The Committee Also heard testimony about the dangers of antiPolice Rhetoric and civilian access to assault weapons the committee will come to order starting a couple minutes early because we have a vote scheduled early and to try to accommodate the members the story of a young lady a hero to me and many from the Chicago Police department. The embodiment of selflessness she loved people, she loved her family, she loved animals particularly stray dogs. She was known for picking them up and her squad car and getting them off to safety. With the communities that they served. Last year sadly she made the ultimate sacrifice in her line of duty. She was shot and killed while making a traffic stop with her partners. She was 29yearsold. The gun that was used to kill her and seriously injure was purchased and indiana. I would like to share a brief video to help tell her story and the threats that Law Enforcement officers save. Let me show the video. The night of july 1st there was a mass shooting on a day that had already seen a child shot on the south side. This one left a one monthold in critical condition. The officer played a key role in saving the childs life rushing the bd to the hospital. Saturday night, french was killed in an ambush attack. Smuggled through an alltoofamiliar pipeline. Indiana and illinois. Thousand Police Officers. Thousands wrapped around the perimeter. The archbishop described the connectedness to the community that she served and the people she worked with. Two Police Officers both in their 20s shot in the line of duty while responding to a domestic dispute. A Police Officer shot and killed in the line of duty. The Police Officer has been shot. Shot during a traffic stop and lifethreatening injuries. It can end any minute. You go to work and make a traffic stop it can be over in a heartbeat. Im not reporting on a fistfight that keeps happening in and around the community. I am reporting on double and triple shootings. They are more dangerous to the drugs. Its too easy for people to use straw purchasers and i want to protect the citizens. I want to protect my Police Officer. My own son is a Police Officer and we can achieve both of these objectives without infringing on anyones rights. We need to change. We need to change a system. Parents are being shot. This needs to stop. The officer is remembered and beloved for her profound generosity and passion for service. My wife and i went down to the chapel to join in the memorial service. Weve never seen an outpouring of grief like we saw that day. We joined hundreds maybe thousands who were there. Her mother is with us today. I want to thank her personally for being herein for honoring the legacy of her wonderful daughter. [applause] officer french and their family remind us all of the sacrifice Law Enforcement officers make everything they put on the uniform. I met the officer the south side in a golf cart with his dad and had a very positive spirit and determination to do Everything Possible for the rest of his life. With every disturbance call and Domestic Violence incident. Whether it is and he fell on the left were the donald trump incident on the right, no political grievance can ever justify attacking Police Officers and we should honor the service and sacrifice not just with words but with action. In may the committee reported five bipartisan bills to increase federal support for the officer hiring the retention and for the support of those of trauma. In the omnibus spending bill and more than 10 billion, 10 billion from the American Rescue plan has been dedicated to the Community Policing and over 300 communities. President biden has called for more for further funding. There are some on the other side who falsely accused democrats of wanting to defend the police. The record is clear. We are funding the police and we should. But our work cannot end there. We cannot ignore the role. Our nation is awash in guns estimating over 400 million firearms in the nation. Some of them from straw purchase handguns to assault weapons can pierce the vests that are supposed to protect the Law Enforcement at least one witness today has a personal experience of that. From 2012 to 2021, 456 Law Enforcement officers across america were killed in gun attacks during the same period, 12 Police Officers were fatally shot in canada. Four were fatally shot in the United Kingdom and three were fatally shot in australia. 456 in america. Twelve in canada, for in the United Kingdom and three in australia. Guns are the second leading cause of the office of the line of duty deaths in america after covid19. Just last year in illinois we lost the Police Sergeant wayne county Deputy Sheriff and tyler timmons, champagne Police Officer christopher overwhelm and officer french to gun attacks. My heart goes out to each of their families for their losses. We take an important step forward with last months passage of the bipartisan saver communities act that includes finally a provision and i joined others inviting for for years, cracking down on straw purchases. Today im announcing a new bill which would provide funding to the Multijurisdictional Task forces that investigate and disrupt the straw purchasing and illegal trafficking with the gracious permission of the family the bill will be named after officer french. We must do more than prevent officers being shot. Last month the Chicago Police officer shot in the head while making a traffic stop by the grace of god she survived. And reflecting said the situation demonstrates how quickly and officers day can turn into something catastrophic. Shes right. We have to do more to protect our Law Enforcement officers from the threats they face and now i will turn to my friend senator grassley for opening remarks. First, let me thank you to charmander been for responding to my request to hold the hearing on this issue of danger to Law Enforcement officers. I appreciate it very much. The attack on Police Officers are rising across the country. We see news stories on a regular basis about ambush attacks and murder of 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 the 9 11 attacks. Thats a 59 increase over the previous year. 133 officers were shot in the ambushed style attacks at an increase of 123 over the previous year. The most recent data shows a 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 i thank senator durbin for bringing attention to this part of crime in the United States that doesnt get the attention it should. So i recognized one of my guests here is officer zach anderson, deputy in Grundy County last year when tim smith of the iowa state patrol was murdered in an ambush. I had previously spoken in honor of Sergeant Smiths memory on the senate floor. It breaks everybodys heart to hear stories like this come out. Its a tragedy for the officer that sacrificed his or her life and a tragedy for families and friends left behind. A tragedy for all of us that rely on brave men and women to keep us safe. It goes handinhand with the rising attack on police and we see more criminals resisting. And the hostility towards the people in uniform. This is a growing crisis and theres much Congress Needs to do to help address it. Senator durbin talked about a bill hes put. One of the challenges and legislation that im introducing it collects basic data on attacks against police that result in serious injury or death. We dont have much data on contributing factors. Also 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 through data act. This bill will help expand our understanding of the tax to better identify motives and trends and any coordinated efforts to target those who put on the badge to keep the country safe. I work with Police Groups including major county Sheriffs Associations, the national natil association of Police Officers to identify gaps in the reporting. Senators lujan, tillis and cassidy are the 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, tillis have sponsored those bills. A main cause of the violence against police is the demonization and 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 wife of the late Sergeant Smith that ive already spoken about to send us a letter that id like to introduce into the record. She tells us about what a wonderful and selfserving man Sergeant Smith was good over the past six to eight years, he told her that officers have been treated with more hostility. She writes that during the riots, quote, my husband stood with his Tactical Team protecting the state capital in iowa and had a frozen water fror bottles and rocks thrown at them. Protesters insulted them three hours at a time. I held a roundtable a couple of 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 are not enough Police Officers to go around and 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 a person and 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 us if we dont protect them and if we dont have enough officers we can only expect to see other Violent Crimes get worse. Cultures diminishing respect and the lack of protection to continue down this dark path permitting 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 hearing will help to examine all aspects of the crisis for police and how we can help protect them. Before i close i would like to introduce into the committee a letter from the national nationl association of Police Organizations and 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 think all of the witnesses for testifying. We will certainly include the e end of the others that you referenced. We are joined today by the distinguished panel. We will introduce you to swear that man and each witness will have five minutes for an Opening Statement. Senators can follow up with their own five minutes of questioning. I will introduce the witnesses and then turned to senator grassley for introductions before the administration. From the Chicago Police department serving for 21 years including as the operational in the 25th district Commanding Officer of the neighborhood policing initiative, deputy chief community police. A graduate where hes currently pursuing a masters degree in Public Safety from xavier university. Thank you for your service in the city for being here today. Michael harrison is a commissioner of the baltimore Police Department. A position hes held since 2019. Current president of the executive Research Forum. Before serving in baltimore he served in new orleans and the Police Department for nearly three decades rising through the ranks and becoming the superintendent for over four years. He has a masters of criminal justice from Loyola University new orleans and is a graduate of Northwestern University school of police staff and command. Commissioner, thank you for your service and thanks for being here today. Dwight has served as the chief of the colorado Police Department since 2002 and current president of the International Association of International Association of chiefs of police. Member of the executive committee for eight years. 2010 was congressionally appointed to serve on the local state tribal Preparedness Task force has a masters degree from the university of california irvine and san diego. Thank you for your service and joining us today. I have two witnesses to introduce, Zachary Anderson works for the cedar falls Public Safety office. He was a deputy in the county Sheriffs Office in april of 2021 and he was there when the iowa state patrol sergeant was murdered in an ambush attack that also happens he attends the same church i do in cedar falls iowa. Officer anderson has worked in Law Enforcement since 2017. We see the certification of the extraordinary personal action from the American Red Cross for using lifesaving skills in medical emergencies and before that he worked helping juveniles at the el dorado training school. We thank him for his service and for testifying today. My next introduction is sheriff Mike Broussard runs one of the largest sheriff offices in america in the Oakland County michigan and served since 1999 and has a total of 35 years of Law Enforcement. And the Government Affairs at the major county sheriffs of America Association where he has also served as president. He was also appointed to president Donald Trumps commission on Law Enforcement and the administration of Justice Working Group in 2020. Hes received so many honors and awards that i can only name a few. He was named in 2022 by Michigan Sheriffs Association and 2016 by the national Sheriffs Association. He earned a silver star for bravery from the American Police hall of fame and much more. Sheriff, thank you for appearing to testify today. I believe the sender is going to introduce the next witness. The antiPolice Rhetoric in the summer of 2022 the Progressive Prosecutor Movement and lockdowns and the lack of prosecution and bold and criminals across the board. Its been especially deadly when it comes to uniform Law Enforcement officers. As of june of 2022 according to the fraternal order of police, theres already been 178 Law Enforcement officers shot in the line of duty which is a 19 increase from 2021. I would ask unanimous consent to introduce the update that indicates the figures at the end of my introduction. As we can see this hearing is long overdue. Today im pleased to introduce a fellow texan who is a surgeon but also a doctor get from texas tech university. But more to the point experienced a personal tragedy that will shape the trajectory of his life when his cousin was shot a