Chairs hearing focusing on how the federal government undermines state and local law enforcement
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) chaired a hearing of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts titled “The War on Police: How the Federal Government Undermines State and Local Law Enforcement.” This hearing, consisting of two panels, highlighted the challenges facing police officers and how the federal government can impact law enforcement nationwide.
“The men and women of law enforcement risk their life each and every day. Police officers go into dangerous neighborhoods with criminals, and every day they’re taking a risk that their life may be lost protecting the community. If the police are intimidated, if they are scared, if they are not willing to do their jobs, we know the result. The result is the loss of life. The result is rising crime,” Sen. Cruz said in his opening statement.
“I believe every one of us, Republican and Democrat, should stand unequivocally with the brave men and women of law enforcement. I do not believe it is beneficial for this country to have a culture where the men and women of law enforcement feel under siege.”
Sen. Cruz’s full opening statement can be read below and watched here. Watch Sen. Cruz’s closing remarks here.
“Welcome to everyone here. Welcome to the witnesses in the first panel, and welcome to those who have come to participate in this hearing. The purpose of this hearing is to look at the challenges facing the brave men and women of law enforcement. A great many of us have been growing more and more concerned at seeing police officers the subject of public vilification, seeing police officers being undermined, and hearing from police officers across this country that they are less and less able to do their jobs; that they feel their hands are tied; that they are scared if they engage in proactive policing in the community to keep the community safe that they risk being personally hung out to dry; that they risk seeing their careers, their livelihoods, destroyed; that they risk seeing their family held up for public condemnation. And sadly, the consequences of this are significant.
“The men and women of law enforcement risk their life each and every day. Police officers go into dangerous neighborhoods with criminals, and every day they’re taking a risk that their life may be lost protecting the community. If the police are intimidated, if they are scared, if they are not willing to do their jobs, we know the result. The result is the loss of life. The result is rising crime.
“You know, some recent headlines underscore the consequences of this. Just three days ago, The Washington Post reported that homicides have risen in several U.S. cities this year. This ‘dramatic surge in killings’ has been confirmed as well by media outlets as diverse as USA Today, National Review, The Economist, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
“Indeed, here in the nation’s capital, according to The Washington Post, there have been 143 homicides so far this year. That is 53 more homicides than at the same point last year. Nearby, Baltimore has suffered even worse. Baltimore has now suffered over 300 homicides this year. This gruesome milestone, The Washington Post lamented, resembles the violence Baltimore experienced decades ago. Similar homicide statistics can be found in Milwaukee, in St. Louis, in New Orleans, in Chicago, in cities across the country. And of great deal of concern to law enforcement, the number of law enforcement officers killed through acts of violence has been on a precipitous upswing, according to The Hill in an article published this past May. Specifically, the officers killed in 2014 was nearly double those killed in 2013.
“James Comey, the current Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has been vocal about his concerns over crime trends. Director Comey has expressed the view that excessive, unjust scrutiny of state and local law enforcement may be contributing to this trend.
“Now everyone in here agrees that we should enforce the law, and we should vigorously enforce America’s civil rights laws. In any government organization, there can be bad actors. In any large group of people, there can be individuals who choose to violate the law. And anyone who chooses to violate the law should be held accountable.
“But in my view it is deeply harmful, not only for the men and women of law enforcement, but for the safety of the American people, for the federal government to treat police officers as the enemy, for the president or the attorney general to be holding up police officers for vilification. I will say I was particularly disappointed last year when President Obama nominated an individual to serve as the head of the Civil Rights Division who had previously represented an admitted cop killer, and had not just represented him, but had represented him pro bono, for free, and had lionized and celebrated this cop killer.
“Now, every individual in a criminal proceeding is entitled to representation, but those for whom you go out of the way to volunteer your time for free and those who you lionize and celebrate reveal a great deal about your beliefs and where you stand. I would note I was proud to stand with others, including Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, in helping lead the fight against confirming that nominee to the Justice Department. And it is worth noting that even with a Democratic Senate, even under the leadership of then-Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Senate refused to confirm that nominee as a number of Democrats joined the Republicans in saying, ‘We should not have a senior official in the Justice Department be an individual who has chosen to celebrate and lionize a murderer who has murdered police officers.’
“It was a few months ago that I attended the funeral in my hometown of Houston for Deputy Goforth. Deputy Goforth was shot at a gas station in an act of violence that I believe was a manifestation of the growing antipathy directed at law enforcement. I will note that funeral service was an incredible and powerful funeral service. It was held at Second Baptist Church in Houston. Dr. Ed Young provided the eulogy. It was an incredible sight to sit in the sanctuary and to see thousands upon thousands of police officers filling that sanctuary. Everywhere you could see were men and women dressed in blue, in their dress uniforms there to honor that fallen officer. Dr. Young in the eulogy powerfully observed that in the Old Testament the Levites, the priests, wore blue. And he drew from the Lord’s Prayer to describe the core mission of police, and indeed in particular, one phrase in the Lord’s Prayer, ‘Deliver us from evil,’ which Dr. Young rightly observed if you were to sum up the mission statement of a police officer it would be difficult to do so more effectively or more succinctly than ‘Deliver us from evil.’
“I believe every one of us, Republican and Democrat, should stand unequivocally with the brave men and women of law enforcement. I do not believe it is beneficial for this country to have a culture where the men and women of law enforcement feel under siege.
“I will note there was a seminal moment in this country when the members of the NYPD stood and turned their back on Mayor de Blasio. That was a moment I believe penetrated at the heart of millions of Americans. What on earth are we doing when senior government officials are treating the police officers as the bad guys?
“This hearing is to discuss the challenges facing police officers, the degree to which they have been vilified publicly, and the consequences we are facing in terms of innocent men and women facing crime, facing murder, lives that have been lost because the police have been unable to do their job. And I appreciate everyone for being here for this hearing.”