officers fault. The officer was doing their job, the case is dismissed. Without that a lot of them are saying im willing to risk my life but not my families home and future even when i do the job according to the procedure of law. Thank you for the explanation. Thank you mr. Chair man and d thank you for having this hearing and thanks to all of you whove dedicated your life. I was a federal prosecutor for free and a half years and then served as the state attorney general so i admire the men and women who do your job. Last thing in the world we want to do is delegitimize our police or defund them. In fact ive advocated that we give them more resources for the needs that they have and focus the responsibilities so they can do what they do best which protect us from the risks andnd dangers of criminals, and we need to protect our police from the threats to them that come from firearms. In fact, firearms that in many respects may make criminals in possession of stronger firepower than our police do. One of the areas that particularly concerned me are ghost guns. Im very proud of the bipartisan safe communities act that i and others here helped to lead in the senate that we recently passed. Its a modest step but opens the door to do more in terms of gun violence prevention. Im hoping we can do more on assault weapons and safe storage and highcapacity magazines, and on ghost guns. As you know, these are firearms that under current law are not required to be serialized. They are not required to be sold by sellers who are licensed. They are not required to be sold with background checks you can watch the rest of this program on our free mobile video at cspan now or online at cspan. Org. Now live to a hearing