[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 27, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H626-H632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING OUR LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 6, 2015, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to take some time on the
floor of the United States Congress--the House of Representatives, to
be specific--to honor and recognize the service of our law enforcement
agencies across this great country.
You know, we have been dealing with the reactions from the tragic
death of Michael Brown last August. Almost continually, every week, we
hear of some tragic death, a shooting incident across this country. And
we all understand and realize that all loss of life is a tragedy, but
there has been an outbreak of violence across this great country that
is equally disturbing, resulting in the brutal assassination of two law
enforcement officers just before Christmas.
Mr. Speaker, I was a law enforcement officer for 33 years in King
County, which is a county in Seattle, Washington. I started when I was
21 years old in 1972. I worked in a police car, and I was a detective.
I worked the street undercover for a short time. I never knew when I
left home if I would see my family, when would be the next time that I
would see my wife, my children. When I told them good-bye for a day at
the office, I didn't know if I was coming back home and neither did
they. But every law enforcement officer across this great country lives
with that knowledge, and every family member lives with that fear.
I have missed holidays, birthdays, anniversaries. I would be called
out in the middle of the day or the middle of the night or on the
weekend. I remember one day missing my daughter's birthday. On
Christmas Eve, I remember driving around in the middle of the
[[Page H627]]
night patrolling, while others had their relatives parked in their
driveways; and they were in, sharing Christmas dinner and presents with
their family and friends.
But once a cop, always a cop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I have
been in Congress for 10 years, but I was a cop for 33 years.
A lot of people think ``cop'' is a derogatory remark, but it is
actually a badge of honor. I was the sheriff for the last 8 years of my
career. One thing I said when I left, if the members of the King County
Sheriff's Office, which are nearly 1,100--it is the 12th largest
sheriff's office in the country--said that Dave Reichert was a great
cop, that is what meant the world to me.
{time} 1745
If they said I was a good sheriff, that was icing on the cake, but I
just wanted to be known as a good cop working my district and my beat
and doing the job that I was trained to do and serving the public.
Police officers do what they do because they care. They go to work
every day because they want to save lives, not to take lives. They put
up with ridicule and harassment, assaults, and even the ultimate
sacrifice--death--always facing dangerous situations, putting their
lives between their communities--the public--and danger.
Sometimes, as I said, the ultimate sacrifice is made. During my
career, I lost a partner and a good friend who was shot and killed in
1982. In 1984, I lost another partner and a good friend who was stabbed
to death with a sword.
These men died serving and protecting their community, but they left
behind family. They left behind sons, daughters, spouses, orphaned
children, and widowed. The men and women who keep us safe find
themselves in life-and-death situations far too often. In many
instances, Mr. Speaker, taking down a bad guy means losing a good guy
too.
Life-and-death situations are never easy. I remember one instance
that I was working plainclothes and went in with a group of my team of
officers on a drug search warrant. I was the sergeant leading that
team.
My assignment was to go in the front door, turn to the right, and
make sure that the bathroom in that small apartment was secure. We went
in the front door. I kicked in the bathroom door, and I found a person
sitting on the toilet.
As he stood, he revealed that he had a rubber band around his bicep
and a heroin needle stuck in his arm. I could see that his eyes were
glazed over. I told him to raise his hands; instead of doing that, he
grabbed a gun.
Now, Mr. Speaker, I could have shot that man. In a split second, he
grabbed a gun, and my life was in danger, but I had a feeling I could
talk him out of that gun. I just had a feeling I could reason with this
man, even though he was high on heroin.
I didn't shoot, and I was able to talk him out of his gun. In fact,
he dropped it in the toilet. What would you do, Mr. Speaker, if you
were standing there with that decision? In an instant, you had to make
a decision: shoot or don't shoot.
Our men and women who wear uniforms every day have to make that
split-second decision. Now, they don't always make the right decision,
but more often than not, they do. The men and women in uniform across
this country are human beings, and they make mistakes, as we all do; we
need to understand that.
When the mistakes are made, police officers expect to have scrutiny
applied. They expect oversight, they expect to have the action they
took reviewed, reviewed, and reviewed, and they respect the rule of
law, the process of the review, the investigation, and the judicial
process that needs to take place.
As all Americans across this country, we need to recognize that
process too. Reacting to bad situations by disregarding the rule of law
only makes things worse in this Nation. It creates harm in our
communities, rather than harmony. Everyone must come together.
Communities and law enforcement should be partners, protecting our
families. Communities and law enforcement should be partners. Just as I
was a partner with my partners that I spoke about earlier, communities
should be our partner, law enforcement's partner.
What do good partners do? They trust each other. Communities must
trust their police department. The police department and the sheriff's
office must trust the community, work with one another, and depend on
one another.
I think, Mr. Speaker, if we do that, if we can stop for a moment,
listen to the facts, and respect the law that exists here in the United
States of America--the greatest country in the world--yeah, we are not
perfect, but we have the best system.
If we all come together and recognize we have the best system--and
where it needs to be changed, let's change it--but as the process goes
through, let's respect it. If we do that together, Mr. Speaker, we can
continue to live in the greatest country in this world.
I want to conclude my opening statements just by saying that I really
think it is important for us across this Nation to pause and remember
to thank our law enforcement officers.
Every time we see a cop, let's say thank you. It is just one of ways
that we can support them and show that support, but I think, even more
importantly, let's pray for them and pray for their families, but let's
also pray for the communities that they serve, that the communities see
the tough job they have to do and the sacrifices they make.
Pray for peace, understanding, cooperation, trust, and let's pray,
Mr. Speaker, that we have a partner in each other, a partner that we
can trust that will back us up. Law enforcement backing up the
community and the community backing up the police officers, that is
where I would like to see this go, Mr. Speaker.
We have some other Members here tonight who want to share their
comments about their community and their relationship with law
enforcement.
I yield to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Byrne).
Mr. BYRNE. I thank my colleague, the gentleman, and I thank you for
the time, but I thank you most of all for your service to the people of
your community and what you have done for them and your proxy for
hundreds of thousands of law enforcement officers that do that day in
and day out, and we take them for granted.
I am glad you brought up the subject of families because we sometimes
forget that these law enforcement officers have families. They have
husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, and friends.
Literally, when they go out every day, those people and their family
and their friends are not certain they will come back. How many of us,
when we go off to work, our family and friends think, ``Well, he may
not come back''? What a terrible thing that must be, how difficult that
is for the family.
My grandfather was a sheriff in Mobile County in Alabama in the
twenties and thirties. I wasn't alive during that point in time, but I
remember my father telling stories about that.
When his father would go out at night and they had to do things on
patrol or to go out and apprehend somebody who committed a crime and
how upset it would leave him as a child thinking: Where is my dad
going? Is he going to be okay? We take that for granted, but the
families don't take that for granted because they have to live with it
day in and day out.
We so often think of law enforcement officers in terms of how they
relate to a criminal. Well, oftentimes, the most important person or
persons they are relating with are victims.
They are the protectors--in some cases, the saviors--of victims,
people who are getting ready to be hurt by a criminal, and--but for a
law enforcement officer--they would be hurt and maybe even killed.
Those law enforcement officers rush into an inherently dangerous
situation to keep those people from harm and maybe even save them from
death. It may be a phone call that goes to 911 in the dead of night, a
woman screaming into the phone: My husband has a gun, and he is going
to use it against me.
A law enforcement officer is dispensed to that environment, not
knowing in that highly emotionally charged moment whether that gun is
going to be used on him or the person he has come to save.
Mr. Speaker, time and time again, law enforcement officers find a way
to
[[Page H628]]
defuse that situation. No one is hurt, the person that is about to
commit a crime is apprehended and charged with a crime less than
actually hurting somebody, but a person has been saved; a person has
been saved from harm or perhaps death.
If you have ever been in that moment and been someone who has been a
victim, when a law enforcement officer comes up and saves you in that
moment, you realize that but for those law enforcement officers who do
that day in and day out, we could all be victims of a horrible crime,
and we take that for granted.
My wife, Rebecca, and I were victims of a violent crime. We were
stopped one night by three young men who tried to rob us. They had a
knife and said they had a gun. My wife was pregnant. They took our
jewelry and then threw her to the ground which could have not only hurt
her, but hurt the baby.
Fortunately, some of the people involved with the main perpetrator
realized it was time to run, and as they did, we could scream out. As
we screamed out, neighbors called the police. They came very quickly.
I can tell you when you are in that moment and you feel that sense of
fear because people have weapons that they want to use against you and
they have already used physical violence against you, when that squad
car comes up and the man or men or women in uniform step out, you feel
safe.
When they step out of that squad car, they are not safe because they
have to go out. Their official duty is to try to apprehend that person
and do whatever it takes to protect the rest of us. We take that for
granted, and we should never, ever take that for granted.
Mr. Speaker, last year, over 100 law enforcement officers in the
United States lost their lives in the line of duty. So far in this
young year in the United States already, nine law enforcement officers
have lost their lives in the line of duty.
One of them was lost last night in my home county, Baldwin County,
Alabama, a police officer--a fine police officer--with the city of
Loxley, and we take that for granted. He got in his car at the
beginning of the day, kissed his wife, went to work, and didn't come
home.
Mr. Speaker, I hope we in America can use times like this to remember
what we gain from people who put on the uniform of law enforcement to
serve us and to protect us. ``Serve and protect,'' that is the motto.
All of us tonight, millions of us as Americans tonight will go to
bed, will put our heads on that pillow, and will go to sleep safe,
knowing that these men and women are patrolling the streets of our
country to keep danger away from us.
Before we go to sleep every night, perhaps we should do one more
thing: let's say a little prayer for those men and women who patrol the
streets of our country to protect all of us and maintain the quality of
life that we all too often take for granted.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for this time tonight, your
service to your community and to our country, and hope you will
continue to remind us in the days to come of what we owe to the men and
women that wear law enforcement uniforms throughout America.
Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his kind
comments and for being here tonight to share his support of our law
enforcement officers across this great Nation.
Mr. Speaker, at this time, I yield to Mr. Goodlatte.
Mr. GOODLATTE. I want to thank Congressman Reichert not only for
yielding me the time, but also for his service as a law enforcement
officer because when he speaks on the floor of the House on behalf of
our Nation's law enforcement officers--the men and women who put their
lives on the line every day--he speaks from personal experience. I have
heard those experiences a number of times, and I thank you for that.
There are others here in the Congress, Mr. Speaker, who have served
in law enforcement, and we thank them as well. I am particularly
pleased that Dave is hosting this Special Order tonight to show our
respect and deep gratitude for the thousands of law enforcement
officers across the country who serve our communities and the American
people daily.
Mr. Speaker, our Nation was founded on the rule of law, and every
day, law enforcement officers carry out this legacy. They protect our
neighborhoods from criminals, fight crime, ensure justice, and keep the
peace. They patrol neighborhoods late at night and early in the morning
while we sleep in the comforts of our homes.
Since 9/11, our Nation's law enforcement officers are now the first
to respond to terrorist attacks. On that tragic day nearly 14 years
ago, NYPD officers and other first responders were running into the
crumbling towers to save people as everyone else was running out.
In 2010, an NYPD officer was the first one on the scene when a
terrorist attempted to ignite a car bomb in Times Square.
{time} 1800
The same was true during the Boston Marathon bombings in April 2013.
The Boston police responded immediately to aid the wounded and
implement emergency plans.
Sadly, many law enforcement have made the ultimate sacrifice on our
behalf. Last year alone, 120 law enforcement officers died in the line
of duty, including three from the Commonwealth of Virginia. These are
sober reminders that our Nation's law enforcement professionals face
danger every day as they carry out their duty to protect the American
people.
As chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, I have the privilege to
work with Federal law enforcement agencies. All too often, we fail to
recognize how the dedicated men and women of law enforcement make
sacrifices--some sacrificing their lives--to preserve law and order and
keep our communities, our States, and our Nation safe. These brave men
and women are heroes and deserve to be recognized and honored for their
service to our country.
Again, I thank our law enforcement officer, Congressman Reichert, for
taking this time to have this law enforcement Special Order.
Mr. REICHERT. I thank you, Mr. Goodlatte, for your comments and for
your hard work as the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and I thank
you for coming tonight and sharing your comments.
Next, Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Washington (Mrs.
McMorris Rodgers). I am sure she wants to talk about her great sheriff
in Spokane.
Cathy, it is good to see you.
Mrs. McMORRIS RODGERS. That is right, and the former great sheriff
from King County, whom I have the privilege of serving with now in the
United States House of Representatives. Thank you, Congressman
Reichert, for your leadership and your service both as sheriff and
local law enforcement officer, and also for bringing us together
tonight.
I see another former sheriff from Florida, Rich Nugent. We are
grateful for those who have served and those who currently serve.
In our darkest hours, we turn to law enforcement to keep us from
harm's way. It is easy to take those who serve for granted. Tonight, I
am privileged to stand here and to say thank you. Thank you for your
service, thank you for your commitment, thank you for the sacrifices
and all of the acts of heroism.
When we drop our kids off at school, buckle up our seat belts and hit
the roads or kiss our children good night, we know that our first
responders will be there if we ever need them, and they will do
everything they can to keep us safe. Sometimes it is nice to know they
are out there on the roads in case something happens. Our police
officers and firefighters get up every morning not knowing what their
day will look like, not knowing with certainty if they will be home for
dinner.
At a time when there are growing threats facing America, growing
unrest around the world, these men and women are ready to answer the
call of duty at any moment. They do it out of a great sense of service
and commitment, to serve and to protect. Men and women in uniform
across eastern Washington and throughout this country put their lives
on the line every day.
In Spokane, yes, Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich and Police Chief Frank
Straub, we are so grateful for their
[[Page H629]]
leadership, effective leadership, bringing down overall crime rates. It
is really a testament to them. I actually have the privilege of working
with 10 sheriffs in eastern Washington who are having a tremendous
impact on keeping our communities safe.
Their families, too, take on tremendous sacrifices for it is their
loved ones who go out into the streets to keep us safe. These are
husbands, wives, moms, and dads whose sense of honor and whose
commitment to our country is worthy of our profound gratitude. For in
America, we are blessed to live in a nation whose law enforcement
officers will do everything they can to keep us safe.
So I thank those who serve in eastern Washington and all across the
country for serving. These men and women deserve our respect, our
thanks, and they deserve a lifetime of appreciation.
Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank Cathy McMorris Rodgers for her
comments and her support of law enforcement officers and sheriffs that
she works with.
Ten years ago--well, a little longer ago than that--I was the
president of the Washington State Sheriffs Association, and so I had
the opportunity to work with all of the sheriffs and police chiefs in
Washington State.
Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr.
Dent).
Mr. DENT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Washington State
for yielding to me, and I thank him for his very distinguished career
in law enforcement for all of those 30-plus years. He had a great
reputation, served honorably, and was involved in some very high-
profile cases that are, I think, worthy of a lot of discussion.
I wanted to take time today to express my strong support for the
brave men and women who serve on our Nation's Federal, State, and local
law enforcement agencies. Particularly, I would like to honor two New
York City police officers, Officers Ramos and Liu, who were brutally
slain in an ambush on December 20, targeted simply because they wore
the New York Police Department uniform.
Officer Ramos was a devoted husband and the father of two young
children. He had just celebrated his 40th birthday. Officer Liu, who
married just 3 months ago, leaves behind his devastated young wife and
parents. All across the Nation, the thoughts and prayers of grateful
citizens go out to their families, friends, and officers who served
with them.
I live in Allentown, Pennsylvania, not terribly far from New York
City. I have to tell you, I believe the New York City Police Department
is among the finest big city police departments anywhere in the world.
I remember September 11, 2001, we saw firefighters and police officers
and others rush down to the Twin Towers.
We recognized and celebrated their heroism because many of them gave
that last full measure of devotion on that day. There was no profession
more noble than being a police officer at that time, and particularly a
New York City police officer. How times have changed in a fairly short
period of time.
This extraordinary police department has come under fire because they
have implemented very effective police practices which have been a
model for the rest of the Nation, have kept crime rates low, and is
something we should be celebrating, that department and the men and
women who work there. It is a very diverse police department, among the
most diverse anywhere.
I would also like to point out one other sad tragedy that we dealt
with this year in my own State. It was the beautiful fall foliage of
Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains that was the backdrop of a horror that
many northeastern Pennsylvanians had to deal with for several weeks.
We Pennsylvanians recently mourned our own loss on September 12,
2014, when State Police Corporal Bryon Dickson was murdered under what
appear to be similar circumstances to those in New York. He was shot to
death because of the badge that he wore.
Trooper Alex Douglass was seriously wounded in that same incident. We
are pleased to hear that Trooper Douglass is recovering steadily, and
we wish him the best in his long road to a full recovery. But what
followed that horrific attack and assassination was a truly impressive
7-week manhunt for Eric Frein, the shooter and self-trained, self-
described survivalist.
Over 1,000 officers from State and local law enforcement agencies
from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York teamed with the FBI, U.S.
Marshals Service, and ATF, and it was amazing. What we witnessed was an
amazing testament to police work, which ended successfully with the
surrender of Frein, and there were no shots fired. Frein, I should
note, is currently standing trial.
Police work is certainly, as Congressman Reichert knows better than
anyone in this room, and Congressman Nugent, too, they know that police
work is inherently dangerous. Officers must enforce the law in any
number of difficult situations under pressures few outside the military
could possibly understand, from routine traffic stops to domestic
violence situations to hostage cases to murder scenes. America's finest
must deal with it all. They deserve our support, and they most
assuredly have mine.
While we have recently seen a handful of high profile cases of
citizens clashing with police, anyone who has ever attended a local
crime watch meeting knows that police officers care deeply about the
communities they serve. I have attended so many of these meetings over
the years, both as a State legislator and even as a Congressman,
numerous crime watch meetings in some pretty tough areas, and I was
always so impressed with the way the officers immersed themselves in
the daily life of the neighborhoods for which they were responsible. No
problem was too small. They would deal with it.
Now is the time for all of us to roll up our sleeves and work to
address the underlying issues that have animated enormous emotions in
communities across our country.
I should point out, too, as a new member of the bipartisan House Law
Enforcement Caucus, I look forward to working with my colleagues on
both sides of the aisle to advance Federal policy that supports all of
the brave men and women who have sworn to protect and serve.
I thank the gentleman from Washington State for putting on this hour
tonight. We need to spend more time celebrating the fine men and women
who serve us.
Mr. REICHERT. I appreciate your comments, Mr. Dent. For so many of
the words that you shared, I could make a lot of follow-up statements,
but our time is limited. But I do want to focus on one of the points
that you made, just briefly.
One of the hardest things that I ever did in my career was in 1982
when my partner, as I mentioned earlier, was shot and killed. It was a
3-day manhunt for the person responsible in the Cascade foothills.
Finally, he was captured, and I was the only homicide detective at the
scene, and they put me in the backseat with the killer of my good
friend and partner. He was handcuffed.
When I got into the backseat, I read him his rights. He had three
things to say to me. Number one, of course, he wasn't sorry; number
two, I'm thirsty; and number three, I'm hungry. I think he wanted his
handcuffs loosened, too; they were too tight. So I loosened his
handcuffs. We stopped at a Burger King and bought him food and got him
something to drink, and then, of course, he went to jail.
But to sit in that backseat with the man who just took my partner's
life--my good friend, my best friend--3 days before was tough. And
those are the kinds of things that cops deal with every day. And thank
you for recognizing the emotional difficulty, not only for the
officers, but for the community. It was a heavy day, a heavy week, a
heavy month for the entire community. And, of course, the family still
lives on with the loss of their father and husband.
I now yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Meadows).
Mr. MEADOWS. Thank you so much for your leadership on this critical
evening to express the will of so many Members of Congress that
hopefully is the will of the American people. I thank you for your
service not only here in Congress, but also for serving the people of
King County as sheriff.
Mr. Speaker, when we get to call out some of our dear friends who are
sheriffs or police chiefs, many times we
[[Page H630]]
don't even refer to them by name. It is ``sheriff'' or ``chief.'' But
tonight, I want to talk a little bit about what I call most of my law
enforcement colleagues in western North Carolina. I call them friends.
I want to tell a few personal stories.
Before I do that, I want to share a little bit about the gentleman
from Washington who is leading this tonight, because it is real easy to
see the professional side of a Member who serves with distinction here
in this body, but sometimes the people back home miss the personal
side.
Today, we were discussing a number of bills on human trafficking and
the unbelievable blight that is on our Nation and on our world where we
have more people today in modern-day slavery than at the height of the
slave trade. But it is personal for this gentleman to my left because
time and time again, in meetings, he has brought up the plight of those
young girls, their being trafficked at the hands of so many that are
out there. It is that personal side that we can applaud tonight, not
only for my colleague, but for many of the sheriffs and chiefs that I
have the honor of knowing because of being in this position.
Mr. Speaker, I can tell story after story, but there is one police
chief in my area who shared a story about one of his officers who was
working for him who puts his life on the line every single day, and he
does it for a little over $12 an hour. When I heard that, I could
hardly believe it, because as we start to see the dedication with which
our law enforcement officers truly put themselves out each and every
day, not only them, but their families--and we expect them to come
home.
{time} 1815
Mr. Speaker, as has been shared previously, sometimes, they don't
come home; so we must do a better job of standing by our law
enforcement officers each and every day to thank them, to go out of our
way, to make sure that we thank them for their service, thank their
families for their sacrifice.
There are birthday parties that are missed, anniversaries that are
missed, dinner engagements that are missed because when the phone rings
or when the call goes off or when the beeper is alert, they are always
there. Not answering that call is not an option for them. They are
always available.
Yet in my district back in North Carolina, we have sheriffs who are
getting involved to make sure that the homeless have a place, a warm
bed, and a hot meal; a sheriff that has actually gone out in his
community in one of my counties that makes sure that those that are in
need have a place on Halloween night to come and celebrate in a safe
environment; dedicated volunteers over and over; a sheriff back home
who really works tirelessly to make sure that the needs of those that
are most needy in his community are taken care of--story upon story,
Mr. Speaker, of people who put politics aside and put the interests of
their community first.
Whether it is a Democrat or Republican, they all work together to
make sure that what happens is that their community is safe.
Mr. Speaker, they have my back, and I think it is time that the
American people stand up and have their back. We need to make sure that
we stand with them.
I thank the gentleman for his time, for his leadership on this issue,
and for his service.
Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments and
also appreciate in the meetings and the hearings that we have been in
your commitment to end--not just sort of have an impact on human
trafficking, but ending, eliminating human trafficking in this country
and across the globe. Thank you for your hard work.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Jolly).
Mr. JOLLY. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague from
Washington.
I rise today to join my colleagues in paying tribute to law
enforcement, recognizing their service each and every day.
I had an opportunity a few weeks ago on this floor to thank and to
recognize my local law enforcement community, law enforcement officers,
law enforcement leadership from Pinellas County, Florida--the cities of
St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Tarpon Springs, and others--and, with
Tarpon Springs, remember an officer who our community lost just 4 days
before Christmas, Officer Charles Kondek, whose end of watch was
December 21, leaving behind a family and children.
We can pay tribute--which we should and which the vast majority of
Americans do every day--but we also are a Congress who must offer
solutions and who must act. One of the ways in which we can act is to
ensure, just as we do for our men and women of the military, that our
law enforcement have the tools and technology necessary to do their
job.
While much of local law enforcement is, indeed, funded locally, there
is a program--the 1033 program that has been debated so much during
this past year--that provides equipment, protective equipment, tools,
and technology for our law enforcement officers to do their job. That
is a Federal program that should not be controversial.
I have introduced legislation--because we are a solutions-oriented
Congress--to continue the 1033 program, but to simply require one thing
to address the concerns of so many, and that requirement is that local
law enforcement leadership certify before receiving equipment that they
have officers trained and capable of using the equipment.
It is very simple. This is equipment that our local law enforcement
officers need, and, frankly, if it is not available to them through the
1033 program, they will purchase it as required by their local force,
and it will cost local taxpayers the money to do so.
Here is the importance of this legislation. It says two things.
First, it says that this Congress, your Representatives, want to do our
part to provide for the safety of our law enforcement officers, but,
secondly, subscribe to this radical notion that should not be
controversial: we trust our local law enforcement leadership to set the
right policing tone and to provide for the safety of their communities
while they also provide for the safety of law enforcement officers that
risk their lives every day, officers like Charles Kondek.
I would encourage this Congress, as we continue to look for ways not
just to pay tribute to law enforcement officers, but to support the
work they do every day, to consider this legislation that ensures this
program will continue to provide tools and technology to law
enforcement officers and says: You know what, we, as a Congress, trust
our law enforcement leadership back home because they know best how to
provide for the safety of our communities, how to set the tone of
policing in our communities, and how to protect our law enforcement
officers.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague from Washington having this
Special Order and allowing me time this evening.
Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments and
his staunch support of law enforcement and his support of 1033. We will
work together on that, and I am sure other Members of Congress have an
interest in working to make sure that that legislation gets passed.
Mr. Speaker, I now yield to Mr. LaMalfa from California.
Mr. LaMALFA. Mr. Speaker, thank you to my colleague from Washington,
Mr. Reichert, for this opportunity and, really, privilege to be able to
speak about those in law enforcement that are really on duty for us
every day and being able to support and show my gratitude for them
across our country because we know that they are there daily to keep us
safe and secure in our communities.
They have an incredibly important role and a vital responsibility to
uphold our rule of law, which is the core of our Constitution and
ensures everyone is accountable under the law. Everyone needs to be
accountable under the law. That is a huge responsibility.
It is up to us, whether it is in Congress or at the State legislative
level or local government, to make sure that they have the tools that
they need to do their job. In the time of budget cuts and other
constraints put on them, their job gets that much harder; indeed,
sometimes, they feel handcuffed in their ability to do their work.
When you speak to the officers sometimes--they always have an air of
professionalism about them, but when you
[[Page H631]]
really get down to it, sometimes, they don't feel very appreciated and
that they don't have the tools to do what they need because of things
sometimes the government does or frivolous lawsuits, for example.
We even sometimes see our elected officials participating in
vilifying our people in law enforcement. That is really, really
irresponsible because we are all in this together, us as lawmakers and
those in the executive branch down to our beat officer that has
that responsibility. We are supposed to work together in upholding the
law and making sure they have the tools, as well as providing
oversight.
We want to make sure everybody is behaving the way they should, but
as we see so hyped lately with a tiny, tiny minority of incidents out
there compared to the contacts--I heard a statistic the other day, much
less than 1 percent of contacts that officers have with the public
results in any kind of physical action needed, much less than 1
percent; yet you would think, from all the hype, from all the media, it
was a much higher number than that.
The vast majority of it is an officer helping you out. You have
brushes with the law here and there, but they are very professional in
what they do. What you really need to do is step into their shoes for a
minute, think about where they have come from to get where they are.
They had to have a very clean record to get through background to be
accepted into academy and be accepted into whatever force that they are
working in. It is a high bar. You can't have a bad record in your
background. They have chosen to come forward and put themselves at
risk.
Look what they go through each day in their jobs if they have made it
through academy and were brought on to a force. If they are called into
a situation, they don't really have the option of saying: No, I am not
going to go.
If someone has called from a home, they have a domestic problem, what
have you, they have got to get to a solution because someone's lives
may be at stake inside that home, even though there might be something
outside that would make you or I uncomfortable, a mean dog in the yard
or some characters hanging around outside that you wouldn't normally
want to deal with. They have to get to a solution on that because
somebody called them, somebody dialed 911, and we expect that they are
going to get to a solution.
Officers have to go into every situation prepared for the worst
because it could mean their life, maybe their partner's life, or
someone else in a vulnerable situation that has called upon them.
If you think about being in their shoes, we all have a responsibility
to make their jobs simpler. It could even help us in not being in a
mistaken situation because they have to plan for the worst and hope for
the best.
I can certainly feel for them in that they might be a little stressed
on every call, every car they might pull over for speeding or a broken
taillight or having to answer to someone's household or even a bigger
deal like a bank robbery.
They have to be prepared every moment because it is their life or the
other lives around them. They have to have the protocol and the
training to know how to handle that situation just right.
When you look at that high bar, you look at the amount of stress that
they are going through to do that, they do an amazing, remarkable job
of getting it right; so we need to give them a little grace, a little
room to do their job as best they can.
Then we have a responsibility as regular citizens to make their job
easier. If they ask for your driver's license and ID, just give it to
them. If they ask you to stay in the car so that they can see where
your hands are and stuff--they don't know who else is in that car--make
it where they can do their job, and you are going to have a heck of a
lot better interaction with them.
Use basic common sense. There are instructions out there how to get
along with that. I have even seen comedians out there saying how not to
get in trouble with the police.
Pay attention to the common sense on that because we need them more
so than ever in a country that is becoming less and less safe, it
seems, from outside threats, as well as people within that don't seem
to understand the rule of law and sometimes governing officials that
don't seem to care about upholding it. We all have the responsibility
as citizens.
Those costs have been high because, in the previous year, well over
100 officers have been lost in the line of duty--and that is tragic--
trying to defend us.
I am glad to be able to stand here today with my colleague from
Washington to recognize their bravery, their devotion, and for all of
us to remember how to make their job a little bit easier.
Mr. REICHERT. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments in
support.
There are a couple of things that he mentioned. One, some of those
acts that police officers do each and every day to help families--
people don't hear about those officers that buy groceries for families
that are less fortunate.
I know when I worked on the Green River task force and working with
families that had missing daughters or had lost their daughter to--I am
not even going to mention his name--the monster serial killer from
Seattle, delivering Christmas presents to those families, money out of
their own pocket or time out of their own time in building a new
bicycle for some young brother of one of the victims.
Those are things that the community in a neighborhood might hear
about, but you never see on the news, you never see publicized, and you
never really hear about it, so I appreciate that.
The second thing the gentleman mentioned was training, and I really
believe that that is one of the things that we can do to help law
enforcement officers across this country.
The National Blue Alert Act is another piece of legislation that we,
I think, can work together to pass. It should be a bipartisan effort.
The COPS Improvement and Reauthorization Act is another tool that we
can provide and another bill to try to expedite the claims process for
public safety officer benefits program.
In some cases, the Department of Justice has taken 3 to 4 years to
decide whether or not a family should receive that benefit, that death
benefit, when their spouse has been killed in the line of duty.
Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman for his comments.
Now, Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I introduce the next
Member of Congress and yield time to him, my good friend and partner
who is also a career law enforcement officer for a couple of different
departments, his last tour of duty was as a sheriff in Florida.
There are two career law enforcement officers in Congress, as far as
the two of us know, and we are standing right here.
I look at Mr. Nugent, Rich Nugent, as my backup here in Congress, and
I know he considers me his backup and partners here in supporting our
law enforcement officers across this great country, and I thank Mr.
Nugent for his service in law enforcement and to his communities.
I know he has faced some dangerous situations throughout his career.
Sometimes, we sit on the floor and share those stories with each other.
The only really two that can understand some of these stories are
really cops.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Nugent.
{time} 1830
Mr. NUGENT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from
Washington, Sheriff Reichert. That is a term of endearment. It is won,
a title that you earn. It is an opportunity to lead a great body of men
and women. So when Sheriff Reichert wanted to do this hour, it was,
like he said, we have each other's back. We have been through issues
that we can relate to.
When I first became a law enforcement officer, my mom said: You know,
I could picture one of your brothers doing this, but not you. You just
don't have that temperament to be that bold, I guess is what she was
saying, compared to my brothers.
But at the end of the day, after 39 years, and the last 10 as sheriff
before I got elected to this office, those were 39 of the best years,
and I guarantee it that Dave Reichert feels the same way with his
tenure in law enforcement. I started out as a cop outside the city of
Chicago and saw issues that I would rather not even mention.
[[Page H632]]
Coming down to Florida was quite a break, it was different. But at
the same time, that changed over time too. From a small, sleepy
sheriff's office of about 40 individuals to, when I left, we had over
500 folks that served this great Nation in that community.
You hear a lot on the news about law enforcement in that they want to
make it sound like we are not human. In reality, I have been to those
scenes where a law enforcement officer has been involved in a shooting
where he has had to take somebody's life. And that officer was so
emotionally distraught, because that is not why they got into the
business. It is not why I ever got into the business. You got into the
business because you wanted to help people, you wanted to be there to
protect people. That is what law enforcement is about.
And, unfortunately, sometimes bad things happen to good people.
Sheriff Reichert mentioned the fact that sometimes police officers and
deputies can make a mistake. We are only human. But when things are
moving fast as the speed of light, you have got to think back as to
what and why that officer did or didn't do what he did at the time.
And I worry about when elected officials see it as a political
expedience to condemn police officers for something that occurred
before they ever get the facts. Dave Reichert and I sit on the floor
and we talk about that, about maybe, just maybe people should wait
until the investigation is complete before you condemn somebody, until
you walk in their shoes. The sheriff talked about the fact that I can
remember back as a rookie having to work, and I took the shifts of guys
that had families because I wasn't married when it came down to
holidays. I didn't have a family, so I would take the shifts so they
could be with their families. But it didn't always work out that way.
There was many a time that I missed Christmas, missed birthdays, missed
wedding anniversaries because of service, and that is just not me. That
is all the men and women that serve this country in local law
enforcement and other law enforcement agencies throughout the United
States.
Most of the men and women that I served with, I guarantee you could
go out and make more money doing something else. They were bright,
bright people. But their calling was to be a law enforcement officer.
To go out there in the dead of night, climb up in an attic--remember
that--you climb up in an attic and you don't know what is up there,
except you know there is a bad guy who is up there, and somebody has to
go there and do it. At the end of the day, these men and women do it
because they love the community they serve.
Congressman Reichert talked about what police officers do with their
own money in regards to buying turkeys for Thanksgiving for families,
buying Christmas presents for children that would not have a Christmas,
doing summer camps for free for children because these children don't
have or didn't have the ability to go to one of those paid summer
camps--that is pretty neat. And we would, in our sheriff's office,
without using taxpayer money, with donations from clubs like Kiwanis
and Rotary and others, pay for that so that these young men and these
girls and boys could have the opportunity to interact with law
enforcement, to actually see that, do you know what? We are human. That
when we do these little games out there in the field and we have the
things, water balloons or whatever it may be, that we are real people,
because a lot of times, the only time they see a law enforcement
officer is possibly during a domestic situation where they are
arresting their mom or their dad. And that can jade anybody.
But it can also jade law enforcement, because the things that they
see no one here would want to see. There were times when I went home,
getting off the midnight shift, and walked in my house at 6 o'clock in
the morning. And what I had just seen the night before, you would have
a hard time going to sleep, where you would grab your child--I can
remember my youngest child at the time, my only child at the time--
grabbing him and hugging him because of what I just saw some other
parent do to their child that was unspeakable.
Our three sons, they all serve in the military. Our middle son is a
Black Hawk pilot in the Florida Army National Guard. He is also a
deputy sheriff in one of the major counties in Florida. He wasn't sure
if that was the right job because, when they went through the class on
child abuse, it struck a chord as a new dad: How could anyone do that
to them? But do you know what? He has turned out to be a pretty good
cop. And we say that with reverence; it is not a derogatory term.
But the men and women that put on the uniform and that badge do it
because they love people, not because they hate them. They do it
because they really want to make a difference in their community. Their
families are the ones that suffer the most.
When I have had to go to scenes where I have had an officer killed in
the line of duty, it breaks your heart. When I was a rookie officer
outside of Chicago, right out of the academy, one of my academy mates
was killed, shot and killed by a 12-year-old in our first year on the
job. You never know when it is going to hit.
When Officer Kondek down in Tarpon Springs went to work on the 21st
of December, he kissed his wife and his kids good-bye, expecting to be
there for Christmas. Little did he know that that was the last day of
his life. The person who killed him shot him and then ran him over with
a car. This is not what we want.
Where we want to see the America that I love is, the same respect
that we give our soldiers returning from war, that we give that to our
police officers. That when you see them in a restaurant or you see them
on the street or you see them on a call, thank them for what they do.
They will be absolutely surprised and amazed, but grateful.
When my sons are in uniform and people come up to them in the
military and thank them for their service, there is no reason we can't
do the same for our law enforcement officers.
Congressman Reichert is probably the most humble guy I know in the
stories, and he would never brag about himself, but he is a consummate
professional. His bravery is unmatched, and his leadership, I am sure,
at that sheriff's office in Washington State is better for him being
sheriff than not.
Mr. REICHERT. I thank the sheriff. There might be some people back in
Washington State that might disagree with you.
Mr. NUGENT. Well, I guarantee there are some.
Mr. REICHERT. Absolutely.
But I think that what you and I, and everyone who has spoken here
tonight, have tried to do is to bring the personality, the humanness in
the human heart, of a police officer to America tonight. And I think
with two sheriffs here, it is a powerful way from the floor of the
House of Representatives to share with people across this Nation
through this media our thanks and gratitude to each and every man and
woman who wears the uniform, who puts their life on the line, who knows
that some day when they leave they know there is a possibility that
they may not come home, and the families live with that too.
One quick story. I was stabbed in 1973 or '74. I had my throat slit
with a butcher knife at a domestic violence call that we talked about a
little earlier. My wife actually found out that I had my throat slit.
She was sitting home watching the news, and they showed me being
wheeled into the hospital out of the ambulance. She finally got a phone
call, but she didn't know if I was going to live or die.
That happens every day in this country, ladies and gentlemen. Mr.
Speaker, that happens every day here. An officer is injured, hurt, or
killed somewhere across this Nation. And we need to be there, Mr.
Speaker, to support them, we need to be there to pray for them and
their families, and we need to be there to pray for our communities
that they come together and be true partners in protecting our children
and our families.
I yield back the balance of my time.
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