WILMINGTON — Senator Coons chaired a field hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Carvel State Building today, focusing on collaboration between federal, state, and local law enforcement. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, information-sharing between federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies has been increasing to meet our new security challenges and to help make local communities safer from crime. The hearing explored both federal funding for state and local law enforcement as well as information-sharing and operational coordination.
Testifying before the committee were five witnesses representing all three levels of law enforcement: Richard McFeely, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Baltimore Division; James Burch, Principle Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance; Col. Robert Coupe, Superintendent of the Delaware State Police; James Hosfelt, Chief of the Dover Police Department; and Drewry Fennell, Executive Director of the Delaware Criminal Justice Council.
Chris took the opportunity to question them about the challenges to coordination and how best law enforcement agencies can overcome obstacles and work more closely to share information, resources, and best practices. In his opening statement, Chris spoke about why Delaware was a logical choice of location to hold this hearing, saying:
“Being a small state, Delaware’s police face unique opportunities and challenges. Delaware’s size lends itself naturally to a closely-knit, adaptable law enforcement community. At the same time, many of our police departments are small and, as a result, lack the resources to develop specialized techniques or units that might be needed to deal with organized crime or other relatively rare crimes that have serious consequences. Meeting these challenges requires collaboration with our federal partners.”
Over the past decade, the FBI and local law enforcement agencies have made it a priority to work closely. In Delaware, the center of federal-state-local information-sharing is the Delaware Information Analysis Center (DIAC), which is led by the State Police and is staffed with four civilian employees and two analysts from the Delaware National Guard. At DIAC, information about threats and potential hazards are collected and distributed, and DIAC closely coordinates local agencies activities with those of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, FBI, ATF, ICE, Delaware National Guard, Coast Guard, Dover Air Force Base, U.S. Attorney’s Office, and Department of Homeland Security. It is just one of several similar centers operating nationwide to ensure that critical law enforcement data reaches those who need it.
Specifically, the hearing explored five federal grant programs that assist law enforcement in Delaware, including: the Bulletproof Vest Program, which provides direct funding for bulletproof vests for law enforcement officers; the Justice Assistance Grant Program, which provides states, tribes and local governments with critical funding to support a range of program areas including prevention and education, drug treatment and enforcement, and crime victim and witness initiatives; the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which aims to reduce the cost of corrections and related criminal justice spending and reinvest savings in strategies designed to increase public safety; the Justice Information Sharing Program, which supports grants designed to promote innovative and cost-effective implementation of state, local and tribal justice information systems; and the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative, which is working to establish a national capacity for gathering, documenting, processing, analyzing, and sharing suspicious activity reporting.
Joining Chris this morning was Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who attested to the importance of federal, state, and local law enforcement working closely together. He said:
“Interagency coordination and information sharing is more important than ever. We must continue to ensure that we are able to effectively piece together the information our government agencies – federal, state and local – collect on terrorist and criminal threats. Ensuring adequate information sharing among law enforcement has been one of my highest priorities as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and Senator Coons has become a partner in this effort. I was delighted when he approached me about holding this important hearing in Delaware, to hear from people on the front lines in this partnership about the challenges state and local law enforcement face today.”
To learn more about Chris’ work on the Senate Judiciary Committee, click here.