WILMINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) will chair a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on Monday, June 20th in Wilmington. The hearing will study information-sharing among federal and local law enforcement agencies and examine Delaware’s success in the field.  Senator Coons will be joined by U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who will travel from Washington to participate.  Testifying before the panel will be witnesses from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, Delaware State Police and Dover Police Department.

The hearing, titled “Building Safer Communities: the Importance of Effective Federal-Local Collaboration in Law Enforcement,” will examine how information sharing has evolved and the role it will play in the future of reducing and preventing crime. It will also look at the federal programs with which Delaware law enforcement has worked successfully.

“As a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I’ve had the opportunity to see firsthand the evolution of information sharing and the key role it plays in protecting our citizens,” Senator Coons said.  “Our state is a model for how local, state and federal law enforcement can and should work together to improve the safety of American communities, which is why Senator Leahy and I wanted to hold this hearing in Delaware.”

WHAT:       Hearing of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary: “Building Safer Communities: the Importance of Effective Federal-Local Collaboration in Law Enforcement”

WHEN:       Monday, June 20, 2011 at 11 a.m.

WHERE:   Carvel State Office Building, 820 North French Street, 2nd Floor Auditorium, Wilmington, DE

WHO:    Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee

                     Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), Member of Senate Judiciary Committee

                     Senator Coons will preside over this hearing.

  Witnesses:-Special Agent in Charge Richard McFeely, Baltimore Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation

                      -James Burch, Principal Deputy Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice  

                      Programs, U.S. Department of Justice

                    - Colonel Robert Coupe, Superintendent, Delaware State Police

                    - James Hosfelt, Chief, Dover Police  Department

###