118 SRES 218 IS: Expressing support for the law enforcement officers of the United States. U.S. Senate 2023-05-18 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

III118th CONGRESS1st SessionS. RES. 218IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATESMay 18, 2023Mr. Vance (for himself and Mr. Cassidy) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the JudiciaryRESOLUTIONExpressing support for the law enforcement officers of the United States.

Whereas more than 800,000 law enforcement officers in the United States risk their lives daily to serve and protect their communities;Whereas there are more than 23,000 fallen law enforcement officers honored on the walls of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, dating back to 1786, when the first law enforcement officer in the United States died in the line of duty;Whereas, during the 2 years preceding the date of adoption of this resolution, more than 800 law enforcement officers died in the United States in the line of duty, the highest number of such deaths over a 2-year period in the history of the United States;Whereas some politicians and interest groups have responded to the risks faced by law enforcement officers with calls to defund or even abolish law enforcement agencies across the United States;Whereas defunding law enforcement agencies or otherwise demoralizing law enforcement officers will make it more difficult for officers to intervene in dangerous situations and high-risk neighborhoods;Whereas a law enforcement officer will typically encounter between 400 and 600 traumatic events during the career of the officer, compared with 3 or 4 traumatic events encountered by the average citizen;Whereas the unusually high number of traumatic events experienced by law enforcement officers has contributed to a 54 percent higher suicide rate among officers than among individuals in other jobs;Whereas the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the Department of Justice has confirmed that there is no statistically significant difference between the rates at which major racial and ethnic groups are stopped in police-initiated interactions;Whereas the innovative and dedicated efforts of law enforcement officers have successfully brought down crime rates from historic highs;Whereas the defund and defame the police movement that began in 2020 has—(1)coincided with a dramatic rise in homicides and other violent crimes in cities and towns across the United States; and(2)caused the retention and recruitment of sworn law enforcement officers to drop to a dangerously low level, with current numbers showing fewer law enforcement officers per resident than at any other time during the 25-year period preceding the date of adoption of this resolution;Whereas, in 2020—(1)60,105 law enforcement officers were assaulted by criminals, resulting in 18,633 injuries; and(2) the number of arrests made by law enforcement officers throughout the United States dropped to 7,630,000, a 24 percent reduction from 2019 and the fewest number of such arrests in 25 years; Whereas 72 percent of law enforcement officers surveyed are less willing to stop and question suspicious individuals than they were before 2020;Whereas the rhetoric associated with the defund and defame the police movement has created an increasingly dangerous environment for law enforcement officers in which, in 2022 alone, 331 officers were shot, 62 of whom were shot fatally; andWhereas supporting law enforcement officers with the equipment, training, and funding needed to protect communities in the United States from criminal violence has long received overwhelming public support from across the political spectrum: Now, therefore, be it

That the Senate—(1)highly respects and values the law enforcement officers of the United States and greatly appreciates all that those officers do to protect and serve their communities;(2)remembers and honors law enforcement officers who have experienced a death or injury in the line of duty and the families of those officers;(3)calls for increased measures to be taken to maximize the safety and well-being of law enforcement officers, including improvements relating to the retention and recruitment of officers, improved training and equipment for officers, tougher penalties for assaulting or killing an officer, and increased mental health resources for officers;(4)strongly condemns the misguided and disastrous movement to defund and defame the police; and(5)calls on all levels of government to ensure that law enforcement officers receive the support and resources needed to keep all communities in the United States safe.