Transcripts For CSPAN2 Hearing On Policing Practices Oversig

See these folks behind us these folks behind us on both sides are amazing. The staff democratic and republican members have to put up with us, which is amazing to start with but in a Committee Role like this, susan, youve been a friend, youre probably the one i hear the name most often when i say johnny says well susan called, i said in my in trouble and he says no. Susan, youre going to be missed. It will be hard to turn around and not see you here but i am so happy for you, the beneficiary heres what youve done for the committee but also at the administration of officer courts are to do. They are gaining, we are losing, and we acknowledge that with that i yield back the chair. [applause] i will now recognize myself her opening statement. Todays hearing furthers our committees longstanding commitment to conducting meaningful oversight of state and federal Law Enforcement. As initiated by former chairman goodlad and his establishment of the bipartisan policing strategies working group. Without question, the vast majority of Law Enforcement officers served honorably under difficult conditions. Both in risking and sometimes losing their lives to protect us. There have been, however, a disturbing number instances of Excessive Force used by police against civilians. Many of whom were unarmed, most of whom were people of color and many of which resulted in tragic deaths. That had put incredible strain on the relationships between Law Enforcement and their local communities. For example, july 17, 2014 five new York City Police Department Officers attempted to arrest eric garner, 42yearold father of six who allegedly was selling loose cigarettes by tackling him to the ground and placing him in an illegal chokehold. He repeatedly told the officers, and cant breathe. The officers ignored his plea as he slipped into unconsciousness and death. No one was held criminally responsible for mr. Garners death. We are fortunate to be joined by mr. Garners mother gwen carr and the criminal Justice System and the Justice System failed you, your son, and your entire family. Shockingly the officer response responsible for placing mr. Gardner in the pertinently banned chokehold remains on the force for five years. Before being finally fired this past august. September 9, 2015 james blake and africanamerican professional tennis player was standing outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel and midtown manhattan officer james respiratory for no apparent reason, charged him, wrestled him to the ground and placed him in handcuffs. New york civilian Complaint Review board an independent agency use complaints of Police Misconduct determined that he used Excessive Force and recommended that the officer be punished with departmental disciplinary charges that could lead to suspension or dismissal. Instead his only punishment was to lose five vacation days. Mr. Garners death and the assault on mr. Blake both at the hands of Police Officers sworn to preserve and protect protect and serve should alarm all americans regardless of party, regardless of political ideology, regardless of race religion or gender. This is not a partisan issue. There are no sides. There can be no doubt unfortunately that communities of color perceive Law Enforcement as a threat to their everyday freedoms. These presumptions go back decades. Redating both 1994 los angeles riots in the 1965 watts riots. Both of which were sparked by lack of accountability for incidents of Police Brutality. These perceptions are reality for africanamericans. According to the center for policing equity africanamericans are 2 to 4 times more likely than white americans to have force used against them. Far too long, police are more just and humane treatment from Law Enforcement have often fallen on deaf ears. Claims of Police Misconduct coming from communities of color have often been ignored or not believed. Mr. Garners killing in a series of others examples of Police Misconduct against African Americans many of which who were caught on video they can unmistakably clear the claims of Police Misconduct all too often real. To list just a few. August 5, 2014 John Crawford was shot and killed by Police Officer in a Walmart Store in beavercreek ohio for holding a toy bb gun. 12yearold tamir rice was armed was shot and killed by police in cleveland ohio. April 2, 2015 eric harris unarmed was shot and killed by police in tulsa on april 4, 2015 walter scott who was unarmed was shot and killed by police in North Charleston south carolina. April 19 2015 freddie gray who was unarmed died in Police Custody in baltimore maryland. July 6, 2016 Samuel Debose was unarmed and shot and killed by police in cincinnati ohio. The frequency of these killings in the absence of full accountability for those responsible sent a message to members of the Africanamerican Community that black lives do not matter. Let me state clearly for the record that black lives do matter. Or please off vilma cannot function knowing that the africanamerican abwe must also be able to put ourselves in the shoes of our Law Enforcement officers must be able to celebrate the service and sacrifices of our men and women in Law Enforcement who put their lives on the line day in and day out. We must recognize the psychological toll that serving such an inherently dangerous job to take an individual Law Enforcement officers and their families. Its also critical that we not take Law Enforcement with a broad brush. The vast majority of officers execute their jobs with dignity, honor and respect for the citizens they serve and protect. Every american should take pride in that. Research shows that a small percentage of repeat offenders todays hearing presents a unique opportunity for us to hear from some of these individuals and families affected by Police Misconduct. I want to personally thank ms. Gwen carr for speaking at this hearing on behalf of her son and mr. Blake sharing his personal story with us. Today presents an opportunity for us to explore Bipartisan Solutions to make policing a safe and more fulfilling job for Law Enforcement officers by restoring the trust and goodwill to employees and the communities they serve. And determine what further solutions are warranted. For example, we should consider legislative proposers to end racial profiling and install trust between Law Enforcement and the community. We should explore ways to strengthen Data Collection on use of force and racial profiling so the Police Department can measure the practices they manage. The most important and we can all agree that too many lives are put at risk and have been lost in Police Citizen encounters. And thats incumbent upon each of us to Work Together as fellow americans to solve this problem. I think all of our witnesses for appearing and i look forward to their testimony. I now recognize the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee the gym and from georgia mr. Collins for his opening statement. Like thank you mr. Chairman, i would like to add to the record a letter from the detectives and dominant Association New york and the National Association of police organization. Without objection. I appreciate the chairmans opening and i think you covered a great deal of stuff. I have a lot of notes in listing, i think one of the things to start off with is its very important that Excessive Force were used ought to be punished. It should not be thought about, it should be punished and put before proper due process procedure needs to be processed and done in a fair way to all involved so that there is justice and abbut the one thing that i want to focus on in the chairman did a good job because its very fair theres a lot of things that have happened in communities that raise a lot of concerns. On this committee they say how do we fix this theres officers almost committee and i serve with and it ais one of those that has done that but him in uniform and been out there. I com ed it as a different position. I think this is why we have this hearing today. I want to take it from a perspective i dont think anybody wants to see justice go unserved. I think the interesting perspective here is my perspective that there is no one that wants bad actors out of Law Enforcement more than Law Enforcement itself. And the son of a Georgia State stripper. I made the joke before that i fought the law and the law won every time. Six foot to 250 pounds in a blue and gray uniform with 357 on his hip and was a scrawny kid from gainesville, daddy loved us but he was in georgia he understood that and he would come home, and little kid that watched dad walked to work and when he would come home at night he would come in with his uniform torn, blood on his collar and how does that affect the eightyearold nineyearold kid . My dad is a strong man. One of the interesting things i always found is when something would go wrong with an officer and we had an officer in georgia, a Georgia State trooper who i knew personally and am tempted to call it a mistake, its not, he committed a crime. He had a sexual encounter with someone in his custody and he is in jail. Thats right. He was punished for it. Whats even more amazing was my dads reaction. My dad came home and he was upset, he was mad, i could tell it because the chairman talked about how this plays out in the police force, it played out at home. It played out because my dad come home and didnt talk about it. My dad was mad as he could be about somebody tarnishing the badge and the uniform that he wore. When he was painted because of others, then it affects everybody. In a high risk, many times low reward areas. Some of the things i would love to see us talk about, the thin blue line is a separation from order and chaos it should always be there. No one in our country should look at our police force and know this is what keeps us all safe no matter who we are or what our beliefs are what the color of our skin. Its what keeps us different than the rest of the world. A safe Orderly Police force that carries out our laws faithfully and execute them to the best of their ability. Because of pay, benefits, the issues of communities, i live in a Rural Community in north georgia, north georgia kids who live in some of my smaller counties go to work if they can with the Sheriffs Department but they are making an amount that they can go 40 miles down the road and doubled their salary. Or if they cant make it to one of those they know they can go somewhere else and get a job no matter what their record is. As we come to this hearing today, it does need to be a hearing of what i will call the terrible acts. We need to acknowledge them and we need to admit that Justice Needs to be served. But there is nothing about this hearing that the 98 or 99, whatever percent you want of those men and women who wake up every day with only one responsibility, taking care of their communities. Taking care of the lives that they have and they want nothing more than these backpackers to go away so that they can do their job and when they laid her head down at night they know theyve done their best, they want to be respected because they have done their job and not because somebody elses acted badly. When that happens then our Law Enforcement understands we respect them, we love them and we are going to help them where they need help when they see their dad or their mom upset because of their profession, they are calling is tarnished by those who would tarnish it, justice must be swift, it must be firm and it must be fairly apply because if not, we lose who we are. We would not be who we are without our police force. We now need to help them make it better. With that i yield back. Thank you gentlemen. Without objection, all other Opening Statements will be included in the record. I want to note the jet lady from madison massachusetts ms. Presley is here with us and we think are for attending. I will now introduce todays witnesses. Gwen carr, the mother of eric garner who died during the course of his arrest by Police Officers. As a result of this tragic event she became a leading advocate for improving policing practices and currently facilitates the desktop today program to the nonprofit eri c eliminating racism and inequality collectively. Shes here today to share her personal experience. Ron davis, served as director of the Us Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services office from 2013 to 2017 in december 2014 he was appointed to serve as a direct executive director of the task force and 21stCentury Policing. Prior to serving as cup director he was chief of police in East Palo Alto california for more than eight years and previously served 20 years of the oakland Police Department. Doctor davis received his ba from Southern Illinois university included Senior Executive program at Harvard University kennedy government. Patrick yells, i hope it cannot separate captain patrick yells as a National President of the fraternal order of police. Since 1984 he served in a variety of roles and st. Charles Sheriffs Office in st. Charles parish louisiana and currently the commander of special services department. In a bachelor of sizes from State University and associate of science from nichols State University. Also a graduate of the fbi National Academy. Reverend al sharpton the founder and president of the National Action Network National Civil Rights Advocacy organization. He attended Brooklyn College and received honorary doctorate divinity from bathroom Cookman University Virginia University mr. Blake is here today to speak about his personal experience is with Law Enforcement. Gina perkins has served more than 30 years in Law Enforcement and currently the chief of police for the fayetteville North Carolina Police Department. She also serves as executive board member of the National Organization of black Law Enforcement executives. Received a bachelor of science from Georgia State university and a master of science in john hopkins university. She is also a graduate of the fbi National Associates academy. Ms. Mcdonald received a ba from Yale University or ma from Claire College and jd from Stanford University law school. Philip and t for atif goff is the cofounder and president of the center for policing equity. Also serves as the functional Police Equity John Jay College of criminal justice. Professor goff has written extensively in policing issues. He received his ab from Harvard University in ma and phd and Stanford University. Finally, linda garcia is a policing Campaign Director the L