WILMINGTON, Del. – Chairing a rare field hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary in Wilmington on Monday, Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) focused on the success Delaware’s local law enforcement agencies have had with state and federal agencies in sharing intelligence to effectively improve policing and make our streets safer.
“Being a small state, Delaware’s police face unique opportunities and challenges,” Senator Coons said in his opening statement. “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.”
Joined at the hearing by Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the Committee heard testimony from Dover Police Chief James Hosfelt, Delaware State Police Superintendent Robert Coupe, FBI Special Agent in Charge for its Baltimore Division Richard McFeely, Department of Justice Bureau ofJustice Assistance Principal Deputy Director James Burch, and Delaware Criminal Justice Council Executive Director Drewry Fennell.
“Interagency coordination and information sharing is more important than ever,” Chairman Leahy said. “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 sharingamong 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.”
Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the FBI and local law enforcement agencies have made collaboration a priority. In the First State, the center of that information-sharing effort is the Delaware Information Analysis Center(DIAC), which collects and distributes relevant information about threats and hazards. Led by the Delaware State Police and staffed by four civilian employees and two analysts from the Delaware National Guard, DIAC works with the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Delaware National Guard, Coast Guard, Dover Air Force Base, the U.S. Attorneys Office, and the Department of Homeland Security. Similar fusion centers were established nationwide to avoid the isolation of critical data.
The hearing also explored five specific federal grant programs thatassist Delaware, including:
- The Bulletproof Vest Program, which provides direct funding for bulletproof vests for law enforcement officers. In 2010, the BVP provided local police departments with $120,000, enough for 502 vests. In 2009, the BVP provided $94,000, enough for 588 vests.
- The Justice Assistance Grant Program, which provides states, tribes and local governments with critical funding needed to support a range of program areas including law enforcement, prosecution and court, prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, planning, evaluation, and technology improvement, and crime victim and witness initiatives. The State of Delaware has been allocated $1,296,638 for FY2011, with another $772,296 allocated to Delaware counties and cities.
- 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. Delaware plans to use JRI to implement head-count reductions at prisons while keeping a firm pulse on how those reductions are impacting public safety. In FY10, $9,800,000 in JRI money was distributed to Delaware partners who are overseeing JRI programs, such as the Vera Institute and the Council of State Governments.
- The Justice Information Sharing Program, which supports grants designed to promote innovative and cost-effective implementation of state, local and tribal justice information systems. It supports Delaware’s Regional Information Sharing System. In 2010, the MAGLOCLEN Regional Information Sharing System received $6,600,000. In 2009, that RISS received $5,900,000.
- The Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting Initiative is working to establish a national capacity for gathering, documenting, processing, analyzing, and sharing suspicious activity reporting. The Initiative provides technical assistance to fusion centers in Delaware.
- The Community Oriented Policing Services program, which funds policing initiatives in communities and schools, as well as the direct hiring of officers. To date, a combined 41 Delaware law enforcement agencies have received $42.8 million in COPS grants, including funding for 487 police officers and sheriffs.
“I wanted to hold this hearing here in Delaware because our state has a strong history working together with its federal partners to deliver safer streets for our citizens,” Senator Coons said. “As the insightful panel of witnesses showed today, we have a lot to be proud of.”
Delaware is a national leader in criminal justice collaboration with its federal partners, but there still exist untapped opportunities for further growth.
“Delaware is bordered by large metropolitan areas from other states and, as a result, it often finds itself victim to crime with out-of-state roots,” Senator Coons said. “Drug crime, in particular, has a disproportionate impact on our citizens. I look forward to working with our federal partners to seek Delaware’s inclusion in the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area program, which would bring our state additional resources to form taskforces to fight the pernicious effects of interstate drug trafficking.”
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