Transcripts For CSPAN Law Enforcement Leaders Testify On Officer Safety 20220726

Well. Up next, we will take you live to a Senate Hearing that has already gotten underway. They are looking at the safety of Law Enforcement officers, including the impact of assault weapons. This is just getting underway. A line of mourners, thousands deep, wrapped around she described her connectedness both the community she served in the people she worked with. Two Young Police Officers both in their 20s shot in the london duty wellers funding to a domestic to the. A Police Officer shot and killed in the line of duty. A Police Officer has been shot. Shot during a traffic stop with lifethreatening injuries. You never know. You could kiss your family goodbye, go to work, and it could be over in a heartbeat. Im porting on double shootings, triple shootings. It is way too easy for people to get these kinds of weapons in their hands. I want to protect my Police Officers. My son was a Police Officer and i think we could see both objectives without infringing on anyones rights. We need to change the system. Too many officers, innocent children, parents are being shot. That needs to stop. Officer finch is remembered and beloved for her generosity and her passion for service. My wife and i went down to the chapel to join in the memorial service. We have never seen an outpouring of grief like we saw that day. We joined hundreds, maybe thousands of mourners who were there. Elizabeth french is with us today. I want to thank her personally for being here and for the legacy of her wonderful father. [applause] officer french and her family remind us all of that sacrifice Law Enforcement officers make every time they put on the uniform. He was in a golf cart with his dad, determined to do everything possible. With every disturbance call, every Domestic Violence incident, every 911 report of shots fired, officers put themselves in harms way. Let me be clear as ive said many times before i condemn all violence and threats of violence, whether it is the january 6 insurrectionists, no political grievance can ever justify attacking Police Officers. We should honor the service and sacrifice not just with words, but with action. May this committee increase federal support and support for officers who suffer jobrelated trauma. Congress also significantly increased federal funding for state and local Law Enforcement with a large spending bill and more than 10 billion. 10 billion from last years American Rescue plan has been dedicated to Community Policing in over 300 communities. There are some on the others who fault the accused democrats of wanting to defund the police. The record is clear we are funding the police, and we should. But the work cannot end there. We cannot ignore the assault and killings of Police Officers. Our nation is awash with guns. Estimated at over 400 million firearms in the nation. Some of them from straw purchase handguns to assault weapons to pierce the kevlar vests used to protect Law Enforcement. In 20122021, Law Enforcement officers across america were killed. During that same period, 12 Police Officers were fatally shot in canada. Four in the united kingdom. Three in australia. 456 in america. 12 in canada, four and the united kingdom, three in australia. Guns are the second leading cause of line of duty deaths in america after covid19. Just last year in illinois, we lost a police sergeant, sean riley, tyler timmons, christopher over. My heart goes out to each of their families. We take an important step forward with the act that includes the provision that i join others in fighting for for years, cracking down on straw purchasing. Today im announcing a new bill which would provide funding to Multijurisdictional Task forces that investigated disrupt purchasing and illegal firearms strategy. With the permission of the family, we must do more than prevent officers from being shot. We must do more to prevent officers from being shot. Just last year and office or shot in the head while making a traffic stop. By the grace of god she survive. She said her situation demonstrates how quickly the officers day can turn into something catastrophic. She is right. We have to do more to protect our Law Enforcement officers from the threats they face. First of all, a big thank you to chairman durbin for responding to my request of being here for Law Enforcement officers. I appreciate it very much. Attacks on police arising across the country. We see those stories on a regular basis about ambush attacks and 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 september 11 attacks. A 59 increase over the previous year. 100 33 officers were shot and ambushed in attacks, 133 officers. The most recent data shows 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 thanks senator durbin for bringing attention to this part of crime in the United States that doesnt get the attention it should. So i recognize one of my guests here today is officer zach henderson. He is a deputy was a deputy last year when Sergeant Jim Smith of iowa state patrol was murdered in an ambush attack. He was with Sergeant Smith when the murder happened. He spoke in honor of Sergeant Smiths memory on the senate floor. It breaks everybodys hard to hear stories like this come out of our state, that there is sadly many such stories around the country. Every death of an officer killed in the line of duty ought to be considered a tragedy, a tragedy for the officer who his or her life left behind. It is a tragedy for the community that lost a public servant, and it is a tragedy for all of us who rely on brave men and women to keep us safe. Theres another disturbing trend that goes handinhand with the rise in attacks on police. We see more criminals resisting or fleeing arrest, more disrespect and demonizing of Law Enforcement and the general atmosphere of hostility for the people in uniform who put their lives on the live to protect us. This is a growing crisis and there is much the Congress Needs to do to help address it. Senator durbin talked about a bill he is putting in. I would raise one of the challenges in legislation that i am introducing, a lack of data that backs up how bad this problem really is. While the government collects basic data on attack against police that result in serious injury or death, we dont have much data on contributing factors. We also dont have 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. This bill will help expand our understanding of these attacks to better identify motives, identify trends, and any coordinated efforts to target those officers who put on the badge to keep our country safe. Ive worked with Police Groups including major county Sheriffs Association, the National Association of Police Officers to identify gaps in recording. There are 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, telus and kotten have sponsored those bills. The main cause of this violence against police is the demonization and the 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 life of the late Sergeant Smith who ive already spoken about send us a letter. She tells us about what a wonderful and selfserving man Sergeant Smith was, but also that over the past 68 years, he told her that officers have been treated with more hostility. She right that during the riot my husband stood with his Tactical Team protecting the state capital in iowa and had frozen Water Bottles and locks thrown at him. Protesters spent and insulted him for hours at a time. I held a roundtable a couple 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 arent enough Police Officers to go around. 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, another department 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 outs if we dont protect them . And if we dont have enough officers, we can only expect to see other Violent Crimes get worse and worse. Kathy smiths message to us here today is this you can allowed cultures diminishing respect and police lack of protection to continue down this dark path for many 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 year and will help to examine all aspects for police and how we can help protect them. Before those, i would like to introduce into the committee a letter from the National Association of Police Organizations and also 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 thank all of our witnesses for testifying. Thank you. We certainly will include mr. Smith. We are joined today i by a distinguished panel. Senators can follow up with their own five minutes of questioning. I will briefly introduce three of the witnesses and then turned to senator grassley for the inspiration of the old. I first witness serves as chief constitutional policing in the 25th district, Commanding Officer of the neighborhood policing initiative, getting the cheese of community police. Currently pursuing a masters degree in Public Safety. Thank you for your service and for being here today. Michael harrison is a commissioner of the Baltimore Police department and 2019. Current president of the Police Executive research forum. Before serving in baltimore, he served in new orleans in the Police Department for nearly three decades, rising to the ranks and becoming the superintendent for over 40 years. He has a masters of criminal justice from Loyola University and is also a graduate of Northwestern University school of police staff and command. Commissioner harrison, thank you for your service and for being here today. They chief of the Police Department since 2002, current president of the interNational Association of chiefs of police, member of the executive committee for eight years. He was congressionally appointed to serve on the local, state, tribal and federal earnest task force. He has a masters degree from the university of california irvine and san diego state. Thank you for your service and for joining us today. I have two to introduce. Officer Zachary Anderson works in the cedar falls Public Safety office. He was a deputy in april, 2021, and he was there when Sergeant Jim Smith was murdered in an ambush attack. At also happens that he attends the same church is ideal in cedar falls, iowa. Officer anderson has worked in Law Enforcement since 2017, received a certificate of extraordinary personal action using lifesaving skills in medical emergency. Before that, he work helping juveniles. We thank him for his service and for testifying today. My next introduction is chair michael bouchard, running one of the largest Sheriffs Offices in america in oakland county, michigan. He has served as chair since 1999 and has a total of 35 years Law Enforcement experience. He is Vice President of the Government Affairs at the major county sheriff of America Association where he has also served as appointed to president Donald Trumps commission on Law Enforcement and the administration of Justice Group in 2020. He has received so many honors and awards that i can only name a few. He was sheriff of the year 2022 by Michigan Sheriffs Association and in 2016 by the national Sheriffs Association. He earned a silver star for bravery for much more. Thank you for appearing to testify today. Unbelief senator cornyn is going to introduce the next witness. Thank you for holding this important hearing. The rise of antipolice rhetoric in the summer of 2020, Progressive Prosecutor Movement and covid lockdowns and the lack of criminal prosecutions have emboldened criminals across the board. Especially deadly when it comes to uniform Law Enforcement officers. As of june 2020 two according to the fraternal order of police, there have already been 178 Law Enforcement officers shot in the line of duty which is a 19 increase from 2021. Mr. Chairman, ask unanimous consent to introduce the Monthly Update from the fraternal order of police which indicates those figures at the end of my introduction. We can see this hearing is long overdue. I am pleased to introduce a fellow texan it was a sergeant but also a doctor. A doctorate from texas tech university. More to the point, at the age of 16, he experienced a personal tragedy that would shape the trajectory of his life when his cousin was shot and killed a day before her wedding. This experience and the officer response to that tragedy put him on a path to protecting and serving our communities. Originally served in the army, four years and simultaneously graduated with an associate degree in administrative justice from Honolulu Community college. He then 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 degree in terminal justice from midwestern, a masters degree in counseling, and the doctorate of education from texas tech. In july of 2016, dallas, texas experienced a horrific attack on Law Enforcement officers when it arranged gunman shot and killed five officers and injured nine others. At the time, mr. Chairman, chief brown who is now chief of the chicago Police Department was chief of the dallas Police Department when i met him at the time. He used his unspeakable loss to fuel his efforts to stand up for his fellow officers and their families. He now serves as the president and executive director of the National Fallen 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 he has advocated for policy changes that would protect Law Enforcement and protect and provide Financial Assistance to the families of the fallen officers. I want to thank you for being here today and thank you for your service. I ask all the witnesses to please rise and raise her hand. Do you swear the testimony you are about to get the for the testimony will be the truth, a whole truth, and nothing but the truth . Let the record reflect that all of the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. You will each have five minutes for an opening statement. Good morning, chairman durbin, Ranking Member grassley and committee members. I serve as the chief constitutional policing reform in the chicago Police Department. Thank you, thank you very much for holding this hearing. Im honored to represent a Police Department and to speak on behalf of those who often go unheard, whose sons and daughters, mothers and fathers behind the badge are risking their lives every day to protect our communities. Policing is a dangerous job and while it is our job to protect our communities, we cannot underestimate the emotional toll it has on our officers. We are the ones responding to victims, processing crime scenes, taking notes images home with us and putting that uniform back on the very next day. Those experiences, they stay with us forever, bearing an impact words can never express. Not every officer is physically injured in an encounter, but every officer endures the emotional scars of repeated exposure to violence. And this is one of the toughest times to wear the badge. This year alone come chicago Police Officers have been shot at 36 times with seven of those struck by gunfire. In the last 2. 5 years, all officers have taken more than 24,000 guns off the streets of chicago. Im joined today by my fellow officers including deputy chief patrina who was last year shot and a lot of duty. I am also joined by Miss Elizabeth french, the mother of our fallen hero. Almost one year ago today, she and her partner were shot in the line of duty. Officer french lost her life to the wounds she sustained, and each day, they continue to heal from and adapt to his catastrophic and lasting injuries. Her partner and friend sprang into action and hope to save her friends life. Although joshua did not sustained a gunshot wound, the emotional toll 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 life and joy. Her partner remarked that she was beautiful inside and out. She shared her love of animals and how she lived to help others. Her friends say her bodily spirit was a constant, no matter the situation. Carlos comes from a Police Family and his colleagues have always admired his determination. When his doctor told them he would never be able to use the left side of his body, he 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, i partner and i were responding to a call of a woman crying for help i ordered him to drop the weapon. He lowered his weapon when suddenly he fired a round in my direction. I still remember the look on his face before he fired. And i felt the round before i heard the shot. I thought my vest had absorbed the bullet. What i didnt realize the bullet pierced the side of my chest and collapsed my lung. I radioed my location and later i learned that i had inadvertently radioed my mothers home address. The injuries sustained from this incident remain with me today professionally, physically, and in the corners of my mind. I still struggle with my wounds, as many officers around the country are struggling from their injuries, the injuries they sustained in the dramatic experiences they witnessed every single day on the job. They do this while trying to balance the realities of the noble profession with their everyday lives. You cant exaggerate the impact that our experiences with crime and violence have on us. Protecting those that protect us has to be a priority. I cant help but think about officer french and all the officers whose families have been lost. I think about miss french, when she wanted to make communities safer and the response by saying it was important to get as many weapons off the streets as possible. Her death, and that of so many other innocent people are why we must keep working to get guns off the street. It is a piece of the puzzle and the reason i am willing to be here. It is to help something good come out of the death. Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here today. Thank you, and thank you so much for your service. Chairman durbin, Ranking Member grassley and the stig which members of the panel, thank you for providing me the opportunity to speak with you today. Iti want that is unfortunately not uncommon for brothers and sisters in Law Enforcement. I was working with my former agency as a sheriff deputy in iowa. My day started off like normal with a few calls and traffic stops. I then stop for dinner and i heard a call, and that an officer was in a pursuit. The situation worsened as he learned the officer had been assaulted and i quickly responded in that direction. I arrived on scene shortly after and the suspect had barricaded himself in his residence. Countless attempts were made to call him out of his house. Saying we dont want to hurt you, come out with your hands up. Unfortunately, these attempts were met with no response. We did not know if the suspect was alive, awake, or ok. There is funding agencies on scene formulated a plan of entry into the home, and leading that plan was Sergeant Jim Smith of the Tactical Team. That was completed and officers began to the main level of the home. The suspect ambushed us when the next door was open. He was waiting for us with a shotgun. He fired two shots, striking and killing the sergeant. The suspect retreated into his home. I remember shouting jim, jim. Calling out to provide care. Two officers were trapped in the basement and the subject began making threats to kill us all. I will kill you like i killed her body. Yourbuddy. I shot him in the face chest. I will not be so nice, i will shoot you in the face. Not a day goes by it does not cross my mind. Today i can tell you that i am doing ok, but i know others are not. Actions need to be taken to protect those of us in this line of work who need to have the right support and resources. The image of an officer has been tarnished in recent years. The rhetoric used by the media doesnt do us any favors of what officer did or did not do. We take the old to do our best for the communities we protect. The men and women i have had the opportunity to work with stan behind me almost daily. The tragedy i was involved in ramped up and got much worse with the way of the world. He had one goal that day and he succeeded in achieving it. I did question if i wanted to continue in this field, is it worth it . What is being done to support us after a Major Incident like this . We need resources for officers, people to talk to, and not all officers will get the help they need. They need to be steps in place so they dont fall through the cracks. I am grateful my wife encouraged me to talk, but not everybody has the same support to open up to those closest them. They also need to be supported. I came from a Small Community and she heard an officer was shot and killed and had not heard from you. She knew where i was, but my gps had not moved for hours. She spent a long time that night in the unknown. She has struggled with survivors guilt because she knows that i was ok, and the harsh reality that wasnt the case for the other family. On april 9, 2021, she lost her husband, a father, and a Law Enforcement family lost their brother. Sergeant smith made an ultimate sacrifice, and from all that ive learned about him, all that ive learned about him, the leader he was, he wouldnt have had any other way but to be sent in first to protect his men. I ask you today to lead like jim, protecting us and validating us as Law Enforcement officers. We talk about holding that line, the thin blue line, serving and protecting those in need. Our families, friends and communities need to have our backs as we fight to hold that line because without their support, the line cannot be held. Thank you. Thank you officer anderson for that powerful testimony. Commissioner harrison. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. Serving as a member of Law Enforcement is not just a profession, it is a calling. In my years of experience as a Police Officer and as a Police Executive in two major cities, i understand the challenges that members of the police face on a daily basis. In major cities, mediumsized and small cities, we share the work they are doing to combat gun violence. The proliferation of illegal guns and the availability of those illegal guns in every major american city, county, town and jurisdiction is a significant reason why we are seeing an upward trend in gun violence across this country. In addition to the availability of guns, we are still challenged with todays offenders mindset and willingness to use a firearm to inflict violence on others, sometimes shooting indiscriminately into a crowd in order to strike one person. Sometimes in the proximity and even the presence of a Police Officer and at other times, shooting directly at Police Officers. This is an environment in which our offices wake up every day, putting on their uniforms, arrive at roll calls and go out to protect and serve the community they are sworn to protect. If i could take a personal moment, i want to highlight the officers from the Baltimore Police department. Officer holly died one week after being shot in an ambush while she was in her patrol vehicle. While the tragedy of her death , it is the story of her life that exemplifies our offices. The kind of service we ask of them. The kind of person she entered the profession to police. She joined our department and 2019 and did so because she wanted to serve her city and protect Community Even during her time at the police academy, she gave a powerful testimony of the need to improve immunity relations and her passion to serve. On 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 that had seen a significant level of gun violence. There must be a multilayered approach that involves Law Enforcement. We must invest can historically disinvestment communities. We must provide services to victims of violence and prevent retaliatory violence. We must invest in violence prevention programs, and drug rehabilitation programs, reentry programs, and so much more to provide bejeweled with pathways away from Violent Crime. But even when cities are engaged in all of these programs doing all they can, the sheer volume of illegal guns and trafficking in our community make it very difficult for officers perform their duties safely. Having an impact on the rate of improvement of new officers. It is having a Significant Impact on overall strategies that could affect safer communities. Officers are doing great work at 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 Department facing staffing challenges, the impact we could have on reducing gun violence is slowly diminished. Recent passage of federal legislation is certainly welcome any additional investment into resources can certainly serve for the local Police Departments. In addition, effort publication entitled reducing gun violence what works, what can be done now. We welcome the support and greatly value the work of the efforts of agencies like the fbi, dea, aps and the u. S. Department justice agencies. As Police Officers, we are trained to protect and serve under very difficult circumstances. We are called to be guardians and work in collaboration with the communities we protect. I am impressed by the achievements of Police Officers who perform this duty with distention and honor knowing full well the danger they can face as they put on the uniform each day. I thank you for the opportunity to testify today. Thank you, commissioner. On behalf of lawenforcement officers across this country, i am honored to appear before the speaker on an issue that is near and dear to my heart. The fbi in 2021 marked the highest number of Law Enforcement officers murdered in more than two decades. Of the 633 deaths last year, there were 73 felonious killings. That should come as no surprise to anyone, especially considering the coordinated efforts that were used to undermine our police. As the chants to defund the police got louder, more Police Officers died and families were left to pick up the pieces. There have been in ration attacks on Police Officers nationwide. In 2021 alone, there were 86 premeditated ambushstyle attacks. So far in 2022, there have been 35 and this trend does not appear to be slowing anytime soon. So how did we get here . In 2014, the ferguson riots gave rise to a new paradigm of violence against our police under the pretext black lives matter. Although many people from churches and schools and innercity Communities Just wanted to peacefully protest, extremists had a different agenda. It didnt matter whether the police were right or wrong, the black lives Matter Organization saw the opportunity to exploit incidences involving the police to fund raise and forward their radical agenda. For me, it was undeniable what black lives matter was doing because they were pulling directly from the black nationalist playbook. We are told that black communities magnified instances involving the police. I was very familiar with the attacks because they were similar to the tactics used in the early 1990s in houston, texas when i grew up as a teenager. The only difference was that black lives matter used social media instead of a microphone to amplify their radical message. Some of the rioting tactics used include an organizing protest late in the evening and encouraging people to wear dark clothing so they can hide their criminal behavior. They understood that police were limited in their responses and capabilities to distract police and cause more damage. Looting followed the destruction. They also used media to molecular molecular manipulative the message and turn everyone against police. I warned about this threat early on, but no one would listen because of the race dynamic. Even after the july 7 attack in dallas, texas that claimed the lives of five Police Officers, four of which were personal friends, no one would listen. By the summer of 2020, black lives matter had escalated long riots. Coinciding with the george floyd murder. Realizing that Police Officers were at a disadvantage, other anarchist groups around the country began waging attacks against Police Officers as well in cities like minneapolis, atlanta, washington state, philadelphia, cleveland, seattle, and kenosha. The riots were uncontrollable. Police agencies didnt have the resources or the manpower to deal with rioters. Police were forced into situations because the rules of engagement were imbalanced. On june 10, 2020, the d. C. Mayor had the word black lives matter painted on 16th street leading to the white house. The message was to defund the police. The message became a rallying cry for radicals across the country to protest and riot and looped across the country. In response to the movement, and across this nation, cities began cutting funding in solidarity with the movement. The lack of support with police led to retiring and many withdrawing from the police academy. As crimes fight, Police Agencies struggled to maintain their rates. Due to the high attrition rate, Police Officers had to work extra shifts to compensate the lack of manpower. The reduction in resources and low morale increased Health Problems for them one person officers. The culmination led to an overwhelming higher suicide rate. The movement is responsible for the overcorrection by the progressive d. A. In the refusal to prosecute criminals. Police officers nationwide have experienced frustration with having to arrest the same criminals over and over again because of the no bail initiative. The defund the Police Movement has done more damage than anyone can imagine. Thank you. Thank you, sergeant pennie. Good morning. Thank you those on the committee. Let me start by saying this is very personal to me. When i started my career four years ago, i was shot and one of my partners was killed. Two citizens were also severely injured. The experiences influenced my career. Ive made my Current Mission to provide the safest working environment for my officers and for my tools and training to make sure each of them go home safely to their families. It is not always possible. Tragically, my story is not unique, as you heard today. We know our jobs are dangerous. However, that does not mean that we dont deserve adequate support. I appreciate the committee holding this hearing on ways we can enforce our officers. Far too many officers have witnessed the death of a colleague or physical injuries and psychological trauma. We all need to look into the statistics. In 2021, 83 of officers were killed by gunfire. You for also that there is nearly a 20 increase. These officers are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers who devote their life to public service. The sad reality is that every Police Officer must approach every counter with thoughts the person could possibly have a gun. The level of stress in the daily toll it takes on us and our families. We commend the Bipartisan Group of senators for their leadership. I believe this legislation is a step to reduce gun violence, but more needs to be done. Congress can help as we identify solutions to dramatically reduce the number of americans die each year from gun violence. Congress has taken initial action and now it is time for Police Officers and the public to act. We will be working with members to ensure that they are prepared to enforce, sharing information and attempts by individual purchasers and promoting statelevel red flag laws. We will also continue to work closely with members of the fbi and ats. This will also fall upon the rest of the criminal Justice System. We cant wait to only punish repeat offenders, but need to make clear that the first crime committed has severe repercussions. Our criminal Justice System owes the community. We are constantly hearing about how this can be directly attributed to the rise in Violent Crime. That means and prosecutors and buy like a policy is not to prosecute certain crimes and take nonenforcement approaches. While decisions and discretion are part of our judicial system, there must be a line between the police and prosecutors to ensure prosecution. We also support congress to increase resources to better allow state and local Law Enforcement to enable career prosecution of criminals who enact violations. Firearm projects such as Public Safety. Studies have shown that violent offenders have the highest recidivism rate of returning, more than even sexual offenders. Therefore, they are creating a federal registry. This registry will have a great benefit toward investigating Violent Crimes as well as establishing a list of potential danger. The instances of gun theft from homes of multiple gun owners have seen a significant increase in contributed to guns being in the hands of juveniles and criminals. They need to be a concerted effort to educate citizens. The increase in gun violence is facing an increase in opioid overdoses and Community Mental health crises. More roles and responses than ever. A situation to get a into Mental Health services. As Police Officers are doing more to protect the communities, they are feeling less and less appreciated. It is not an easy time to be a Police Officer. Yet in spite of these challenges, officers show up every day dedicated to doing their job and preventing crime, supporting victims and keeping our communities safe. They enter because they care and they stay because of it. I am proud of the isp being in the forefront of changing Law Enforcement, Mental Health and wellness. Assess and address evolving through evidencebased recommendations and resources. Resilience training have read hundreds of officers to help them learn the skills they need to grow and thrive in the space of this job. The new systems will be made available nationwide to make sure officers have the tools they need to have long and healthy careers. We commend the doj for continuing to expand laws. The fund has helped many agencies. However, there are many agencies that do not have the training and resources they need. Congress should consider increasing resource available for this act. Finally, we need to address the hiring gap on agencies and individual officers. We need to expand the cap hiring funds with more recruiting retention through a National Campaign and educational incentives. Our officers deserve our support , whether through the enactment of legislation. A commitment to effectively investigate or prosecute all rams, keep them safe. Thank you for your invitation to testify today and for your bipartisan focus on officer safety. After nearly four years in Law Enforcement including 23 as sheriff, a board member of county sheriffs america, 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 and this past weekend, was shot in the face while responding to a carjacking and equity gates in harmony, ohio was killed during a welfare check. Several deputies in my own department have sustained significant injuries being assaulted in just the last week. In my agency alone in 2021, we had 32 deputies significantly assaulted in the line of duty. So far this year with only 6. 5 months, we have already had 31 deputies assaulted. We seen a significant increase. Last year, we saw 216th in my agency and so far, weve already seen almost 140 this year. I know our situation is not unique. While the overwhelming majority of daily contacts with the community are positive, the number of assaults on officers are up. The reason behind this trend are complex, but respect for fellow citizens, respect for authority seems to have greatly diminished in their society. We also have to acknowledge the demonization of police as added to this problem greatly. As much as we know about the assault statistics, statistics dont tell the full picture because use of force against officers is significantly underreported. If a person resists arrest and in that struggle the officer is not down or bitten, there is rarely erected that assault unless they sustained significant injury. In that situation, even though the officer was simply overcoming resistance, to do their job to get it done, the stats may reflect one instance of officer use and zero instance of use of force officer. In addition, most of these actions are successfully deescalate it every day with the deputy getting no credit in the public eye. So mr. Chairman, it is clear to me we need to do a better job of collecting and reporting data so we can better understand the trends and inform our training. That is why i support the Bipartisan Legislation, the 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, to deescalate if possible, to discourage it, to deter it. But to make sure people responsible for it face real consequences. I also believe it is critically important that 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 the courtroom. You may all remember last november when four students were murdered and seven others injured in the shooting at Oxford High School in my county. Hundreds of my deputies from my Agency Responded to the threat and the gunman was neutralized within a few minutes of our deputies arrival. After the shooting i flew in experts from across the country for Critical Incident stress debriefing for all personnel that responded to the incident to help them cope with the tremendous amount of trauma. I watched my deputies i watch my deputies go into that debrief hollowed out and drawn. They were drained. Just a few days after that active shooter, a call came out across the radio while i was attending the wake of a student killed in the Oxford High School shooting. I responded and it was clear many of them on that scene 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 the officers and deputies who are subjected to violence. Whether it is from a massive incident like Oxford High School shooting or outside the headlines, we have to support them with the resources, training, and Mental Health services that allow them to cover from this trauma. One way congress can help is by providing more funding for the program which is administered by the bureau of justice assistance. Thank you again for that opportunity to testify today and for your attention to this critical issue. I encourage the committee to sustain the focus on helping our deputies and officers on the lines and i look over to questions. Thanks to all the witnesses. I pause at this point and think to myself, how many doors heavily 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 the time. Some of us want to address what is in the hand of the shooter. What weapon did they bring to terrify or to assault a Police Officer . They are both relevant. And there is no question that there are elements of it that are politically controversial and we disagree on this panel. Ive met with members of the chicago Police Department and at the training academy. We are going to spend whatever time you want to spend here and you can say whatever you want to this politician. 20 of them showed up. Some have been on the force for two years, some over 20. They all came because they wanted to tell me something. They wanted me to be educated by people risking their lives every single day. Ive met with members of the black Officers Organization several event times. I have never run into a policeman who has made an excuse for what happened for george floyd. And i think we ought to start with that premise. A good policeman knows when things are wrong it, too, and they are honest about it. The same is true when it comes to the weaponry involved in the shooting. It is hard for me to understand many of you have already mentioned this, that there are so many firearms out there now. Chicago is awash in firearms. Others came from states surrounding illinois with much different standards in terms of sales. And we know from Highland Park and other places that they are becoming a common weapon used against police and innocent civilians. We figured 10 million20 million of these assault weapons that have been sold in this country, we are truly awash. So i guess i want to start with commissioner harrison. Commissioner, you seen this firsthand. Some people argue if we just give more americans guns that they can carry, we will be safer. I question whether you are a policeman or a member of the military, you need to be trained in the use of a weapon to be effective with that weapon. Even if we wanted to have more people carrying weapons to protect the police, what are your thoughts in terms of this proliferation of violence . Do you have your microphone turned on . Thank you for the question. Working into major american cities, nor have i heard from my colleagues that more people carrying guns would make them feel safe. What i can tell you is that with tough gun laws in the state of maryland, and every unit that weve exceeded more than 300, we are on pace for that again this year. None of those murders in my city and any other cities are committed by a person who has the lawful right to carry a gun. It is the unlawful carrying of guns that are used in those crimes. If there are justifiable cases, that number is very small. We use data to answer those questions. The data does not support that more legal, lawabiding citizens carrying guns makes us safer because we are not saying that those individuals who can carrying guns are using those guns for selfdefense. It is repeat violent offenders. It is the large number of guns on the street that have been on the street. Many have been bought with small there being stolen from lawabiding citizens because of a number of issues that used by criminals then used by criminals to commit crimes. We are not saying that more guns owned by lawabiding citizens makes a safer. What is your thought about whether it is made us a safer nation or not . There are many gun laws and many are seen as a low priority for prosecution. We should focus that there should be significant consequences for the first use of a firearm in any type of crime. Officer french lost her life to a straw purchase gun. I want to thank senator cornyn for his leadership on the bill that we supported. Can you comment on the types of guns that are being used to harm place and being used in the city of chicago . What we are seeing is an increase in firepower. The weapon that offenders are using in the street is a much greater caliber. We are recovering more and more magazines. In we are not faced with a magazine of 10 rounds. We are faced with drum magazines. When you are standing in a sea of 30 or 40 shell casings, you know the increase in the firepower and capacity is growing. We are seeing more assault style weapons being used. It is incredibly scary for our officers to know that they have to go out there and be outmanned and outgunned. Officer anderson, thank you for your moving statement to us. You were present as you told us at this murder. He testified at the trial. Speak to the motivation of the murder and what you heard about it at the trial. The individual at the trial showed little to no remorse. If anything, his facial expressions were incredibly disrespectful, smirking were almost smiling when hearing some of the things that were said or done. He had a clear no distain for Law Enforcement and the community. On the day of the incident, he baited an officer into a pursuit purposefully to draw the officer out of town to attack that officer. He had a crazy idea that he was going to teach the officer a lesson that day. Some of his statements supported that. Sheriff, you spoke about supporting the legislation that i talked about. In your extensive experience running one of the largest Sheriffs Offices, have you seen a substantial increase in the number of dangerous but nonlethal interaction between your officers and criminal suspects and what can we do to improve our ability to identify the situations . We have seen an increase. A dramatic increase on assault and resisting arrest. I think that comes from the overall disrespect for authority and each other in general. Last night, we had four resist arrest. It is not unusual for people to resist arrest and thats why i think its super important we collect the data per your proposed legislation so we can better inform the public and our training. Also that we again speak with the voice that there is a place to fight criminal charges in a courtroom. People think its ok to fight on the street and there is no good outcome that comes from that. Sergeant, you spoke about the online radicalization of individuals who target the police and organize targeting of Police Officers. What is the relationship between the defund the Police Movement and the targeted islands against Law Enforcement . Violence against Law Enforcement . Something as benign as just defund the police, once you taken on social media, the message proliferates with the. We have lost so much discussion because we think of it as being benign, but the reality is groups use the same content to incite violence against police. In indianapolis alone, it was trending with defund the police. Not that the city of indianapolis wanted to burn down their own city, but that message of defund the police was trending on social media and radical groups individuals attached to it. Once , once the image proliferates through social media, more people will attach to it and thats what you sell with the riots happening over and over again. We need Better Regulation of the social media platforms. When better control over the content being used to incite violence. When the benign image is attached to black lives matter, defund the police, kill the police, the thing you have to worry about is what is proliferating with the message. Sergeant, and your written testimony, you acknowledge that good people wanted to peacefully protest Police Brutality yet Research Shows that Police Officers rarely use excessive force. Only about 1 of Police Shootings are unjustified yet they are used as an excuse to justify attacks on police. Is it reasonable for critics to say that Police Brutality is the cause of attacks on police . Absolutely not. We are talking about more nuanced type issues. We have to talk about what Police Brutality is. It can also be use of force violations, it happens all the time. When they are adjudicated in court, a lot of times they are acquitted and it goes away. What we talk about the Police Brutality thing, bottom line is we cannot under any circumstance allow attacks on our Police Officers. Regardless of what the individuals say, we are not going to get validation for. We need to Start Holding individuals accountable we have not done a great job of prosecuting radical groups and people that incite violence against Police Officers. Domestic terrorism doj tells us that individuals who use force and intimidation for the change of governmental policy are acting in line with mystic terrorism. Why dont we have penalties for individuals who do that . Thank you, senator. Senator feinstein. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I strongly believe that assault weapons have no place on our streets at all. 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. I 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 21 printed under current law people under the age of 21 are not allowed allowed to purchase handguns. What 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. Want to make sure that people have that opportunity to exercise the right. But when you think of a young person who cant appreciate the consequences of an emotional act , i am personally and concerned to see young folks have the ability to carry those types of firearms. 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 that our officers take incredibly seriously. Being in that situation is incredibly difficult and those catastrophic ends are hard for our officers to process. I would agree with the chief. We are now talking about people who are not fully developed. Not only physically, but mentally and emotionally and totally unaware of the laws the longstanding consequences of that decision. That is a weapon of war and it is designed to create rate carnage and damage. It is not just for one person to defend oneself. They are making that decision to create carnage and damage not realizing the longlasting effect it has on the families of the person or persons they hit and killed how much damage it actually does. Then 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. It is made when a person puts their hand on a firearm and walks out of the door. They have been predisposed themselves to use the weapon should they need to or have a used against them. We need to change the way of thinking not just with young people but all people. With young people specifically, they arent aware and dont have enough Life Experience to understand how difficult it will be for them and what they do to families of the victims they kill and victims who survive. How badly damaged those people are because of the volatility of those types of weapons. Anybody else have a comment . I agree with my peers. When the assault weapons ban was put in place in the past, we had a 66 reduction in the use. It makes sense to go back and we have always supported that. I authored the assault weapons before and i am at it again. I would appreciate any support from Law Enforcement that is possible. Thank you. Senator tillis . Thank you. What you think the work that you have made to keep the weapons out of the hands of those who could hurt themselves or others. You said something in your opening comment that may be curious. Every member of this Committee Rejects the notion of defund the police. You all can google best, i didnt have this printed until i looked it up. I typed in act blue and defund the police. I got to this sub page in the aggregation engine for progressive candidates. What does it say . 31. 12 run for justice. It is a direct contribution to black lives matter. Whats fascinating is the first question that they answer under frequently asked questions. Why 3. 12 miles . 3. 12 translates into the alphabet for aca be. Which equals all cops are b astards. This is on the act blue website. This radical concept of defunding the police has gone from the radical left of minority of the party to something that the primary fundraising engine for liberal progressives is now touting. This is a cancer and we have to understand we do have to do work. Its why i took the political step to work on the political safety belt. Political safety bill. I ask you, do you consider your colleagues bastards . They didnt say some of them or most of them, they said all of that all of them. This is a cancer. It has to stop. This is not helpful. For the democrats who generally genuinely believe this is not a good strategy, they have to stand up and stand against this. I didnt plan that speech, so im sorry that came out that way, but it makes me mad when we say one thing and we see another thing. All cops are bastards. Are you kidding me . Young person who lands on the website who may be on the bubble right now, that could inspire them to do some of the things you talked about. Talk to Police Officer and get them out there and kill them that is happening. Black lives matter, if you punch out this website, it goes directly, its time for a change. Then it goes directly to defund the police. This is killing people, endangering Police Officers, and making those at risk less safe. With that, i want to talk about a few pieces of legislation. I am a cosponsor of senator grassleys bill. 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 that we made decisions on the Community Safety bill. We should look at the protect and serve act makes it a federal crime to assault or murder of Police Officer. They will know and they will react and a lawenforcement officer will be saved. We should also take a look at back the blue and thin blue line and defending our defenders act. Those are all bills that this committee can take up and move forward. Im here to do everything i can to be driven by data, to look at Community Safety issues where receipt too many guns in the hands of people who want to do harm. We have to understand, this is foundational. When i can go and get my friends and family to donate to the all cops are bastards run. They also advocate running around police stations playing music. Thank you. I want to make a comment. I would like to submit this for the record. Without objection. Thank you for the bipartisan gun safety bill. I should have acknowledged you and i am sorry i did not. Second, i have never been called to a meeting of back blue. Ive never been asked to approve their agenda or website. It is true they raise money in the name of progressives or liberals but i have nothing to do with them. I should have no more responsibility for what they do then others should have responsibility for the proud boys or oath keepers. People should be judged on how they vote and what they believe. Thats what i believe and thats what im going to offer to members of the committee. I dont begrudge act blue. They give to candidates and i know they have given to members of the senate that are friends of mine. I dont begrudge them for advancing a progressive worldview. When they also use the same engine to have people this is how this works. You log on to support the all cops are pastors run bast ards run then they know that when they have future candidates they will send a message that says support this candidate because they work to defund the police. Thats how this process works and thats why its a cancer that has to be taken out. We could fit into a conversation about january 6, but we wont. Every single one of them should be in jail. I want to hold members accountable for how they vote and what to believe it to attribute other organizations to us is unfair. Thank you for holding this valuable and critical hearing. I want to thank each of our Witnesses Today who have not just testified, but who have demonstrated through your lifetime of service and of actions you have taken what commissioners harrison said that policing is a calling. To stand up and serve and continue serving after witnessing or being directly harmed in the line of duty after having the opportunity to understand just how challenging this calling is, i wanted to open by expressing my gratitude to each one of you individually and to the men and women you represent with whom you serve. To the families and fellow officers who are here, i know that this is more difficult than i can comprehend. To come and testify about what was in horrific life altering day in cedar falls to see patrol Sergeant Smith killed then to have to talk to his widow and family. To have been wounded yourself and to have with us alice mother elizabeth and to continue leading an agency that looks to you for leadership in a difficult and dangerous time. I had the honor to serve as the county executive in new castle county, delaware. I will never forget one of the hardest days of my life in this body was when someone known personally to make, an 18 year veteran of our force, a talented and warm and one of the best was killed in the light of duty in the line of duty responding to it disorderly subject doing what the lieutenant, he was a sergeant but was promoted posthumously, what he always did was to lean in, take messages matters into his own hand. He was stabbed in the neck and killed by someone who is now serving life. I will never forget that funeral. And his widow, kathy and what she said. At the very end, there were 5000 people there, lawenforcement from all over our nation. She looked every one of us in the eye and said do not cry for me. Other women, other people will have decades of marriage to an ordinary person. I had a few reef years with an exceptional man, a hero. You could not hear a pin drop in that room. Our community, a school where the lieutenant attended the 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 in delaware. I could continue. I went to the funeral for patrolman chad spicer and i had the pleasure of knowing his mother and daughter. Corporal ballard his widow continues to lead Law Enforcement efforts in delaware to respect our state police, her husband was exceptional. Another corporal whose funeral was last year a riveting moment. You have brought to this hearing today the quiet dignity and determination that is so important as we try to come together to address this issue as a nation. I will tell you that weather is working together to try to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of those who would do harm to Law Enforcement, making sure we have bulletproof vest for agencies large and small that are appropriately fitting state of the art something ive worked hard over 12 years with senator lahey to make sure we sustain the bulletproof vest partnership, or investing in Mental Health, resources, training, and support to make sure officers have the resources they need to continue to serve. There is a solemn obligation on us not to turn this into a show but to be serious and deliberate about the work we do with you. I live in delaware. I succeeded our president and i know that he does not just say thank you for your service, he doesnt just say that he supports Law Enforcement, he has put into action and his budgets and with his priorities making america safer. The American Rescue plan put forth over 10 billion for state and local hiring and the safer american plan there is 37 billion for Law Enforcement that includes the funding to hire 100,000 more officers. In i hope we will on a bipartisan basis provide these resources to you. I know i am running short on time. Chief, i work closely with providing critical advice and leadership and management decisions i had to make as county executive. I am leading a bill that would direct the doj to propose programs to better address ptsd in lawenforcement. We had an event try to better understand ptsd resources. My impression is that unlike the military that is working to address Critical Issues in soldier suicide which has a military chain of command, we have 18,000 agencies. We have disaggregated resources. How can we best address the lack of resources, training, and support . Are there models that you would urge is to adjust to invest in . Theres a lot that needs to be done to solve the Mental Health and crisis issues around policing. It goes to the way that officers are treated on a regular basis in the street. We feel like the fact we have pulled in the military and experts to identify the best practices is moving forward with that. The Mental Health check ins for our officers on a regular basis is really important. Funding that is a difficult thing. We feel those are very important things to the wellness of our officers. Can i pose one last question . The members have not voted yet. I would love to followup up with you sheriff if i might. I will yield, we have a lot of work to do together and i appreciate the major county Sheriffs Association and for driving for opportunity and i look forward to following up with you. Thank you to our Witnesses Today. Sergeant, you talked about some of the antipolice rhetoric. The lack of respect for our men and women in blue, the work of the progressive district attorneys who dont prosecute crimes. Some people are saying we should eliminate Legal Protections for example like qualified immunity that protects Police Officers from civil lawsuits unless they do cross the line that they should not cross. Ive like to suggest that the attitude starts at the top. You may recall shortly after President Biden was elected president , he nominated Kristin Clark to be associate attorney general of the United States. The head of the department of justice, a significant portion of the department of justice who wrote an article in 2020 entitled i prosecuted police killings, defund the police strategic. Also, President Biden nominated and the Senate Confirmed without my vote ms. Cooped up gupta, she advocated for eliminating qualified immunity and for decriminalizing drugs. The Washington Post fact checker fact checked her testimony at her confirmation hearing and gave her, this concluded for this tango of unacknowledged flipflops, she earns an upside down pinocchio. Do you believe it is important for leadership of the Law Enforcement community to send a clear message of support for Law Enforcement as opposed to blaming them first . Absolutely. In response to the leaders especially leaders of congress and our president , who has promoted this idea of defending the police, sometimes you have individuals that the king in the high castle sometimes forget how things work in the real world because they are disconnected from the people. This type of messaging is the type of messaging that allows individuals who are actually out there to become vulnerable to certain attacks. The bottom line is we cannot allow our Police Officers to not be protected. We cannot allow certain messages to not be put into American Society that is not going to be attacked just because of the job we do. 70 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. We talk about human behavior. Individuals going out to attack Police Officers because of the job they do. Because of the job the uniform they wear. Enough is enough. We have to stop linking these things together and start doing the right things to protect the interest of our american government. You have given up too much and i will add the cities that did defund the police, we saw 150 million in texas. What is austin going through right now . An increased level of violence. We saw the same thing in baltimore. We saw it and philadelphia. An increased level of violence. It doesnt work and we need to fix it here in this committee. Thank you. Sheriff, good to see you again. Inc. You for being here. Thank you for being here. I want to talk about the nexus between drugs, guns, and violence 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 from china which are used to make synthetic opioids like fentanyl. Would you agree with me that the Distribution Network whether it is in this minnesota or any state we could identify here is primarily through criminal street gangs who then protect their market share and territory using guns and committing other crimes of violence . Would you make that connection between the border, drugs, and violence in our local communities . Yes. On so many levels, we agree with that statement. The sheriffs of america is firm and belief that we need to secure our borders. The immigration system needs to be fixed to help people that want to come here for the right reasons and for a better life. We need to have a process to make sure that that border is secured to prevent what is happening. The flood drugs across the border. I run one of the largest Law Enforcement team consortiums in the state and we are seeing a tremendous amount of fentanyl. Oftentimes, 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 this hearing that my team has asked for swat potential support on a raid today because the suspect is a career felon that is known to carry firearms and is willing to use them. Thank you to you and the Ranking Member for holding this hearing. In my time, stephen shaw and others were all shot to death serving in the providence Police Department. One Police Department. As the chief described eloquently, the traumatic attempt impact of that throughout the department was very real. It is good that we are having this hearing to focus on these cases. For what its worth, the man who murdered stephen shaw was killed at the scene by stevens fellow officers. The man who murdered jimmie allen is serving life in prison. The death of Cornell Young was a tragic blue on blue incident that was also extremely painful for the providence Police Department. I am very proud of the providence Police Department. I wanted to express this history that they have while were on the subject in the room. There are so many of you that im going to ask three questions and ask that you might do me the courtesy of answering them in writing. Its called a question for the record. You dont have to, but if you do it for the record, i would appreciate it. We have been working on a bill to improve crisis intervention resources for departments. It is called the deescalation training at. I would be very grateful if you and or your organizations would take a look at that. And give any advice that you might have. Senator hawley and i some time ago did the stoic act which provides additional Mental Health resources for Police Officers, for Police Departments to deploy. Even in the brief time since then, we have learned a lot more and i would be interested in any thoughts on how that act might be updated if passed into law with very broad partisan supports. Im sure amendments could be passed quickly if you could provide some ideas about that. The last thing i would be interested in hearing from you about is high velocity ammunition. We talk a lot about assault rifles, but the speed of the projectile a self is another separate factor. As i understand, it is a factor in the ability of your body armor to withstand the bullet. It is a factor in the physical destruction wrought by the project out of the human in the human body. I would like your thoughts about what harm there is from high velocity ammunition to people in your profession and any thoughts you have about trying to restrict that particular type of ammunition. I will close because it is i think impossible not to talk about the dangers to Police Officers and injuries and fatalities certainly as a member of Congress Without referencing the heroism and simple plain hard tough work that are Capitol Police did on january 6 sending off the mob that President Trump sent up here to do damage to the building and obviously they did a lot of damage to Police Officers. January 6 commission has done a fair job of presenting what that day look like the Police Officers who were here. For those who were injured that day, for those for whom fatality resulted that day, i think its worth expressing a moments honor and appreciation to them for their service on that bloody day. With that, i guess i am a senior person here so i will now turn to senator lee followed by senator klobuchar followed by senator cotton unless the order should change. Thank you to each of you for your service and for being here today. I will never forget some of the emotions i experienced in 2020 when watching one weekend in june of that year as violent protests erupted in Salt Lake City. As they had in so many other cities at that time. I had never seen anything quite like this not in my home state. I watched as a mob of violent protesters took a police car, turned it all the way upside down, then lit the thing on fire. There were dozens of officers injured in those violent riots and protests that weekend. It was concerning. It felt as though it was foreboding something bad. In addition to being an awful thing in and of itself. The fact is they have played out since then have shown that feeling to be accurate. Two years later, our country is in the midst of an ugly crime spike. Homicide rates in utah are up 40 compared to 2019 along with assaults, property crimes, and also other sorts of offenses. In 2021, there were 73 officers nationwide killed in the line of duty. Nearly one third of those, 25 officers were killed and unprovoked attacks. To give that ugly statistic terrifying context, only two unprovoked attacks against Police Officers were recorded in 2020. In utah, or Police Officers were shot at in 2021 and in any other recorded year resulting in injury to eight Police Officers. In one case, two officers were injured when they went simply to check on a man who was lying in the grass near the Sheriffs Office in selleck city. Salt lake city. In doing that, the man opened fire on them. In march of this year, a man ran up behind a Police Officer as he was on patrol at the Salt Lake City International Airport and sucker punched him. Just last week, a fouryearold boy shot at Police Officers from inside a vehicle in Salt Lake City claiming he had been encouraged to do that by his father. This is troubling. Mr. Anderson, can you tell us what impacts some of the antipolice rhetoric might 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 morale . In the incident i was involved in, it had a direct impact. The individual clearly did not like Law Enforcement. Clearly that day, he was trying to accomplish killing an officer. We had so much information i will not get into it as far as things that led up to that that we didnt know that we later found out. When you go through these types of incidents, it hits everybody very hard. I dont know how you would prevent that unnecessarily, but thats why we are here. Sergeant, do you think antipolice rhetoric and violence trickles down into the community and what impact does it have on members of the community throughout our country . It has a major impact on communities across this country especially communities of color. I am active in the black Community Ground around the country not only in texas but i travel the country trying to engage with the black community because i want to build a relationship between the police and the community. What many of these people have told me was they never agreed to defund the police initiative. You had these politicians that got online and put out messages about defunding the police and it proliferated through social media. The reality is, those communities with people of color were being victimized at a higher rate than anywhere else in this country. The bottom line is we havent found any way to hold the individuals accountable that have proliferated this message. That have allowed our police to be attacked. We have to find a way to where we can hold individuals accountable for using rhetoric. A lot of leadership here in congress. We have to find a way to hold these people accountable for encouraging the type of acts that are happening right now in our society. Violence that occurs of antipolice rhetoric very often is not focused in the gated communities . No, it is the communities that are already having problems. The criminals are alongside the people there living with. The ghettos, projects, inner cities. They get out of prison and go right back to those communities. A lot of these people cant pack up and leave the community. Thats the catch 22 with these arguments. We talk about why dont they just leave . A lot of people cant leave. Half of my family is still in the incident innercity. They are being victimized by the criminals living beside them. There has to be accountability for rhetoric to incite violence against our Police Across the country. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here. I was a prosecutor for eight years. I ran the Biggest Office in our state. I now chair the Senate Rules Committee so i have made it my mission to focus on rebuilding our Capitol Police. We are pleased to have a new police chief and we are recruiting new officers. We are seeing increases in morale. After january 6, we lost officers from that day and from suicide, i have made it my mission to make this place better for them. So many of them will never be the same. That has been my focus since i have gotten here. I also wanted to clarify a few things. About defunding the police. In my city of minneapolis, there was a Ballot Initiative that was described that way, i opposed it and so to the governor and it was defeated in a liberal city. One of the focuses has to be as you all know reforming some of the practices but at the same time, funding police. Thats my first question of you chief, you called for an expansion of the cops program in your opening remarks. I lead that Bipartisan Legislation with senator murkowski as well as senator cowans and others to reauthorize the hiring program. How have you seen the program help local Law Enforcement to improve training, upgrade technology and retain experienced officers . The cops program has been wonderful to give all size organizations the opportunity to improve their ability to support their communities. From bringing on additional officers to show leaders there was a need to get it off the ground and it has worked well to help make us a better profession and professionalize and understand how to be better interacting with the community. We are appreciative of the work you are doing to bring that back. Sheriff . Thank you, senator for your support of so many of those kinds of things. I want to mention in the cops program, one of the challenges a lot of the communities have is the match. Our brothers and sisters in fire service, most of their grants, their personnel grants dont have a match. When you have an urban community or community struggling with their budgets, they may want the position but the match becomes a prohibited. Anything that can be done on that front would be helpful. One of my communities that we police under contract is constantly budget struggle. The match impediment that exists in Law Enforcement especially for personnel and cops i just encountered this with one of our mayors. I would like to improve that, so thank you for bringing that up. Commissioner, you testified that the availability of illegal guns is a direct factor in the spike in gun violence, i agree. Yesterday, i introduced a bill with senator peters of michigan and nine other colleagues to require federal and state Law Enforcement to crack down on devices that can turn semi automatic guns into fully automatic weapons. These devices can be purchased from foreign manufacturers. For under 20. They can be installed in under one minute. Can you talk about the challenge Law Enforcement faces when responding to done violence incidents that involve weapons that can fire automatically and what do you think of this proposal . Thats a great proposal. We have seen an increase in weapons that can be fired automatically not just from people who can buy the devices and put them in the weapon but can make them off laser printers. We have seen an increase in ghost guns, we have seen more of an increase in that man your traditional firearms in the city of baltimore. That is a trend that we are seeing around the country. We have been it has been increasingly difficult to stop the number of shootings because with those fully automatic weapons, perpetrators are shooting and striking multiple victims while they may only intend to shoot one person. Figure shooting multiple people. We have had an increase in the number of shootings where we had three or four or five people shot and only one person was the intended target because the weapon most likely was an automatic weapon rather than semi automatic. All of us are seeing increasing challenges with that specific issue. When he 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 who are caught with it. I appreciate that. Part of this is not responding to things from the past but looking at what is in front of us which are things like this which you have to do every day in our jobs. In your jobs. I am sorry about the loss of your partner gun violence. It is what has motivated me for doing a lot of things that i have worked on including the closing the boyfriend loophole that we recently did in the bipartisan agreement that the other senators put together. A case i must remember of an officer being killed was a guy in lake city who responded to a Domestic Violence case. A young woman who called in, the boyfriend having Mental Health issues. An officer came to the door and had a bulletproof vest. The guy shot him in the head. I went to that funeral and at that funeral in the church, that dad who was killed a cop had been there just a few weeks before for the nativity play with his little boys that were in it. And their little baby as well. That mom walked down the aisle in the same church where her boyfriend had been in the nativity play. With the two little boys by her side. We have to remember that this violence, so many times its officers that are on the front line of it. That was part of my motivation in working on the boyfriend loophole. Some of the most dangerous scenes you get called to can beat Domestic Violence. Want to thank you for your service. The tragic murder of george floyd occurred in my state. I am devoted to reform, but at the same time believing that we can invest in our Law Enforcement and get that respect that you deserve and move forward together. I want to thank you for what you are doing. I was going to turn it over, but someone passed me a note that it was senator blackburn. It wasnt a choice, it was the order. Thank you very much. Thank you to each of you for being here today. We are so grateful for your taking the time and here to talk with us. I know senator tillis talked about the respect issue and senator klobuchar just brought up the issue of respect. I think that when you look at some of these issues between communities and police, that is of concern. Then, the dramatic decline in trust between police and the district attorneys who choose not to prosecute some of these crimes, cases of illegal possession of firearms, Domestic Violence, resisting arrest, theft, and they have a tendency to promote these bill reform measures. Chief, i know chicago has had as many as 100 alleged murderers released on home monitoring. That is shocking to me. Also in chicago, i was looking at some of your stats. Police made arrests in only 12 of the criminal incidences in 2021 which is the lowest rate since 2001. That was when the data was first released. The fop has written your d. A. Noting a deep mistrust between chicago Police Officers and the das office. Also stating we no longer believe that your office will treat our members fairly either in the arrests they make or when they are victims of crime. You are a 21 year veteran of the chicago Police Department correct . Yes. What are you doing and why are you not loudly calling for a change in prosecutors who are pushing this decriminalization, d carson ration, d policing rhetoric . Respectfully, we do the best we can. We work with our cook county states attorneys to put the best cases forward and to achieve the desired result. Voluntary resignations. That has been an issue with your department. It has been an issue with large Police Departments around the country. We have recently seen the entire police force resigned in many places. Fewer Police Officers means increased risk for the remaining officers. What are you and your leadership doing to turn the tide on this to mulch u. S. State that you are seeing in Police Departments . One of the things we have done in the chicago Police Department is we put up a recruitment team, something we didnt have before. What kind of results is that seeing . An increase in the numbers of officers applying for positions. For example, we have 400 currently let me move on. I see you shaking her head. The unfortunate reality is that this whole defund the police has led to officers not wanting to go into the profession. The bottom line is, you have das releasing criminals back onto the street. They have said they are tired of doing double work all over again. You want to talk about the real beast in the room, we are talking about 85 recidivism rate of violent felons that come out of prison. Within five years, they go back for similar crimes. We have to figure out how to close the loophole. Closing the loophole, this goes to the issue of respect. The tearing down of respect. The ability of Law Enforcement to do their job. Absolutely, it does. The issue of no, lets see. Sheriff, i want to come to you on the issue of qualified immunity. Talk to me about this and what are the effects positive and negative from the push to strip qualified immunity from our Law Enforcement officers. The effect is terrible. The morale, they are already feeling very much unsupported on some a level. We talk about qualified immunity, people will say they shouldnt have immunity from being held accountable. My answer is i agree, they dont have immunity, they have qualified immunity meaning if they follow the laws of the state, the policies within clearly established principles, then they get immunity. If we get an incident where a deputy is pursuing a suspect and he falls through a plate glass window, oftentimes you will see around the country, they sue the officer for the injury even though they were committing a crime and fleeing from the police. Qualified immunity says this is not the officers fault. The officer was doing their job, the case is dismissed. Without that, a lot of our officers and deputies are saying why would i do this job . Im willing to risk my life not my familys home and future even when i do the job according to policy procedure and the constitution. You can continue watching this hearing on the cspan now video app. Now we continue our commitment to live gaveltogavel coverage of house of congress. Live coverage on cspan. A communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers room, washington, d. C. , july 26, 2022. I hereby appoint the honorable Jimmy Panetta to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore the chair will receive a message. The messenger mr. Speaker, a message from the senate. The secretary mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore madam secretary. The secretary i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed without amendment h. R. 3359, an act to provide ford system for reviewing the cases filed, cold case murders, at the