[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 102 (Wednesday, June 24, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E967-E968]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    INTRODUCTION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT TRUST AND INTEGRITY ACT OF 2015

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 24, 2015

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of myself and Ms. Jackson Lee, I 
am pleased to introduce the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act of 
2015, along with additional cosponsors. This legislation has a history 
of support by both police and civil rights organizations around the 
country and is focused on building trust between law enforcement 
agencies, officials and the people they serve.
  Over the past two decades, tensions between police and communities of 
color have grown as allegations of bias-based policing by law 
enforcement agents, sometimes supported by data collection efforts and 
video evidence, have increased in number and frequency. Since the 
tragic police-involved shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, 
there has been public outcry for Congressional action to address police 
accountability and public safety issues through the adoption of 
substantive law enforcement policy reforms.
  Despite the fact that the majority of law enforcement officers 
perform their duties professionally and without bias, the relationship 
between the police and some of minority communities has deteriorated to 
such a degree that federal action is required to begin addressing the 
issue. With recent Washington

[[Page E968]]

Post reports of almost 400 police-involved shooting fatalities in the 
first five months of 2015, all should agree that the time for 
bipartisan action is long overdue.
  The Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act is designed to provide 
incentives for local police organizations to voluntarily adopt 
standards to ensure that incidents of deadly force or misconduct will 
be minimized through appropriate management and training protocols and 
properly investigated, should they occur. The bill authorizes the 
Department of Justice to work cooperatively with independent 
accreditation, law enforcement and community-based organizations to 
further develop and refine accreditation standards, and further 
authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to law enforcement 
agencies for the purpose of obtaining accreditation from certified law 
enforcement accreditation organizations.
  Beyond the human toll created by law enforcement accountability 
issues, there remains the fiscal impact created by the high cost of 
litigation settlements for police abuse claims. Currently, there are no 
federally recognized minimum standards for operating a law enforcement 
agency. The ad hoc nature of police management has accordingly left 
many officers and agencies in the dark about how to cope with changes 
in their communities. While most cities fail to systematically track 
the cost of litigation, the cost reports for major cities have proven 
staggering. In New York City alone, during Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 
three term tenure, NYPD payouts were in excess of $1 billion for 
policing claims. For small departments, the cost of a single high 
profile incident could prove crippling in its impact on public safety.
  While the Department of Justice has a range of criminal and civil 
authority to address policing issues, the Civil Rights Division will 
never have the resources necessary to investigate more than a small 
fraction of those departments engaged in unconstitutional conduct, even 
with the enhanced funding and task force authority granted by this 
legislation. Through the support of a robust accreditation regime, like 
that existing in healthcare, Congress can ensure that all communities 
have the best trained and managed police departments. Only by 
establishing acceptable police operations standards can we begin to 
preemptively address issues like use of force and heal the rifts within 
our communities.
  Media reports from Baltimore and other cities depicting 
confrontations between protestors and their police departments 
illustrate the current divide between law enforcement and the 
communities they police. In the past years, cities from New York to 
Cincinnati and Miami to Los Angeles have experienced unrest following 
controversial use of force incidents by their police. Absent a climate 
of trust and accountability, community needs are not served and the 
jobs of the police officers become more difficult and dangerous.
  The energies of Congress should be focused on the adoption of 
legislative priorities that address the substance of law enforcement 
management and strengthen the current battery of tools available to 
sanction misconduct. As a Congress we have been enthusiastic about 
supporting programs designed to get officers on the street. We must be 
just as willing to support programs designed to train and manage them 
after they get there. The current national climate requires decisive 
action to implement solutions. Out of respect for all who have lost 
their lives over the last nine months--both law enforcement and 
civilian--I hope you will join Ms. Jackson Lee and myself in supporting 
legislation that initiates the reforms necessary to restore public 
trust and accountability to law enforcement.

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