[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 126 (Tuesday, August 1, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S11123]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                         GOOD OL' BOYS' ROUNDUP

 Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I would like to take a few moments 
to comment on the so-called Good ol' Boys' Roundup that was recently 
the subject of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. During that 
hearing, I and other committee members heard testimony about 
reprehensible acts of racism that took place at the roundup.
  In my view, incidents like the roundup paint all law enforcement 
officials--not just the ATF and the FBI--with the coarse brush of 
racism and discrimination. I do remain confident that the attitudes and 
biases displayed at the roundup are not, in fact, representative of the 
views of law enforcement officials generally. But incidents like the 
roundup cannot help but erode citizens' confidence in what the 14th 
amendment calls the equal protection of the laws.
  When citizens have occasion to wonder whether the law is being 
enforced evenhandedly, they sometimes cannot help but look with 
suspicion upon the actions of the officers involved in a particular 
case. As a result, trials in criminal cases often focus more on the 
actions of the police than on those of the defendant. Adhering to the 
maximum that the best defense is a good offense, defense attorneys in 
criminal cases, in effect, put the police on trial, just as the 
prosecutor puts the defendant on trial. The upshot, then, is that 
racist events like the roundup erode the effectiveness not only of the 
agencies whose officers were involved, but also of police departments 
across the country.
  Mr. President, we must, therefore, redouble our efforts to ensure 
that racism is not present in the law enforcement community. Officers 
who engage in racist activities should be severely disciplined. 
Moreover, officers who do not themselves take part in racist activities 
must understand that they cannot passively stand by while others engage 
into racist behavior, without regard to whether they are on or off 
duty. The no-tolerance policy for racism must extend from the highest 
to the lowest ranks of our law enforcement community. Only by this kind 
of vigilance, Mr. President, can we ensure that the promise of the 14th 
amendment is kept.


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