Transcripts For CSPAN3 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20150114

You to indianapolis the state of the state address before the general session of indianas assembly. Representative kathy richardson. Representative sheila klinker. And representative Melanie Wright [ applause ] speaker boswell president protem long. Senator lannan representatives members of the General Assembly distinguished 2k3we69s, my fellow hoosiers, tonight on the eve of our bicentennial year i stand before you as your governor, to proudly report that the state of our state has never been stronger. And if we keep faith with the character of our paem, theres nothing we cannot accomplish in our next century. [ applause ] indianas on a roll, and im not just talking about the colts, how about those colts . [ applause ] but seriously, indianas blessed. We have the best state legislature in america, and together weve made indiana the fiscal envy of the country we balanced budgets, funded priorities you can maintain strong reserves and still we were able to pass the largest state tax cut in indiana history, a win for indiana taxpayers. And here in the state that works, hoosiers are going back to work. Unemployment has fallen faster here than almost anywhere in the country. When i was elected governor unemployment was 8 , today its 5. 7 and falling weve added more than 100,000 private sector jobs in the last two years and were on track to have more hoosiers going to work in this state ever before. [ applause ]. Now, and while we maintain a strong Balance Sheet well weve also made necessary investments in education. Improved the first ever state funding for quality prek and invested more than 800 million in funding for roads in this last budget alone. The result, Graduation Rates are up. Test scores are up. The doors are already open to our prek program, creating opportunities for disadvantaged kids in the hoosier state. Indiana is now home to the largest Voucher Program in the United States of america. You know, i like to say theres 49 other governors in this country who wish they could be me. But lets be clear our state has never been stronger. Not because of our government but because of our people. They just dont come any better than hoosier ss. Hardworking, patriotic, modest and generous to those in need. Everyone knows the story of Indianapolis Police officer perry grant courageous Police Officer who squared his shoulders in the face of deadly force to protect our capital city, and he paid with his life. What you may not know is the story of two Little Heroes that followed after that story. Jason and ben, 5 and 8. They were the sons of the officers partner, they were inspired in the midst of that tragedy, to raise money to outfit the Indianapolis Police department with better body armor, those two little boys have now raised more than 20,000 to make our police safer. Would you join me in thanks lynn rand and our two young heroes who showed the courage and kindness that makes indiana great . [ applause ] now thats enthusiasm. You know but nowhere is the character of our people more evident than those who serve in uniform. The evil that came to the streets of paris last week may seem far removed but the brutal murder of our own peter kasi, an aide worker killed by isis terrorists, was a stark reminder that were all part of a global war against barberism. Hoosiers should be proud to know that on the front lines of that war are some 300 airmen out of ft. Wayne in the largest deployment of the Air National Guard in the last 10 years. [ applause ] to these airmen and their families and their leadership along with the army National Guard who are with us tonight, let me assure you of our prayers, let me assure you of the heartfelt gratitude of the people of indiana for your service, and we will pray you home more than 30 years ago at this very podium president Ronald Reagan said in words that are carved on a plaque just back in the back of this chamber, that the federal government was still operating on the outdated and arrogant assumption that the states cant manage their own affairs that day he predicted that it would be states like ours that would come to americas rescue, states like ours that would in his words offer the most Creative Solutions and most promising hopes for or nation. Well, reagan was right. At a time when Public Confidence in our federal government is at an all time low, states have emerged as a sources of inspiration on fiscal policy, Economic Growth, education and Health Care Reform and indiana is leading the way. Here in indiana weve been proving every day we can balance our budgets run our schools choose our health care and serve our people far better than the proverbial elite ever could. To whom much is given much will be required. We have work to do the. Last week i submitted my recommended budget to the General Assembly, its a balanced budget that holds the line on spending, funds our priorities with no new debt. Now, fiscal discipline has been the hallmark of the past decade. Our balances budgets have led to Economic Growth lower tax rates and job creation, indiana is one of the few states in the country that does not have a balanced budget requirement in our constitution. Its a tribute to the Public Servants in this room that indiana has adhered to that practice in recent years, even though its not required. A balanced budget requirement will assure hoosiers today and tomorrow indiana will spend wisely protect our state from an economic downturn and unlike washington, d. C. , we wont bury our children and grandchildren under mountains of debt let me commend signal david long on a balanced Budget Amendment and let me call all of us in this chamber tonight. Lets begin the process in this session of adding a balanced Budget Amendment to the indiana constitution, and send this historic reform to the people of indiana for ratification. [ applause ] over the past two years weve made lots of progress, great progress cutting taxes. Now in this session, lets continue the work by simplifying the tax code and take steps to prevent a rapid increase of property taxes on indianas family farmers. And lets remember that low cost energy is vital to our economy, we need an all of the above energy strategy, including Energy Efficiency and know this indiana is a pro coal state and we will continue to fight against the epa until we bring this war on coal to an end. [ applause ] to remain the cross roadses of america, lets end this coming budget invest another 300 million in new funding for roads, and lets give our cities and towns new resources to plan strategies for growth. Balanced budgets are a starting point to improving our economy, the key to unlocking the full potential of our state is not so much going to be found in her factories and fields, but in her classrooms. Lets agree here and now, republican and democrat alike that this will be an education session of the indiana General Assembly, and we will improve our schools for all of our kids. [ applause ] now my philosophy of executive leadership is simple, you set a big goal offer solutions but you stay open to the other ideas about how to achieve them. With that approach in mind and more than 100,000 kids in underperforming and failing schools in our state. Lets make it our goal in this session of the General Assembly to have 100,000 more students enrolled in high quality schools by the year 2020. [ applause ]. Thats 100,000 more kids in better schools by the end of this decade. To achieve this goal we must fund excellence expand choices and assure that education in indiana works at the highest levels. I propose more state dollars for k12 than ever before. Building on our historic last session lets invest 10 million a year to Fund Scholarships in our new prek program, because every hoosier child deserves to Start School Ready to learn. Now, there are those that think that improving education is just about increasing funding money alone isnt the answer. Everyone knows that its good teachers that make the difference. I should know ive been married to a schoolteacher for 30 years this year. In fact shes with me tonight. Would you join me in welcoming the best first lady in the United States of america to this chamber my wife and a schoolteacher. [ applause ] how do you get more good teachers like my wife in her career, or my fatherinlaw, up in the gallery today who is indiana state teacher of the year in the 80s. I think you get good teachers in the classrooms by paying good teachers more, thats what weve been trying to do over the last several years, we were able to award 30 million in bonuses to teachers across indiana, i believe we should provide another 63 million for performance bonuses and refocus resources on the classroom more freedom for our schools and more dollars in the classroom is a prescription for success and will pay dividends for generation s generations because all honest work is honorable work, lets continue to make sure that our schools work for all of our kids regardless of where they want to start in life and lets come together and continue to work in a bipartisan way until we make career and Vocational Education a priority in every high school in the state of indiana again. The General Assembly embraced that vision just two years ago, and together weve begun to improve the career and Technical Education opportunities for our students. We distributed millions of dollars in grants and seen innovation in schools across our states like up in la port county where the high schools and a local utility are working together preparing students for careers in electronics and income, they set up an Energy Academy academy. The driving force behind that effort is with us tonight. The indiana career and Technical Education director of the year, thank you for your great leadership leadership. [ applause ] by providing 20 20 million more a year to support career vocational opportunities and improving the way we fund those courses, i believe we can dramatically increase the number of students who graduate career ready. The number of students who graduate with an industry recognized credential by 2020. As we open new opportunities within our public schools, lets give parents the choice where their kids go to school by expanding our choice and charlotter School Programs here in indiana, it will be right for our kids and right for indiana. Kidse[ like nathan. Karen and i are friends with nathans mom, shes a single mom, and hes a wonderful young man, they live right here in indianapolis. But frankly, at age 15 not long ago, nathan was one of those kidses who was falling through the cracks. We heard he couldnt quite find a school that worked for him and his mom and us we all saw the trajectory he was on. We came along site, we talked to his mom about other choices that are available in our state. My wife managed to point them in the direction of one of our innovative public Charter Schools. Ill never forget the day karen came home and told me that nathan had visited that school with his mom after he had gone in and scene the individualized learning model where all the kids learn at their own pace. He walked out of the school where his mom was anxiously waiting on the sidewalk ringing her hands, she looked at him and sid, well what did you think . He looked eded back at her and said mom, if i go here, ill flourish. If i go here, ill be a leader. He just started a few days back, and his mom told me just this morning, nathans doing great. That really is what its all about kids like nathan and opening gores of opportunities to more hoosier kids to have more options for the kind of education that will work for them. Today some 30,000 low and middle income kids are able to have that choice. To attend the school that works best for them because of their choice scholarship program. Lets open more doors of opportunities to more hoosier familyies by lifting the cap on the dollar amount, raise the cap on the choice scholarship program. Because Charter Schools receive significantly less total funding per pupil than traditional schools, lets adjust funding to allow more communities to offer more choices for families just like nathans. Thats a win for them, and a win for indiana nothings more important than the health and well being of our people. We must care for the needs of our most viller inable. The aged the infirm and our children born and unborn. Thats why we advanced a tax credit for adoptive parents and are fully funding our adoption subsidy goingforward. Let me take a moment tough thank the speaker for putting reducing infant mortality at the very center of this coming session of the General Assembly, thank you mr. Speaker. Tomorrow well launch a campaign called the labor of love to educate new and expecting moms across our state over the next year p. M. We all need to Work Together on this let me say this if youre an expectant mom or if you have a little one on your lap, help is on the way, together we can and together we will reduce the heartbreak of infant more tagty in indiana. [ applause ] you know there is an old saying that when oefrn in your family is healthy you have lots of problems. But when one member of your family is sick youve only got one problem. From the beginning of my tenure as governor weve been committed to bringing Hoosier Solutions to bear on the challenges in health care. Weve been saying no to obama care in indiana. No to establishing a state exchange, and no to expanding a broken medicaid system, medicaid is not a system that we should expand. Its a program we need to change. Thats just what weve been doing with a healthy indiana plan. The original program crafted more than six years ago on a bipartisan basis is the basis for our new proposal, a proposal that would offer more low income hoosiers the chance to get their own health care. Weve been working hard to get it done, to get washington to say, yes ive gone to our Nations Capital engaged in discussions with federal officials, i took our case to the president on the tarmac outside air force one in evansville one day. As our discussions go forward let me assure all of you of this i will continue to stand firm for the right to expand coverage the indiana way, empowering hoosiers to take control of their Health Care Choices we will not accept terms that relegate hoosiers to substandard health care or jeopardize the Fiscal Health of the state of indian indiana. [ applause ] now, the road ahead wasnt be easy but im confident. Im confident because of the people we serve. Hoosiers have always been willing to do hard things. To embrace change to build schools of promise and policies that will advance the prosperity and safety and well being of our people. I believe if we act with resolve in this year if were bold we will fulfill indianas promise for this generation and the next well have more hoosiers going to work than ever before. We will have more kids attending high quality schools than ever before, and more kids graduating, ready for college or careers. And we will improve the health and well being of our people by empowering individuals to take responsibility for themselves and their families and well do it all the indiana way based on fiscal responsibility, personal responsibility. Selfreliance and the values and common sense that are synonymous with the hoosier state. And when we do this we will fulfill the promise not just of our time, but we will fulfill the promise first forged beneath that constitution elm in 1816 the promise of a state that would be built on freedom and that would become a beacon of hope and an example to the nation. With boundless faith in the people of indiana, and faith in gods grace to see us through, i say, the best days for indiana are yet to come lets get to work. Thank you and god bless you, and god bless the great state of indiana indiana. [ applause ] ladies and gentlemen, General Assembly, this joint session of the General Assembly is now add jourjed. Live coverage of indiana governor mike pence also today new Jersey Governor Chris Christie delivered his state of the state address well show you that later tonight on cspan. Next here on cspan3 a portion of todays White House Briefing. Good afternoon everybody, good to see you today. Before we get started the president you obviously all have an opportunity from the president as he convened the meeting with congressional leaders at the white house. I do anticipate the bulk of the meeting will be used to discuss opportunities where democrats and republicans can put aside the issues they may have on a range of issues and focus on areas where there should be Common Ground where we agree we can move the country forward. I want to hilt two examples of that. The president today will be submitting legislation to congress with specific language that would strengthen our Cyber Security protections, this is a bill that would strengthen Cyber Security would strengthen Law Enforcement tools that can be used to go after hackers and put in place protections that would protect consumers who may have had their data obtained through illicit cyber attacks. This is an important piece of legislation, theres no reason p should be subjected to the typical partisan squabbling we see on capitol hill im confident there will be people with different views on this issue, i think we can all agree that this is something thats important, should be a priority and hopefully democrats and republicans in congress can work constructively together and with the administration to advance this important piece of legislation. The second is, and this is an announcement that was issued by the Treasury Department just a little earlier this morning. The administration is ready to commit to additional Loan Guarantees with the people of ukraine, weve talked about the challenges facing the ukrainian economy, and the president believes now is an appropriate time for us to show some support for the people of ukraine as they confront these difficult challenges. Obviously, offering up an additional Loan Guarantee to the people of ukraine would require an act of congress and we have heard very vocal public expressions about the importance of the United States standing with the ukrainian people as they confront the threat from their neighbors in russia and this would be a very Good Opportunity for us to meaningfully support the ukrainian people as they confront this challenge. With that, why dont we go to your questions. The president outlined several areas where he thought that democrats and republicans could Work Together. What is his goal for this meeting, does he hope to emerge with any sort of agreements or breakthroughs, or is this more of a listening session . I would not describe this as a meeting in which we expect significant breakthrough, this is an opportunity for democrats and republicans who are in leadership positions on capitol hill to sit down with the president , and talk about what their priorities are, and i do think that if they spend a decent amount of time talking about their priorities, they will identify some areas of Common Ground and whether that is some of the things the president talked about in the form of our tax code and making it more fair for the economy, and investing in infrastructure in a way that will create jobs, even Cyber Security or ukraine legislation that i mentioned, i think well be able to find some Common Ground. It doesnt paper over the differences that clearly exist between democrats and republicans, and the democratic president and Republican Leaders on capitol hill. Were not here to talk about differences, were here to try to identify areas of Common Ground, its what we hope well be able to do, i would not expect any sort of legislative the announcement of any sort of legislative breakthrough at the conclusion of todays meeting. The speaker is saying the president s recent veto threats show hes not listening to the American People when he says he wants the democrats and republicans to Work Together. What is your response . Its not. Again, the first observation ive said this a couple times, the first observation i would have is that right out of the gate, we see that the new republican majority in congress is actually ixcrecycling old legislation that he this know that the president strongly opposes. It doesnt send a clear signal that this new Republican Congress is ready to pursue a different political strategy than the one theyve pursued for the last four years, in which they have time and again at every turn tried to block the president. Based on the legislative strategy theyve pursued over the next ten days or so theres not an indication theyre willing to change their tactics we continue to hope that they will and continue to hope that theyre serious about not just being the opposition, but assuming the responsibility of governing the responsibility they have. If theyre willing to bring that cooperation. Will find find a help. Im not at liberty to offer information about that report. The United States has been in a position to share some information with french investigators who are trying to get to the bottom of what happened and who may have been involved in the attack that information that u. S. Intelligence officials shared with our french counterparts, was information related to travel history, but thats all i can say about this specific matter we are looking to work closely with the french as they conduct this investigation and are sure to take necessary steps, to ensure the safety and security of the french people and the french will continue to find partners and strong allies here in the United States and here at the white house. There have been some transfers of yemeni detainees lately that have gone to other countries. What is the policy on that . Youre talking about yemenis who have been transferred from gitmo to other countries . Each of those transfers is executed with a specific set of requirements that ensure that those individuals dont pose an on going continuing threat to the United States or our interests. Each of those is tailored to the individual thats been transferred. For more details on that as it relates to specific individuals who have been transferred, i refer you to the department of defense. His policy on transfers to yemen, has that changed . I think youre talking about yemenis that have been transferred to other countries . Yes. I wonder if that was still in effect or he ream posed that. I dont believe weve made any change in policy at this point. Im not in a position to talk about guilt mow detainees that are being discussed at this point. Does the white house have an update on its analysis of what happened yesterday with the centcom hack something. I dont have much Additional Information on this, i can tell you the fbi continues to take a careful look at, theyre working closely with the department of defense on this the networks that were penetrated were commercial networks that were operated by a couple social Media Outlets that are used by Communications Professionals at centcom. At this point early indications are that department of defense servers were not compromised but thats still something that theyre looking at. That really is all the information i have at this point. This is an ongoing investigation. If theres more information you can get it from the fbi or the department of defense. There are a lot of government twitter accounts. What else is the administration doing or have you started doing after yesterday to make sure this doesnt happen to other accounts . This is youre right, this is something that we see with some frequency, not just against government accounts but also media accounts are not its not uncommon for those to be hacked as well. We want to implement the kinds of practices that ensure that passwords are changed and secure in a way that will deter those who are trying to hack those accounts and score propaganda victory of some kind or another. And we certainly are mindful of the kinds of practices that should be in place to protect passwords and make sure theyre Strong Enough to with stand the efforts of those who know we know would certainly enjoy the opportunity to have access for those accounts for a short period of time. You. Said yesterday that the white house believes it should have sent a higher profile representative. I know you didnt yesterday want to unpack the Decision Making process . Thats still true today. I wanted to give a second try at can you give any detail at what discussions were had at all at the white house about that march . Thats a worthy effort. I dont have any Additional Information on that particular matter that we didnt already talk about yesterday. If i asked you, was the Paris Embassy involved . Were did you even was it even brought up, the possibility of sending somebody else . Im not going to get into all those discussions. Thank you. I asked the president to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. Is the white house in the position to rule out the possibility that 40 to 50, just to put a number on it, hardcore cases, people against whom the United States cannot bring a legal case. The people will spend the rest of their lives detained without ever facing trial . What you know is currently underway as it relates to the president at Guantanamo Bay. Based on a review that was conducted, it was ordered by this president and conducted at the beginning of the administration, a substantial number of the inmates at the prison at Guantanamo Bay were cleared for transfer essentially that National Security professionals had reviewed their cases, looked carefully at them, and determined that under the right circumstances, these individuals could be transferred to other countries, without posing a significant threat to u. S. Interests. And thats a determination that again was reached based on a thorough and intensive individual review of cases at Guantanamo Bay. It does mean there are a number of other individuals whose cases were reviewed who were not cleared for transferred there continues to be an open question about how those cases were resolved, given that the president has indicated, as have National Security leaders who have served both democratic and republican administrations, its in the clear National Security interest of the United States to close the president at Guantanamo Bay. That continues to be the goal that this administration has, we believe its clearly in the best interest of our National Security, there are difficult policies that need to be answered between today i refer you to the department of defense, whos working through all of this, there is a process thats underway. Some of which they woebt be able to talk about. Justin . Representative randy weather is a texas republican. Even adolf hitler thought it was more important than obama to get to paris. Its obviously caused some controversy. I was wondering if you had a response to that. I dont. The president talked about the idea of attacking tax reform, and infrastructure, and you know this is obviously something you guys have talked about for a long time im wonder ing wondering what sort of time line or schedule are you hoping to see, do you want a proposal to come from Republican Leaders . From democrats . Hoping to see it at the state of the union . Whats the president going to ask leaders to do on this issue . Well thats a good question i do think that in some ways, the ball is in the court of members of congress on this for a couple reasons, the first is there are a variety of proposals that have been publicly floated about how to increase the investment on the infrastructure. There have been democrats and republicans that have floated a variety of proposals including something we havent proposed. To provide additional funding for infrastructure projects. Its a responsibility of congressional leaders to determine what path forward they want to take. We would welcome them taking up the path that the administration has put forward. This proposal is elegant because its simple. We would close loopholes that only benefit wealthy corporations and take the revenue from closing those loopholes and invest it in the kind of infrastructure we all benefit from. Thats the proposeal we put forward. Its the proposal we believe is the best way for us to make this important investment. I dont think that every republican is instinctively against this idea, the reason i say that there are republicans that have agreed in principle to the idea of closing loopholes. Lowering the overall tax rate thats paid by all corporations. There is an interest at least in that legislative mechanism for raising some revenue, the devils in the details in these kinds of things. Im not irrationally exuberant about the prospects here of congress a Republican Congress moving forward on the proposal we put forward. There is, it does reflect some Common Ground that does exist. Ultimately, the path forward will have to be determined by congressional leaders who will have to put forward what they think is a legislative plan that can pass both houses of congress, and its the kind of plan that the president feels he could sign. Republicans are offering legislation today that would prevent the fcc from reclassifying broadband, utilities, thats what the president suggested the nutrality plan that he announced in december and november im wondering if thats the legislation you guys would veto flat out or something you would consider . Im not familiar with that specific piece of legislation, i do know that the viewpoint the president articulated on this policy issue, is ultimately one he has a strong opinion on, but will be determined by the independent chairman of the communications commission. It will be a process where you would want to kind of maintain that process and veto . I havent reviewed the details of the pro30ezal, ill have to follow up with you on that. A couple things. Yesterday you reported that you had released all 53 of the Political Prisoners, i want to get a couple another topic. First of all, from the podium can you confirm that in what way was the Administration Given a full roster of the 53 . There was reporting yesterday there will not be can you walk us through what you know, how the public will be informed of these individuals and how the United States will monitor their future in cuba now that theyve been released . I can confirm the cuban government has notified the Obama Administration, they have completed the release of the 53 Political Prisoners they had committed to free. We welcome this positive development and are pleased the cuban government followed through on this commitment they made in the United States and also to the vatican. These Political Prisoners were individuals who had been cited by various human rights organizations as being imprisoned by the government for their promotion of political and social reforms in cuba. As it relates to the roster the list of the names of these 53 individuals was a list that the Obama Administration compiled and produced to the castro regime. Ultimately it was a an independent decision by the cuban government to release them. One we support and one they committed to make in the context of the broader conversations weve been having with them. We welcome this announcement, and it is an indication that they are at least so far, living up to the terms of the agreement, that was announced by the president about a month or so ago. Now, as many people have asked for the specific list of individuals, who have been released, the white house at this point does not contemplate a formal public unveiling of the list of names, there are two reasons for that, the first is, that we dont want anybody to be left with the impression we dont want the castro regime to be left with the impression that these are the only 53 prisoners we care about. There are others that are being detained in prisons we are going to advocate to make the basic decision that reflects basic human rights to release those individuals as well. I wouldnt want to release the list of 53 names with a green checkmark by them and have everyone assume this business is taken care of, its not. We have conversations with foreign governments on a frequent basis about the unjust attention of civilians in their prisons. And sometimes it can be counter productive to make public those names as theyre being discussed. I wouldnt want to at this point establish a precedent by releasing this list and every time we raise concerns with other governments that we have to release that list. That said, we did produce a list of these individuals to a large number of members of congress, who have expressed an interest in this. The white house today too. Those two offices have received this list and there are a number of other members of congress who have not formally written a letter at least to my knowledge, but have expressed an interest in this issue, they also received the response that we sent to mr. Royce and mr. Engle. So as is usually the case, i suspect that some members of Congress Wont feel the same sort of obligation to withhold that list that we do. If you obtain that list and want to work through the list of names with us, were happy to talk to you about it. On cyber know during the lame duck session there was a bill in the house and senate. It got stalled in part because there werent enough votes because nsa reform had not reached a lthtive conclusion. How closely does the white house believe those two issues must be aligned in order to get Cyber Security which is now a priority of the president to get through this year. Both of those are legislative endeavors we believe are worthy of pursuit. The administration has been very clear about the kind of reforms should be put in place protecting the need that our National Security agencies have to try to protect the country. So these are all complicated issues and they are not entirely distinct from one another, of course. But we do believe it is possible to move forward on these tracks in a way that is in the best interests of the country and we shouldnt, you know, allow a disagreement over, you know, nsa reforms to impact the necessary of advancing on Cyber Security legislation as well. Weve been pretty clear on what our views on both those topics are and we Hope Congress will move on both. Yesterday there was an idea of a middle class tax fees. A democratic sense that a current income inequality is pronounced and the administration is not producing enough ideas to address it. First of all, do you have any opinion on the van hallen legislation and secondly what do you think it says where the white house has been on this issue generally . Island say a couple of things about that. The legislation has put forward by house democrats, weve had an opportunity to review the details of proposal. As a general matter, i can say that this administration and this president will be strongly supportive of efforts to concentrate our attention on middle class families on this country. That middle class families that could mean anything. But in the context of our Economic Policy making, thats something that republican republicans in the house at least as they have wielded the majority in that body of congress have strongly opposed so. We maybe they will continue to do that but what im saying is that generally speaking because they are focused on, generally speaking making sure that the economic benefits of our recovery are being enjoyed by middle class families, we believe thats a worthy pursuit. What im not in a position to rule a judgment on the legislation. We havent had an opportunity to rule on all the details. When you take a look at what the president has proposed and what the president has done, you think his own executive authority, there are a variety of exams examples to indicate that the president is very focused on this issue and one of the most difficult policy challenges that we face is this persistent problem related to the growth in wages. That we have seen strong improvement in Economic Growth. Weve seen even historic improvement in the job market, but we havent seen the corresponding increase in wage growth that we would like to see. The wage wages did increase in 2014 not as much as we would like. So that is a persistent policy problem and one that this administration continues to be focused on and we welcome the attention thats shared by others on this too. Josh, back on france. Secretary johnson from Homeland Security yesterday announced new steps to protect federal buildings all around the country, also t. S. A. Measures on carryon baggage. He specified in that statement there are certain details not to get into but broadly can you be a little more direct with the American People, after paris is there an enhanced threat here in the United States that people need to be more vigilant about . The first thing that the secretary of Homeland Security has said is that based on the intelligence that he has reviewed there is not right now a direct link between the attacks that were carried out in paris last week and a threat here in the United States. That said, the department of Homeland Security is always reviewing prudent measures that can be taken to bolster the security of the United States and to ensure that were doing everything that we can to protect the American People. That means on occasion that there will be measures adopted that are readily visible to the public. That they may recognize a new fence or security booth or more personnel out front out in front of particular installations. It sounds like an abundance of caution right now. Not a fear here at the white house that theres more theres credible information out there of a threat to the American Homeland. There are always threats to the American Homeland and were vigilant about them. What im trying to be as specific as i can about though is that there is no based on the review of intelligence that has been so far by the department of Homeland Security, what they have assessed is there is not a direct threat that is linked to the attacks that were carried out last week. That said, there are any number of threats that are i am nating across the globe that implicate the United States. Thats why so much time and security and energy is devoted to make sure we have a Security Posture to keep the American People safe. There was an incident yesterday where young woman a woman died in a metro car. A lot of people were questioning why it took so long to get these people evacuated out of the metro car . Has the president been briefed what happened . Did it reach his level . What do you think if there was any Terror Threat . What do you think about it . This is an incident that is currently being investigated by the National Transportation safety board. The early indications are that this did not involve terrorism but rather involved a mechanical failure that occurred. Thats a very preliminary assessment and they are going to continue to look carefully at this. For the Emergency Response that was executed to rescue those individuals that were trapped, obviously that was the responsibility of First Responders here in washington. Im not steeped in all the details of what plan they executed or what may have made that evacuation more complicated than usual, but they may have better answers for you on that, but the other thing that you are pointing out, ed, which is an important point, is it is important for us to all be vigilant and certainly this is a good reminder for people to remember what the safety evacuation procedures are for situations like that, and but obviously there was a tragic loss of life in yesterdays incident and thats something that we are sad about and our condolences are with the family of the woman who died in that incident. A couple of quick points. Yesterday, you said you had not spoken to the president about why he or another top official did not go to paris. Another 24 hours have passed. Did you get a chance to have a conversation with the president . Well i there were conversations here at the white house about that but i dont have anything to share about it. Is the president upset that this decision that involved all these other world leaders, that it never reached his desk . Has he expressed any anger about that . Not that im aware of. Hes not upset about it . As i said yesterday this did accurately describe the president s view of this under different circumstances, the president certainly would have liked to have an opportunity to participate in the march. That continues to be true today. That does revel his view. But there were a variety of complications. Everything from the fact that this was an event that was organized in the span of about 36 hours. It took place in a foreign country. It took place outdoors and it was attended by more than a million people, and the fact trying to add the president to that situation under a very short time frame would have had a Significant Impact on those who were participating in the march because of the security requirements that are in place any time the president goes anywhere. Who made the decision you can watch this entire White House Briefing with press secretary josh earnest at our website. Go to c span. Org. With live coverage of the u. S. House on c span and the senate on c span 2, here on c span 3, we complement that coverage by showing you the most relevant congressional hearings and Public Affairs events. On weekends, were home to American History tv with programs that tell our nations story, including six unique series. American artifacts touring museums and Historic Sites to discover what artifacts reveal about americas past. History bookshelf. The presidency looking at the policies and legacies of our nations commanders in chief. Lectures in history. With top College Professors delving into americas past. And our new series, reel america. C span 3 created by the cable tv industry and funded by your local cable or satellite provider. Watch us on ht, like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. The president s task force on 21st Century Policing met for the first time today. The goal of this daylong event was to find ways to improve the relationship between Law Enforcement and the communities they serve. The task force was established by president obama in an executive order in december. After the Police Shooting of unarmed team Michael Brown in ferguson, missouri. Well hear from the head of chiefs and sheriffs associations. Representatives of the aclu, the naacp, and the may i dont recognize of sacramento, baltimore and philadelphia. First, members of the task force introduce themselves and talk about their expectations. Philadelphia. First, members of the task force introduce themselves and talk about their expectations. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for attending the first public hearing and listening session on the president s task force on 21st Century Policing. My name is ronald davis. Im the director of the department of justices Community Organization policing services, also known as the cops office and im serving as the executive director for the task force. On december 1st president obama announced his intent to form the president s task force on 21st Century Policing with the idea of coming up with concrete recommendations to build a gap in the trust between Law Enforcement and the communities they serve. While the recommendations were to build trust, the president also made it clear to do so in a manner that includes our historic reduction in crime and enhanced Public Safety. When he signed the executive order, the president identified two coe shares to serve in this task force. To my left is professor Lori Robinson at george mason university, but professor robinson, before going to george mason was also the assistant attorney general for the department of justices office of justice programs. Next to professor robinson is Philadelphia Police commissioner Charles Ramsey who is also a cochair and has a very distinguished Law Enforcement career including serving nos only as a police kmithser in philadelphia but also the police chief right here in washington, d. C. Todays hearing is i wanted to make sure everybody is going to be know is going to be webcast and live streamed. For those watching on line, you do have the ability to watch on the cops website and there will be a period at the end where we will take questions from those in attendance and those on line. Feel free to go to our website or you can give comments directly at comments task force police. U. S. Or you can post your comments on twitter at police task force. So at this point what i want to do is really is really turn over to the cochairs they can now lead the task force and you get to know our members and we can start our hearings. We have an ambitious schedule. We look toward to getting through a very robust and exciting day listening to our witnesses. Let me say this before i turned over to the coshares. On behalf of president he want to thank you them for their service as well as their witnesses. As you can imagine, its not paying a lot. They are volunteering their time and service. This is a very important endeavor. The president has made it clear that he is personally interested in this. This is a priority and we want to thank everyone for their commitment, for their time for them lending their expertise, and their perspectives to this national discussion. So we just wanted to take time to thank them. At this point i will turn it over to our cochair, professor Lori Robinson. Thank you so much ron, and thank you and your staff for the tremendous job you are doing in providing support to the task force. Good morning to all of you and welcome to our first hearing. Im very pleased to be cochairing the task force and to be cochairing it with commissioner ramsey. And im certainly honored to have been asked by the president to serve in this capacity. Im also very impressed by the high caliber and the dedication of our broadbased and diverse task force. Ive been involved in criminal justice work for more than three decades. Ive been with the department of justice as ron mentioned, with the Nonprofit Sector and now in academia and its very clear to me that were facing a very tough challenge right now in criminal justice. But since the president asked chuck ramsey and me to serve in this capacity back on december 1st, ive been very struck by the number of people, of really hundreds, who have come forward from all walks of life and from all around the country to make suggestions, offer recommendations for steps that can be taken here to address these issues and these problems. These are very sincere proposals that are offered in good faith and i have to say that that gives me optimism that americans working together really are problem solvers. Now the president has asked us to come up with concrete proposals on a very short timeline by march 2nd and hes made it clear that he doesnt want kind of general philosophyized. He wants very pragmatic suggestions. So our goal here today is to be in a listening mode. To do a lot of listening. And we have in fact really distinguished group of witnesses before us starting with our first panel and running through a five panels today. So we have a lot to do on a very constricted schedule and so i want to turn quickly to my cochair commissioner ramsey. Thank you laurie and good morning everyone. It is an honor to be here with you all of you today to begin a conversation around this very important topic. Just a little bit more about myself. Ive been a member of Law Enforcement now since 1968. Im a native chicagoan. I spent close to 30 years as a member of the chicago Police Department. I served here in washington, d. C. As police chief for almost nine years and im currently the Police Commissioner for the city of philadelphia for the past seven. So ive seen a lot of changes in policing over the years, but i also recognize that more changes needs to be made and thats why were here. We need to think about ways in which police can be more effective in doing their jobs reaching out to the community. Well be talking about a variety of issues today. The focus is on Building Trust and legitimate si but in the future well be tackling topics such as policy training, oversite, education, wellness social media, technology. Theres a variety of topics as we move around for various hearings that well be focusing on, bringing in subject Matter Experts, hearing from the community, hearing from Law Enforcement officials, so that we have a pretty broad view of the issues and recommendations that people would like to make that will most of which will probably be included in our final report to the president. So its an enormous task, but one that is very doable in my opinion. I think the short timeline and in speaking with the president , reflects the sense of sur jens si that he has in dealing with this particular issue and the sense of urgency that we all have in dealing with this particular issue. So we have every intent of meeting the time lines laid out by the president and come up with concrete recommendations that will lead to change. Thank you very much. Again, and im going to turn this over now so that the individual Task Force Members can introduce themselves briefly and were going to start with the chief of police in tucson. Good morning. I also am extremely honored to be here and to be honest i expect someone to come up those stairs to come up any moment to say excuse me, chief, theres been a mistake. But the fact that i do get to represent Law Enforcement and the interest here is very important. I take that with an extreme level of importance. Im a native tucsonian. Along the border we share the issues with immigration with texas, new mexico and california. That in and itself has caused a lot of consternation within our states. You may have heard about some of the legislation thats been passed in arizona. This legislation has had the effect of putting local Law Enforcement at odds with the very community that we are appointed to serve and to protect, and ive been in opposition to that legislation since it first came out but once it was passed, gone through the Supreme Court challenge and portions were allowed to stand im obligated to enforce it. So ive had object lessons in legislation and circumstances that really hamper the relationship between local Law Enforcement and their communities. I hope to bring some of the lessons that weve learned there to bear during the course of this task force. So thank you. Good morning. My name is Brian Stephenson and im the executive director of the equal Justice Initiative in montgomery, alabama. Im a human rights attorney and the work of eji is focused on providing Legal Services to poor people, to incarcerated people, and condemned people. I spent most of my career in the deep south. My office is in montgomery, alabama, and weve worked in that region and across the country trying to deal with some of these big issues. I bring with the other members of this task force a lot of concern about how we can improve policing in our communities. Im honored to be in this position and to have this responsibility. Im particularly hopeful that we can find ways to create connections between Law Enforcement and many people who live in the margins of our society, the poor people of color, people with disabilities people who have felt too often excluded from the mainstream of society. Im very hopeful that we can make tremendous progress and again very excited to be a part of this task force. Good morning. My name is shaun smoot. Im the director and chief counsel for the Police Benevolent Protector Association of illinois. Ive spent the last 25 years of my life representing the interests of Police Officers in departments as large as the city of chicago and as small as a city like rochester, illinois. I share my colleagues hope and look forward to working with other members of the task force in coming up with some practical recommendations for the president that can be shared, that can, i think, attain the goal that all of us have which is improving safety for everyone, Law Enforcement officers citizens and look forward to working with other members of the task force. Hi, everybody. My name is connie rice. Im about to lose my microphone. My name is connie rice and i am a civil rights attorney who is based out in l. A. My specialty is Police Reform. My biggest project has been with lapd and i have good news to report on that front. We are charging the preytoran guard that used to be American Warrior cops. They will say they have changed and ive changed. Were working together to get a police force to protect the community and to enforce civil rights. Thats how they begin to see themselves which is a whole new way for lapd to itself. Chief bratten, when he was with us, got so frustrated with my meddling that he got me a chief of police badge you think you are the chief of police, you may as well have a badge to go along with it. We are actually very good friends and im helping him in new york as well so Police Reform by default ended up becoming my specialty. I look forward to helping this group identify the ways that we can help police change. The police will tell you that we in the Community Also had to change, and they will say well, connie changed as much as we did and im fine with that. If thats how they need to see it, it may well be the case. Thats what well do. But there is a way to get the police to see us as human beings. They are supposed to protect. Not as arrest fodder. They should not look at our little black boys and see an arrest stat or see somebody they can beat with a baton. They should see someone when they look at our little kids in the ghetto, we should see their sons and they should want to protect them. Thank you. Good morning. Im sue raar i started my career in Law Enforcement as a patrol deputy. Worked my way up through the ranks of the king county sheriffs office, the metropolitan around seattle. I was with their office last seven years as the elected sheriff. Little did i know that was my training to become the director of the police academy. I now have the responsibility for training 10000 Police Officers across the state of washington, and im very honored to be part of this task force. I think theres a great opportunity for us right now to really take a hard look at the culture of policing and that has been evolving in washington state. Weve put a name to that transition. We call it moving from a culture of warriors to a culture of guardians and i believe if we do a better job of training and resetting expectations, we will get our Police Officers to see themselves as protectors rather than conquerers and i think many of us in the task force are aligned in that type of thinking. We need to reengage with the community and become servants of the community. Thank you. Good morning. My name is brittany packnit. Im currently executive director of teach for america in st. Louis. We serve 24,000 low income children. Mostly children of color and children who have been directly and indirectly impacted by the crisis in ferguson. But as a native st. Louisian and someone who lives about 12 minutes from ferguson and who sees very clearly the responsibility and linkage between representing our children inside of the classroom and outside of classroom and my personal work i have been an active ferguson activist and one of the youngest members of the ferguson commission, and i have been spending a great deal of time working with and talking with young people who encourage their leadership during this process. So im certainly honored to be here, to help represent young voices and voices from ferguson so that we can not only impact disruptive change but systemic change. Good morning. My name is tracy meers. Im a law professor at yale university. Before coming to yale, i spent about 15 years teaching law at the university of chicago. Most of my career, for the last 20 years has been focused on looking at and understanding the dynamics of crime in urban communities. The connection between high crime neighborhoods, low income experiences, and disadvantaged. Ive spent a lot of time working on those issues developing and helping to develop Violence Reduction strategies in chicago and new york city and sce neck tad did i and albany and Northern California and connecticut and the goal of much of this work has been about understanding ways in which to achieve Public Safety while encouraging public trust through pursuit of police legitimatesy which well be talking about today. Im really honored to be a part of this panel and work with my fellow members on achieving this goal. Thank you. Good morning. My name is jose lopez. Im the lead organizer of make the road new york, a new york city and new york state based group with 16,000 members that works on really just achieving respect and dignity for all communities, particularly immigrant communities and folks who are new arrivals to this country. I have been with make the road and have started the youth power project that the organization for 15 years. Currently working on issues of Police Accountability housing rights, and workers rights. Im a brooklyn boy. Im the son of two migrants, a janitor and a seamstress and outside of my work, im also on the Steering Committee on Communities United for Police Reform in Unprecedented Campaign in new york city to challenge policing as we know it and over the last three years have been working closely with the public science project through the kuneeg Graduate Center working with a team of researchers and students and professors to further explore the stop, question, and Frisk Program and the impacts on young people of color. Good morning. Im dr. Said drink exaled end alexander. Im the director of Public Safety with Dekalb County georgia. Ive served with the department of Homeland Security as a federal Security Director there at dallasft. Worth international airport. Prior to that i had an opportunity to serve as Deputy Commissioner of criminal justice in the state of new york and im also a psychologist clinical psychologist. I trained both at the university of miami and the university of rochester, respectively, and both departments of psychiatry there where i received clinical training. My Police Career started back in 1977 in florida and prior to going back to school to do doctoral work i spent a number of years with the miamidade Police Department. For me this entire journey and having an opportunity to be part of this task force was most rewarding, very honestly for me about this is to be able to serve on this panel with such a distinguished group of diverse individuals that represent this country, in every sense of the word and to me that is honorable and im just delighted to be a part of this group. Thank you. So thank you members. As i mentioned earlier as serving as executive director the department of justice is providing the administrative support for the task force through my office the office of Community Oriented policing services. Let me say this, what i didnt tell you i spent 28 years in Law Enforcement, 20 years in great city of oakland and 8 years in east palo alto, california, coming from that Law Enforcement background it is not only exciting, it is one of those moments in time an historical moment, you can really feel the change and Everyone Wants to come together and have this discussion, that we can really look at defining Public Safety to be more than just the absence of crime but to include the presence of justice as well. We look forward to that work. Supporting the task force is the cops office as i mentioned. The outstanding team. Many many of them are here. We also built a team of experts to help support this and two specific im going to identify right now are sitting at the table. We have two technical advisers who are quite frankly leaders in the Law Enforcement Civil Rights Community as well. One is darrell stephens. Darrell if you could raise your hand for us. Hes the executive director of Major Cities Police association and has a long and distinguished career in Public Safety and Steve Rickman who has been many years in the Law Enforcement arena in research and practices and has worked on a lot of projects with the department of justice and has served i think as a director of the program in washington, d. C. As well. Were fortunate, quite frankly not only to have the great members of the task force but the support team that is there. I think after you listen to this introduction, one thing is crystal clear. The president put together a heck of a team to actually lead this effort and to have this national discussion, the diverse perspective, the expertise, and so with that i think as they say its time to get busy. Madam chair. Were going to start now with our first panel. Subject Matter Experts. The full bios of our Witnesses Today are on our website, and also for the audience here on handouts. If i were going to read and my cochair read their full bios it would probably take all day. We have a very distinguished group, so im going to be very brief. Were going to start out as our lead witness charles owingle tree who is jesse clemenco professor of law and director of the charles harm i will ton Hamilton Institute for race and justice for harvard university. Professor, welcome, very happy to have you. Thank you very much. Im very happy to be here. Let me say this first, i want to thank all the members of this task force thank president obama for creating it. I think its very important to think about the role of the police in the 21st century and how important its going to be. I want this task force to think about as opposed to to just looking forward, think back about all the issues that have happened centuries ago and that are very important. The work of queen mother motley moore, the work of people like rosa parks, folks who have had a very big issue in the civil rights movement, all those people are very important. Think about Charles Hamilton houston, a native of washington, d. C. Who trained Thurgood Marshall who died much too young, but made it clear that race needed to be dealt with fairly and appropriately. I want to talk about where this city is going. I in a sense cut my teeth here as a public defender right on indiana avenue, northwest. Had a lot of cases, a lot of africanamerican men and women who were clients and i see the same problems that we saw in the 1980s creating in the 21st century, and we need to address those things in a very serious way. Let me say what i hope will happen. Im hoping that people will be able to in a sense roancnyk involved in community service. That was the focus. Police would get out of their cars. They would leave their badges alone. They would be away from individuals, and there was a sense they played basketball and soccer with kids. They would take them out for a hamburger and some fries. That was Community Policing and were now a militarization of police in many places. They have the guns tanks, weapons, and they are killing young black men and we think about the situation in ferguson that in a sense caused all this it is not a weekly event or monthly event. Its a year on event and we have to stop it and we have to stop it right now and so i would suggest that this task force take a serious look at what people need to do and what need to be in the police force. For example, i think the Police Officers should be not just officers. They also need to be social workers. What . What is he talking about . The whole idea is they need to get out and play a role with the community and make a big difference and make the difference in their lives and i think thats going to make young people do that. If you look at the recent attention given to police i see kids who are six years old holding their hands up like they saw happen in ferguson, sure that the president has some good ideas on what the 21st Century Policing should involve and what you are recommending to him, and believe me i have some ways of getting to and through to him if he doesnt follow your recommendations. He has to follow them because i think the reality is that this task force is talking about the most important and critical issue in our lifetime and dealing with it right now and i congratulate everyone on the task force for the work that you are doing. Thank you. Thank you so much, professor ogeltree. Next we have Jennifer Everhart who is professor of psychology at stanford university. Thank you. Thank you. Im honored to be here. For two decades my research has focused on issues of racial bias and stereotyping, especially in the context of criminal justice. Currently im assisting the oakland Police Department as a subject Matter Expert in connection with their reform efforts. We cannot have a; n discussion about trust and1lhy8 ,5t to Police Officers. The problem is a widespread one that arises from our history, from our culture, and1e per vad our q itb 0wf2g c ef recommend that we offeryj training on racial pbe 8d. u c on bn1lawsy nmex professor of law and alsos7 professor of psychology. Thank you. Crime sat a to build issues of trust in the police. That is how to build Police Legitimacy. Why should Police Legitimacy be a central concern . In the same decades where weve seen this decline in crime, public trust in police has not increased. Further, there is a large and persistent racial gap in trust e9n police. 1 b 9wwn these problems are for manyk s reasons. One has been alluded to is they contribute to an ongoingb3s of racially tinged controversies with police. But more broadly when people distrust the police they are less likely to obeysg v theuo en awaeo if peoplezc5ycn dont trust the police, there isnt a climate of reassurance in communities that encourages people to actively promote economic and social growth in their own cities. A focusmyltn on building8n Police Legitimacy provides an opportunity to address these v problems. Based upon researchntfja findings, wekq g know how to strengthen trust in the Peoples Trust depends on whether they feel that the police, Police Departments and individual Police Officers are exercising their authority fairly. This procedural justice finding has been widely replicated in our research and it suggests that people care both about whether the police make decisions fairly and treat people respectfully. What does that mean . The public wants to be listened to when Police Policies are developed. They want an opportunity to state their case when they are dealing with the Police Officer. They want an explanation for Police Policies and actions that allows them to see that the police are acting in an unbiased way that shows that policies can be understood and that they reflect shared goals and they want to be treated with dignity and respect when they deal with the police. The issue of perceived disrespect has been particularly central to recent public controversy involving the police. We know the factors in other words, that are central to 9 ape w aju ust in the vrx police, and they suggest some clear policyp implications. First, pfveryj when Police Departments organize themselves there are active ways to emphasize fairness and use less force when they deal with the community. This promotes officer safety. So the federal government should support efforts to restructure Police Departments using the principles now we can focus on pub trust in the police. Thank you so much. Our final witness on this panel is Samuel Walker who is Professor Emeritus of criminal justice at the university of nebraska in omaha. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to the task force on this very Urgent National problem. In response to the tragic events in ferguson missouri and staten island, new york, much of the public discussion has focused on deaths at the hands of the police and the related grand jury investigations. I want to broaden the discussion to talk about routine daytoday policing. In particular, i want to focus on the problem of disrespectful and offensive language by Police Officers directed at people in the community. This includes racial and ethnic slurs, common eventual eventual garretts. Disrespectful police occur all the time day in and day out. If the mandate of this task force is to build legitimacy and trust in the police this is where it should again. This is where you should focus your efforts. The routine daytoday policing. Now, theres some people who would say that language its not that important compared with deaths at the hands of police. I disagree. I think its extremely important simply because this is where people meet the police and theres the problem of how police treat people. Some people ask, well, gee, how come it is this really . Theres a lot of research over the decades on the prefles of offensive language by the police. Just to take one example, from current data from citizen complaints, across the country. In san jose a 2013 offensive language complaints were 17 of all citizen complaints that were filed. Washington, d. C. Right here, 26 of all the citizen complaints filed in 2013. New york city it might be as high as 40 although the way the ccrb there classifies complaints its hard to tell. But official complaint data is really just the tip of the iceberg because we also know from research that among people who feel mistreated by the police, only a very small percentage actually file a formal complaint, so the problem is much bigger than even these data would indicate. Now, disrespectful and offensive language has four very serious adverse consequences. First, its an injury to the person or persons to whom its directed. It harms them. Second over time in the aggregate, it lkds a reservoir of distrust and anger at the police. And this is especially true in communities of color. Third, in particular encounters offensive and disrespectful language by the police leads to an escalation and also often unnecessary inappropriate uses of force. If deescalation is an important new direction for policing, this is one place really to begin. Fourth is under mines standards of professionalism. If it goes unpunished and i believe it does, officers are, well, you can do these things, you can get away with it so that needs to be corrected. Now, the president apparently asked for very specific recommendations. Heres my proposal. I am proposing that the United States department of justice take the lead in developing a respectful policing initiative. Rpi. Respectful policing initiative. And that includes four elements. First of all, there would be mandatory annual in Service Training for all Police Officers. Police departments have in Service Training already. It would be very easy to incorporate this into their existing programs. Second, the department of justice should make federal funding from the department contingent upon a certification that an agency is in fact conducting a respectful policing training. Third, the department of justice should take the lead in developing a model policy for departments on respectful policing and fourth, department of justice should take the lead in developing a model training curriculum for all departments. Now, in conclusion, i brought with me sort of a golden oldie. Its the commissioner report 1968 president ial commission appointed in response to the riots of the 1960s. If you go to pages 302 303, you will find discussion with evidence on the prefles of disrespectful and offensive language by the police at that time. We did not fix the problem back then. We have not fixed this problem in the intervening 47 years. We need to fix it now. Thank you. Thank you so much, professor walker. Im now going to be turning to the panel for questions. And i believe that shawn smoot had our first question. Thank you, madam chair. Professor tyler, is there a department or jurisdiction that the task force can look to as an example of a place that has been successful in formulateing and implementing and i dont mean to mischaracterize your testimony but per septembertively fair policies, i would ask you as a followup question is there a department or jurisdiction that we can look to as an example of a place that has been successful in formulating departmentally or internal procedural justice within the Police Department . In terms of communities i would use new haven as an example of a community that has gone back to the idea of Community Policing. They have implemented a set of policies and practices, for example, every new Police Officer spends their first year in a neighborhood getting to know the people in that neighborhood. They have had success Building Community trust in the police and at the same time because of heightened levels of cooperation, their clearance rates have gone up. Crime has gone down. So that would be to me a very good example of a smaller town. I think in terms of a large town, chicago would be an example. Chicago has an ambitious effort to retrain its Police Officers along principles of fair treatment. They have trained over 8,000 of their officers in a oneday eighthour training program. And so thats an example i think of a larger department. Chicago is interesting because when they did start retraining their officers they discovered that the main complaint the officers had was that their own department didnt seem to use fair procedures which has led them now to rethink policies for promotion, policies for discipline, so i would say thats an example of the community that then has redirected its energy to thinking about the internal structure of the Police Department. Okay. I just wanted to thank the entire panel for your testimony this morning. Its very informative. Can i say one word, mr. Smoot, about that . I would ask the task force to look very closely at whats happening in boston. I was surprised to find out that their chief of Police Superintendent now william evans, says very clear that hes trying to make sure that officers arent carrying guns, they are not shooting people. Hes training them to do different work and the problem that i mentioned just briefly is the problem of the state police who come in withheld mets, guns, tanks, and we need to i know thats beyond your jurisdiction but i think you have to look at anyone wearing a uniform and who is not to interrupt, but its not beyond our jurisdiction. Okay good. Well take it on. I want to make sure. Look at state police, i think thats going to make a big difference. Thank you. I want to add to this. Our next questioner is brittany packnit. Two related questions. First of all, thank you all for being here and for your testimony. The first question is for professor walker. You talk about making federal funds contingent upon this respectful policing certification. My question kind of as a followup to this is in your opinion should there be the removal of federal funds if the kinds of standards in respectful policing are violated . In ferguson, my myself witnessed quite a bit of the disrespectful language that you talked about as well as disrespectful actions, and the language came before the actions, i wonder in cases like that and others if we find there are patterns in practice or in crisis situations like we saw in ferguson, violations of those respectful policing standards should federal funding be removed in that and as a followup professor ogeltree you talked about how communities felt they are under the role rule of a occupying army. In ferguson, i know that thats exactly how the Community Felt and so im wondering in your opinion how that was exacerbated by the crisis in ferguson, that you feeling you discuss and what do you think our steps toward reconciliation and healing for the community . Well, to answer the first part of your question, my specific proposal is to mandate the training and to make federal funding contingent upon it. What happens if the department is in fact doing the training but the language, you know offensive behavior continues . Thats a separate and more difficult question. I havent thought that through and i havent presented that in my proposal here. If things get that serious, then we have the special litigation section within the Civil Rights Division which can investigate a department for continued violation of civil rights. There are a number of different avenues that can be used. I have to say that my response is a holealistic one and it may not be well received but i think that the community in ferguson needs to rethink what they are doing. The majority of the community is africanamerican. Yet the city council is majority white, the Police Department is majority white the crimes are committed involving black men, a lot. Grow up. Those are my words. Everything has to change. They assure that people are on the same level and responding the same way. I think the person has submitted to the community. If we fix ferguson, we are on the first step. Thats the step that were going to be taking. Connie rice, i think you have a point e point thats on our last change. Yes. Im about to jump out of my skin because nobody listed l. A. P. D. As one of the forces that has transformed itsds. Were in the middle of 14 years. They are truly extraordinary. I can say that because i trained them. Before chief bratton left as i said before he gave me a dispatch because he said, connie, you think youre the chief of police. I might as well give you a badge to reflect that illusion. So it is extraordinary to see l. A. P. D. Cops we used to be like a pratorian guard. They were your Worst Nightmare if you were a civil rights lawyer. I know. I sued them every day. And, now im working with them every day. In the housing projects. Now, if you can get the police to bond with housing project, Public Housing project populations, youve done something. And if you can get a force that used to think of itself as pratorian warriors into thinking of themselves as social workers who may have to eat with their guns on a very bad day, but, in general, dont and they see themselves as guardians of poor people you have really accomplished something. Were so busy doing the work we havent communicated it with anybody. 14 years of daily work and it takes a long time. Ive heard people say as weve started oush work, that buy seize can be overcome. Is that the way you would characterize it . If not how would you think about the relationship between training Police Officers and the issue of bias and what progress we can make on that issue. Thats the first question for you. For the panelists in general, i was hoping that each of you would speak to professor ogletres very compelling charge that what we need to do, and ive put it in my terms, i was going to say treaty. We need to repudiate Justice Connies infamous words in dred scott through beal. Im interested in knowing what you as panelists think about, just some idea some recommendation, for what it would mean to repudiate what Justice Connie said given that we are working primarily on leasing and, in fact in the last exchange with briltny that you just said, look, you know, theres so many other things that need to be done. How do we think about that . Yes,ism police sit racial bias trainings that focus on sort of making Police Officers you know aware of the social Scientific Research unbiassed, the contemporary research so awareness is a big part of it. As far as changing bias, i would say bias can change. Bias is situational. Its not just something that people have in their heads. But its something that is perpetuated and promoted by the situations we find ourselves in. The Police Departments around the country have a role to play there. They set the tone. They sort of create is structure under which officers are operating under. And sometimes those structures or those policies can sort of dampen the expression of bias or make it less likely or sometimes can make it more likely. And, why dont the other panelists now weigh in on the second question. I think the proper response is through training policies everything that we have to achieve the point where Police Officers treat people as human beings. And theyre entitled to all the respect and frequency and rights that all people are entitled to. It wont be easy and theres simply many ways of getting there. Its a 65 day a year task. And i wanted eegts not going to be done by one fourhour session by whoever the person is. It has to be done really day in and day out in terms of how Police Departments conduct themselves. The sergeant talks to an officer after an e vents and saying okay, you didnt violate department policies. But your language the way you did this, its really not what i want to see. Its not what this department wanted to see. Ive heard Many Police Chiefs say you cant arrest. And i think the point that theyre making is that at the end of the day, what we really need is we need Economic Social Development in our communities if the police can be retrained to think of their role in the community as not being a force that is designed to control a population, but rather a service, that is having the goal of creating the sense of safety and reassurance that allows communities to develop themselves. And i think it changes the way officers think about what their role in the community is supposed to be. Then, when they see themselves behaving disrespectfully or undermining the well being of people in the community, they recognize that thats counter to their mission. And once the police understand the different mission for themselves, i think a lot of these problems become a series. I want to just say quickly to take professors work a little further, she spoke and we had a sense and i hope this task force youll understand is implicit bias is not racial incrimination. You need to understand that. And she made it very clear that all of us have implicit vibes. Were born with these things in our brain that make us react in certain ways that make us appear to be racist or sexist or homophobic. All of those things. We need to make sure that we read the professors work to understand that. And the second thing, i think that this task force the focus on police is completely right. Bup you cant change a city just by changing the police. You have to change the mayor. You have to change all of the government. You have to change teachers. You have to change the people in the correction facilities. Its a big task that i think all of that has a big difference on what youre able to do. And im hoping the task force will delve into the areas that, in a sense, make the police work harder. And do what they need to do if they dont have the training that makes a big difference in terms of what theyre willing ready, willing and able to do. Thank you all for your per spektsives. Lets me turn now to jose lopez. Okay. Thank you. I have two questions. I kbesz the first could be annalsed either by professor walker or professor tyler. And ill start with that. Kind of given the conversation that were having now, around respectful policing and professor evahartss discussion around implicit bias it just makes me think about kind of my own experiences in york and whether or not through the departments stop, question and Frisk Program, whether or not a more respectful interaction with Police Officers