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 FallenOfficers 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