WASHINGTON – Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.) spoke at a Senate Judiciary hearing today about the importance of law enforcement officer safety where he touted legislation delivered by Congress and the Biden White House to fund police departments and protect officers’ physical and mental health.
Participating in the hearing were Chief of Constitutional Policing and Reform for the Chicago Police Department Angel Novalez; Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department Michael Harrison; Dwight Henninger, Chief of the Vail, Colorado Police Department; Cedar Falls Public Safety Officer Zachary Allen Anderson; Michael Bouchard, Sheriff of Oakland County, Michigan; and President and Executive Director of the National Fallen Officer Foundation Sgt. Demetrick “Tre” Pennie.
“Whether it’s working together to try and keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of those who would do harm to law enforcement, making sure that we’ve got bulletproof vests for agencies, large and small, that are appropriately fitting [and] state of the art… or investing in mental health, in resources, and training, and support to make sure that officers have the resources they need to continue to serve, or to go on and lead productive lives,” said Senator Coons at the hearing. “There’s a solemn obligation on us not to turn this into a show, but to be serious and deliberate about the work that we do with you.”
In his remarks, Senator Coons highlighted the American Rescue Plan’s $10 billion investment in policing and other public safety efforts. Senator Coons also discussed President Biden’s recently announced Safer America Plan, which would invest $37 billion in law enforcement and crime prevention, including by helping communities hire and train 100,000 additional police officers.
In addition to being a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Senator Coons is co-Chair of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus.
WATCH HERE
Sen. Chris Coons: Thank you, Chairman Durbin, thank you Ranking Member Grassley. Thank you for holding this valuable and this critical hearing, and I want to thank each of our witnesses today who have not just testified, but who have demonstrated, through your lifetime of service and through the actions you’ve taken, what Commissioner Harrison said in his opening: that policing is a calling, and that having the courage and determination to stand up and serve and to continue serving – Officer Anderson, Chief Novalez – after witnessing or being directly harmed in the line of duty, after having the opportunity to understand just how challenging this calling is; I just wanted to open by expressing my gratitude to each one of you individually, and to the men and women you represent with whom you serve, and to the families and fellow officers who are here.
I know that it is more difficult than I can comprehend, to come and to testify about what was a horrific, life-altering day in Cedar Falls, in the line of duty; to see Patrol Sergeant Smith killed and to have to then talk with his widow and his family, to have been wounded yourself, Chief Novalez. And then to have with us Ella’s mother, Elizabeth, and to continue serving and leading an agency that looks to you for leadership in a difficult and dangerous time.
I had the honor to serve as the County Executive in New Castle County, Delaware. We had 380 sworn officers during most of my time there, and I will never forget one of the hardest days of my life in this body was when Joe Szczerba, someone known personally to me, an 18-year veteran of our force, a talented and warm and – literally one of the best – was killed in the line of duty, responding to a disorderly subject in Penn Acres, and doing what Lieutenant Szczerba – He was a sergeant but was promoted posthumously – what he always did was to, you know, lean in, take matters into his own hands, help solve and track down. He was stabbed in the neck and killed by someone who’s now serving life, but I will never forget that funeral, and his widow Kathy, and what she said. She, at the very end, there were 5,000 people there – law enforcement from all over our nation and thousands of Delawareans – and she looked every one of us in the eye and said, “Do not cry for me. Other women, other people will have decades of marriage to an ordinary person. I had a few brief years with an exceptional man, with a hero.” And you couldn’t hear a pin drop in that room, and our community, Salesianum School – where Lieutenant Szczerba attended – the Newcastle County Police Department, and so many others have every year renewed his memory and continued to invest in the training and the support and the needs of the men and women of law enforcement in Delaware.
I could continue. I went to the funeral for Patrolman Chad Spicer and have had the blessing of knowing his mother and his daughter; Corporal Stephen Ballard, whose widow, Louise Cummings, continues to lead law enforcement efforts in Delaware to respect our state police. Her husband was an exceptional patrolman killed in the line of duty; Corporal Keith Heacook from Del Mar, whose funeral early this year, excuse me, last year, was a simply riveting moment. You have brought to this hearing today the sort of quiet dignity and determination that is so important as we try to come together to address this issue as a nation.
I will tell you that whether it’s working together to try and keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of those who would do harm to law enforcement, making sure that we’ve got bulletproof vests for agencies, large and small, that are appropriately fitting, state of the art; something I’ve worked hard over 12 years with Senator Leahy to make sure we sustain the Bulletproof Vest Partnership, or investing in mental health, in resources, and training, and support to make sure that officers have the resources they need to continue to serve, or to go on and lead productive lives. There’s a solemn obligation on us not to turn this into a show, but to be serious and deliberate about the work that we do with you. I am a Delawarean. I succeeded, on this committee and in the Senate, our president, and I know him personally, and I know that he doesn’t just say thank you for your service. He doesn’t just say that he supports law enforcement. To the debate back and forth about defunding the police, he has put into action – in his budgets and with his priorities – making America safer. The American Rescue Plan delivered over $10 billion for state and local hiring for law enforcement, and the Safer America Plan, just announced, highlights that in his FY23 budget, there’s $37 billion for law enforcement. That includes the funding to hire 100,000 more officers. The agency I was fortunate to have some responsibility for benefited directly from COPS grants many years ago. I hope we will, on a bipartisan basis, provide these resources to you.
I know I’m running short on time, so let me ask two questions, if I could, of Chief Henninger in particular if I might. I work closely with IACP, providing critical advice – PERF and IACP – in leadership and management decisions I had to make as county executive – I’m grateful for the IACP. I’m leading, along with Ranking Member Grassley, a bill that would direct the DOJ to propose programs to better address PTSD and law enforcement. Senator Blunt and I co-lead the law enforcement caucus here in the Senate, and we had an event about this to try and better understand PTSD resources. My impression is that unlike the military – which is also working to address critical issues in terms of soldier suicide –which has a unitary chain of command, we have 18,000 agencies. We have disaggregated resources at the federal, state, and local level. How can we best address the lack of resources, training, and support? Are there models for mental health and law enforcement that you would urge us to invest in?
Chief Dwight Henninger: Thank you, Senator. The question is very broad, and there are things – there’s a lot that needs to be done to solve the mental health-related crisis issues around policing. It goes to the way that officers are treated on a regular basis in the street, and we feel like the fact that we’ve pulled in the military and we’ve pulled in the experts to try to identify the best practices is really moving forward with that, but the mental health check-ins for our officers on a regular basis is really important, and funding that is a difficult thing, as you would know. From a local level, that’s a very expensive proposition, so we feel that those are very important things to the wellness of our officers.
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