Regarding the dangers of financial exploitation through n Community Organizations and places of worship and Community Centers and resources that might be available to them, to utilize organizations like the National Guardianship Association to play an Important Role by promoting standards of best practices for guardians and probate courts by providing education and training and provide advocacy on the issue and the impact seniors including that impact seniors including elder abuse and financial exploitation, develop Court Systems and processes that dont work against seniors and consider the urgency of time for the elderly such as the probate and the elder law and miscellaneous remedies courts in chicago because many exploiters simply try to wait out the life span of those of the elderly victims. You have the written materials that ive submitted that are premised large part on article that my deputy Public Guardian wrote and id be happy to share our experiences with individual cases. Th
The speaker pro tempore th house lle order. Prer today will be offered by our chaplain, father conroye. Father conroy. Chaplain conroy let us pray. We give you thanks, o god, for giving us another day. We ask your blessing upon this peoples house as we are in the beginning days of this new congress. Encompass with your power all the walls of this building, truly assembled to the world of unalienable rights and the freedom of people. Guide and protect your elected servants in government and all who work in this plays. Place. May all who visit here be treated with respect and kindness. May the comings and goings of your people be under the seal of your loving care and all work accomplished here this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. The speaker pro tempore the chair has examined the jona of theasdas ocdis oues tthhoe aplo pursuant to clause oful1, the jourl an arod. The pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Pitts. Mr. Pitts will our guests
Over 146 officer fatalities per year. That is a shocking number. One officer killed somewhere in america every 60 hours. All right. But the good news is that numbers are going down. If you go back to the 1970s we were averaging 231 officers killed in the line of duty each and every year. That means the 146 number i cited is 37 lower than it was 40 years ago. That is at a time we have double number of officers serving and putting themselves at risk. Would you have expected that number would have gone up, not down. There are a number of factors that are responsible for that and i have enumerated some of them in my written testimony. I want to just spend a moment though reemphasizing the leadership that the attorney general of the United States eric holder, has focused on issue of officer safety and wellness. Im not sure he is getting enough credit for his leadership. Just a few years ago, when deaths were spiking, 171 officers killed in 2011 he held a summit in his office with about 40 L
Two recommendations. There should be a dedication to the research and development of solutions to mine Law Enforcement databases for information that will not only reduce and solve crime, but help keep our officers safe. This cannot be a one time endeavor, but rather a continual process. In addition, we must look for and publicize best practices and use of social media. Currently, there is no better way to connect with the citizens. In Law Enforcement we are only as strong as our relationships with the community. If they trust us they will call us when something is amiss in their neighborhood. So, the question that begs to be answered is how do we build that trust. It begins with understanding ourselves and the citizens we serve. To this every Law Enforcement officer should be mandate aed to complete the course entitle td fair and impartial policing. Its to show that everyone has biases and that luiu critical for officers to recognize this, make every attempt to set them aside when ser
Im proud to be a part of. Its jointly under the auspices of the cops office and the bureau of justice assistance. This is done tremendous good in training more than 15,000 officers across this country. Finally, hes increased the federal grant money thats gone to groups like ours and others who are focused on officer safety and wellness. Those are just some great examples of the leadership hes provided. I dont think its any coincidence that as a result of all of those efforts, the last two years now, weve seen fewer Law Enforcement fatalities than any year for the last 50. Thats a great credit to leadership and to this group and so many others focused on this issue. A lot more work clearly needs to be done. I look at canada as a great role model for us here in the United States. Ive attended their memorial service, two out of the last three years. Two years ago, they honored all the officers in canada who had been killed in the line of duty. One officer during a 12month period killed in