Advocacy groups who spoke before the house Judiciary Committee. Theyll talk about ways to improve Police Relations within the community and increase accountability among Law Enforcement. This is three hours and 40 minutes. House committee on the judiciary will come to order. The chair is authorized to declare recesses at any time. Welcome to the oversight hearing on Police Practices. Before we begin, i want to briefly recognize susan jensen whose last day on the committee after more than 20 years of service is tomorrow. Susan is highly respected on both sides of the aisle, as one of the preeminent experts on bankruptly, Administrative Law and the federal court system. It is a testament to her knowledge and fairness she worked as a senior counsel for republican and democratic chairs of this committee. First hired by former chair henry hyde for her expertise in bankruptcy law, susan moved to the democratic staff under john conyers, where she expanded her port follow to include Administrative Law and ethics issues. When i was elected to serve as chair i asked susan to serve as the Committee Parliamentarian in addition to her other dueties. Including preparing Committee Reports and working across the aisle to develop procedures for hearings, markups and other activities. Regular viewers of this committee will recognize her as the person sitting behind me providing me wise counsel. Susan has been essential to the operations of this committee in which she has been involved in nearly every piece of Committee Business over the past year. Although she will be leaving the committee she will continue Public Service as she transitions to a position with the Administrative Office of the u. S. Courts. I wish her well and i thank her for all her years of service to this committee. I know recognize the Ranking Member for any comments he may have. Thank you. Im glad we start off again so many things we agree and this is one. As you mentioned a minute ago, the two of our faces are on this screens of america a great deal, the greatest part about it, susan being behind us to soften the blow and to make sure that i behave. Sometimes shell disagree and make you and i Work Together but shes been amazing to work with. Sometimes people dont know they know our faces and these folks behind us on both sides are amazing. The staffs of democratic and republican members have to put up with us, which is amazing to start with, but in a Committee Role like this, susan, you have been a friend, you have been you are probably the one hear the name most often, john, susan called, was i in trouble and she said no. But susan, youre going to be missed and it will be hard to turn around and not see you here but i am so happy for you. The beneficiary is what you have done for the committee and what the Administrative Office of the courts is going to do. Theyre gaining, were losing and we acknowledge that. With that i yield back to the chairman. I thank the gentleman. [ applause ] i thank the gentleman for his comments. I will recognize myself for an opening statement. Todays hearing furthers our committees longstanding commitment to conduct meaningful oversight of state and federal Law Enforcement, as initiated by former chairman good last and his establishment of the bipartisan policing strategies working group. Together we have had productive conversations about improving relations between Law Enforcement officers and the communities they serve. Today we continue that important discussion. Without question, the vast majority of Law Enforcement office serve under difficult conditions, risking and sometimes losing their lives to protect us. There have been a disturbing number of incidents of force used by police against civilians, many of whom were unarmed, most people of color, and many of resulted in tragic death that have put strain on the relationships between Law Enforcement and their local communities. For example, in july 17, 2014, five new York City PoliceDepartment Officers attempted to arrest eric garner, a 42yearold father of six, for allegedly selling loose cigarettes by tackling him to the ground and placing him in an illegal chokehold. He repeatedly told the officers i cant breathe. The officers ignored his pleas 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 gen carr and i say the Justice System failed you, your son and your entire family. Shockingly the officer responsible for placing mr. Garner in a departmentally banned chokehold remained on the force for five years before being finally fired this past august. On september 9th, 2015, james blake, an africanamerican, professional tennis player, was standing outside the Grand Hyatt Hotel in midtown manhattan when officer james strastore for no reason charged him, wrestled him to the ground and placed him in handcuffs. New yorks Complaint Review board reviews complaints of policemans conduct determined that he used Excessive Force and recommended the officer be punished with 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. Too often the discourse of Police Misconduct descends into a false dichotomy of us versus them. Black lives versus blue lives versus black lives. This is a false and dangerous dichotomy. The United States stands as the worlds greatest experiment in selfgovernment. Legitimacy and authority of our nations government rest upon the consent of its people, we the people. This prince. Applies to Law Enforcement which has been given the authority to use deadly force under color of law. There can be no doubt, unfortunately, that communities of color perceive Law Enforcement as a threat to their every day freedoms. These perceptions go back decades. Predating both the 1994 los angeles riots and the 1965 watts riots both of which were sparked by a lack of accountability for incidents of Police Brutality. These perceptions are reality for africanamericans. According to the center for policing equity, africanamericans are two to four times more likely than white americans to have force used against them. Far too long, however, police were just and humane treatment sisthave fallen on de ears. Have often been ignored or not believed. Mr. Garners killing and the series of other examples of Police Misconduct against africanamericans, many of which were caught on video make it unmistakably clear that claims of Police Misconduct are all too often real. To list just a few, august 5th, 2014, John Crawford was shot and killed by a Police Officer in a Walmart Store in beaver creek, ohio, for holding a toy bb gun. On august 9th, 2014, Michael Brown who was unarmed was shot and killed by police in ferguson, missouri. November 22nd, 2014, 12yearold tamir rice, unarmed, was shot and killed by police in cleveland, ohio. On april 2ed, 2015, eric harris who was unarmed was shot and killed by police in tulsa, oklahoma. On april 4th, 2015, walter scott who was unarmed was shot and killed by police in north charleston, south carolina. April 19th, 2015, freddie gray who was unarmed died in Police Custody in baltimore, married. On july 6th, 2016, Samuel Dubose unarmed was shot and killed by police in cincinnati, ohio. The frequency of these killings and 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 matter. Our criminal Justice System including our Police Departments cannot function without africanamericans knowing that their lives matter equally and that system works to protect them just as it does every other citizen. We must also be able to put ourselves in the shoes of our Law Enforcement officers. We 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 thats serving in such a dangerous job can take on individual Law Enforcement officers and their families. It is also critical we not paint Law Enforcement with a broad brush. 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 them. Research shows that a small percentage of repeat offenders are responsible for the majority of incidents of misconduct. Todays hearing presents a unique opportunity for us to hear from some of the individuals of families affected by Police Misconduct. So i want to personally thank miss carr for speaking at this hearing on behalf of her son and mr. Blake for sharing his personal story with us. Today presents an opportunity for us to explore Bipartisan Solutions to make policing a safer more fulfilling job for Law Enforcement officers by restoring the trust and goodwill between the police and the communities they serve. We can reexamine the reforms advanced by president obamas task force on 21st Century Policing and determine what further solutions are warranted. For example, we should examine whether the incentives created by the doctrine of qualified immunity remain useful in todays environment and consider legislative proposals to end racial profile and restore trust between Law Enforcement and the community. And we should explore ways to strengthen Data Collection and use of force and racial profiling so that Police Departments can measure the practices they manage. Most important, we can all agree that too many lives are put at risk and have been lost in Police Citizen encounters and it is incumbent upon each of us to Work Together as fellow americans to solve this problem. I thank all of our witnesses for appearing and i look forward to their testimony. I now recognize the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee the gentleman from georgia, mr. Collins for his opening statement. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate that. Before i get started i would like to add to the record a letter from the Detectives Endowment Association of new york and also the National Association of Police Organizations a letter for the record. Without objection. Thank you. I appreciate the chairmans, you know, opening and i think you covered great deal of stuff. For me and i have a lot of notes here, one of the things to start out this, is it is very important that Excessive Force used ought to be punished. It should not be thought about, but punished and put before a proper due process procedure and acted on quickly. It should not be if its in a Minority Community in particular or any other community it needs to be looked at, processed and done so in a fair way to all involved so there is justice, there is so people do trust. The one thing i want to focus on and the chairman did a good job i think because it is very fair that theres a lot of things that have happened in communities that raise a lot of concerns. Even on this committee we have a job to look over and say how do we fix this. Theres officers on this committee and i serve with, and one of those who has put on the uniform and been out there. I come at it a different position. I think this is why we have this hearing today. Because im going to take it from a perspective that i dont think anybody wants to see justice go unserved. And i think the interesting perspective here is my perspective is that there is no one that wants the bad actors out of Law Enforcement more than Law Enforcement itself. Im the son of a Georgia State trooper. I made the joke before that i thought the law and the law won every time. Okay. 62, 250 pounds in a blue and gray uniform with a. 357 i was a scrawny kid from gainesville but daddy loved us and he was in georgia and understood that. Im the kid that would watch dad go out 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 an 8, 9yearold kid . Thats my daddy. Thats the man that to this day 80 years old a big teddy bear now, but this is the man that i admired to this day i am who i am because of him. What would happen, my dad was a strong man and is a strong man, and one of the interesting things i always found was is when something would go wrong with an officer and we had an officer in georgia who was a Georgia State trooper i knew personally, im tempted to call it a mistake, im not, it was a crime. Had a sexual encounter with someone in his custody and he was punished for it. More amazing my dads reaction. My dad came home and didnt he was upset and 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 came home and didnt talk about it. Mad as he could be about somebody tarnishing the badge and the uniform he wore. There is no one i believe honestly in this country who wants bad actors who do bad things out of the police force more than the police themselves and if someone who understand this and watched my father live it every day when he was painted with that broad brush the chairman spoke of im glad were not going to use when he was painted because of others, it affects everybody. And a high risk many times low reward area. Some of the things i would love to see us talk about the thin blue line denotes a separation from order and chaos should always be there. No one in our country should not look at our police force and know this is what keeps us all safe no matter who we are or what our beliefs or what the color of our skin. It is what keeps us different than the rest of the world. A safe, Orderly Police force that carries out our laws faithfully and executes them to the best of their ability. But too often i served on that Police Working group and ive been all over the country in georgia and other places and we have problems in our police force because theres too many folks who are bad actors who get pushed from one job to another. Lets talk honestly. Bad actors cant make it at one and go to another police force, do you know him, yeah, got another job. One police chief is saying thank god, the other i dont know what i got into. You know why because of pay, benefits, i live in a Rural Community in north georgia. My north georgia kids live in my smaller counties are going to go to work with the Sheriffs Department but theyre making an amount that they can go 40 miles down the road and double their salary. Or they cant make it in one of those they can go somewhere else and get another job no matter what their record is. As we come to this hearing today, it does need to be a hearing of what ill call the terrible acts. We need to acknowledge them and we need to admit that Justice Needs to be served. Theres nothing about this hearing that all should think the 98 or 99 whatever percent of those men and women who wake up every day with only one responsibility, taking care of their communities, and taking care of the lives they have, and they want nothing more than these bad actors to go away so they can do their job an when they lay their head down at night they know theyve done their best, want to be respected because they have done their job and not because somebody else has acted badly. When that happens then our Law Enforcement understand we respect them, we love them and were going to help them where they need help. And for eve