[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 86 (Thursday, May 18, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3037-S3038]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          National Police Week

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, our law enforcement officers and the 
families who support them give so much in service to our communities. 
As we were tragically reminded again last week--and this happens in far 
too many places, in far too many States--some make the ultimate 
sacrifice to keep us safe.
  Last Friday in Kirkersville, OH, Police Chief Steve DiSario responded 
to a report of a man with a gun at a nursing home. Chief DiSario did 
what so many first responders do when most of us in the public run away 
from danger: He ran toward it. He arrived at the Pine Kirk Care Center 
to protect his community and was killed in the line of duty by a gunman 
who also took the lives of two nursing home employees. Chief DiSario 
was 36. He had six children and a seventh on the way.
  Our thoughts and our prayers are with Chief DiSario's family and the 
families of all of our first responders, who worry each day that their 
loved ones may not return home. Think about that. For soldiers, 
marines, sailors, police officers, and firefighters, so often when they 
kiss their spouse goodbye and go to work, there is always the anxiety 
at home. It is not just the sacrifice that our soldiers and our 
military personnel and our police officers make; it is the sacrifice 
their families make too.
  Sadly, Police Chief DiSario wasn't the only Ohio officer to lay down 
his life this year. In January, Officer David J. Fahey of the Cleveland 
Police Department was working the scene of an accident on I-90 and was 
struck and killed in a despicable act of hit-and-run.
  This week in Washington, we honor the five Ohio officers killed in 
the line of duty last year. Aaron Christian of the Chesapeake Police 
Department was killed in a car accident while on patrol. While 
conducting traffic, Trooper Kenneth Velez of Elyria was killed by a 
driver under the influence of drugs. Officer Sean Johnson was the first 
officer to be killed in the line of duty in the town of Hilliard when 
he succumbed to injuries from a motorcycle accident during a training 
exercise. Officer Steven Smith was shot and killed during a SWAT 
standoff in Columbus. Officer Thomas Cottrell, Jr., of Danville was 
killed in a heinous and cowardly ambush. Each of these losses is a 
tragedy for a family, for a community, and for fellow police officers.
  As we honor the work and sacrifices made by law enforcement 
throughout Police Week, we need to offer more than kind words; we need 
action to support law enforcement as they work to keep our communities 
safe.
  Yesterday, I was talking to Police Chief Richard Biehl of Dayton and 
Youngstown Police Chief Robert Lees about what more we should do to 
support officers and their families. This week, we have unanimously 
passed several pieces of bipartisan legislation that will provide new 
support to the officers who protect us and the families who sacrifice 
alongside them.
  The Public Safety Officers' Benefits Improvement Act, which Senator 
Grassley introduced, will put pressure on the Bureau of Justice 
Assistance at the DOJ to speed up claims processing so families of 
disabled officers or fallen officers get their benefits more quickly.
  We passed the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act, 
introduced by Indiana Senators Donnelly and Young, to help law 
enforcement agencies establish or enhance mental health services, like 
peer monitoring pilot programs and crisis hotlines, for their officers. 
I learned about this bill from my friend Jay McDonald from Marion, OH, 
whose advocacy for police officers and their families makes a huge 
difference for Ohio's law enforcement communities. He has been the 
president of the Ohio Fraternal Order of Police for some time.
  We approved Senator Cornyn's American Law Enforcement Heroes Act of 
2017, which would allow local police departments to use Federal grant 
money to hire veterans as law enforcement officers. It is a bipartisan, 
commonsense idea that would open new doors for those who served our 
communities and our Nation in the military and who have accrued and 
developed skills that will serve well their communities in police work.
  We have a solemn obligation to the children of fallen officers whose 
lives are forever changed because of the heroism of their mother or 
father. The bipartisan Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship Act--which 
I have introduced with Senators Casey and Donnelly, two Democrats, as 
well as two Republican Senators, Toomey and Collins--would increase 
access to Pell grants for the surviving children of law enforcement who 
lay down their lives for their communities. It would ensure that all 
children of fallen officers are eligible for the maximum Federal Pell 
grant. Of course, we can't repay the debt we owe these families, but we 
can ease the burden on their children as they prepare for their future.
  We need to do everything we can to ensure that officers and family 
members get the benefits and help they deserve. We also need to do more 
to give officers the tools they need to protect themselves. This week, 
I joined a group of Senators calling for full funding of the 
Bulletproof Vest Partnership.
  I have written to the Department of Justice thanking them for their 
work so far and urging them to speed up distributing funding we passed 
as part of the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act. The bipartisan 
bill created the Comprehensive Opioid Abuse Grant Program to provide 
funding to police departments to train first responders as they deal 
with opioid-related incidents.

[[Page S3038]]

  More and more officers are being exposed to fentanyl out in the 
field. Just this week in Eastern Ohio, an officer in East Liverpool was 
the victim of an accidental fentanyl overdose. He survived, but the 
situation was perilous. We need to make sure officers have the 
equipment they need to handle this deadly opioid look-alike--only more 
toxic--safely.
  Our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line each day to 
protect us. This Police Week, we owe them more than gratitude; we must 
show support to the selfless men and women who serve our communities 
and country every single day, and we must support their actions, their 
lives, and their families.
  Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Perdue). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.