From July 26, 2022 post.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today questioned witnesses at a hearing to address law enforcement safety and the rising crime against police. Iowan Zach Andersen of Cedar Falls, a public safety officer, testified about the ambush on Iowa police last year that resulted in the death of Sergeant Jim Smith of the Iowa State Patrol. He also discussed the need to support the law enforcement community .
In a prepared statement given by Officer Andersen wrote: “On April 9th 2021, Kathy Smith lost her husband, Zander and Jazlyn lost their father and the law enforcement family lost a brother. Sergeant Smith made the ultimate sacrifice. And from all I’ve learned about him and the leader he was, he wouldn’t have had it any other way, but to be sent first and protect his men. I ask you today to lead like Jim would – by defending us, protecting us, caring for us, and validating the work we do. As law-enforcement officers we talk about holding the line, the thin blue line. Serving and protecting those in need. We need our families, our friends, our communities and our nation’s leaders to have our back as we fight to hold that line. Because without that support, the line cannot be held.”
Sergeant Smith’s widow, Kathy Smith, submitted written testimony honoring her late husband and calling for more support for law enforcement officers. She wrote: “I write this letter urging you to take steps to protect our law enforcement against attacks on their lives. These men and women in blue made a promise to serve and protect the people in our communities while facing the risk of paying the ultimate sacrifice. They do so willingly and with great courage each and every day. My husband had a love for justice and was one of the many who swore to protect others. He, along with many others, ended up giving his life for the sake of Justice. It is in honor of him and the fallen heroes that I plead with you to do something to help prevent future losses of our law enforcement officers.”
Last year, 73 officers were intentionally killed, increasing from the previous year by 59 percent. Stories of ambush attacks and murders of law enforcement in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and other major cities have highlighted the 133 officers shot in ambush styles of attack. Iowa officers are faced with the same issues. Grassley recognized Sergeant Smith on the Senate floor last year after his murder.
For months, Grassley has been calling on the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to hold hearings on the rising crime rates. He led a press conference on the rising crime in America and commemorated ‘National Police Week’ in May. Grassley continues to back the blue by leading bipartisan bills supporting America’s law enforcement officers and investing in our communities.
Grassley’s opening remarks can be found below.
Prepared Statement by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Ranking Member, Senate Judiciary Committee
Hearing on “Law Enforcement Officer Safety: Protecting Those Who Serve and Protect”
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Thank you, Chairman Durbin, for holding this important hearing. I requested the hearing, and I appreciate it.
Attacks on police officers are rising across the country. We see news stories on a regular basis about ambush attacks and murders of law enforcement in Los Angeles, Philadelphia and elsewhere. Even my home state of Iowa has not escaped this violence.
Nationwide, 73 officers were intentionally killed last year, the highest number since the 9/11 attacks. That’s a 59 percent increase from the previous year. 133 officers were shot in ambush style attacks, an increase of 123 percent over the previous year.
The most recent data shows that violent crime is rising across the country, but violence against police officers is up even higher. This is a unique and critical problem.
I’d like to recognize one of my guests here today. Officer Zach Andersen was a deputy in Grundy County last year when Sergeant Jim Smith of the Iowa State Patrol was murdered in an ambush attack. He was with Sergeant Smith when the murder happened. I previously spoke in honor of Sergeant Smith’s memory.
It breaks my heart to hear stories like this come out of Iowa, but there’re sadly many such stories around the country.
Every death of an officer killed in the line of duty is a tragedy. It’s a tragedy for the officer who sacrificed his or her life. It’s a tragedy for the family and friends left behind. It’s a tragedy for the community that lost a public servant. And it’s a tragedy for all of us who rely on these brave men and women to keep us safe.
There’s another disturbing trend that goes hand in hand with the rise in attacks on police. We see more criminals resisting or fleeing arrest, more disrespect and demonizing of law enforcement and a general atmosphere of hostility towards the people in uniform who put their lives on the line to protect us.
This is a growing crisis, and there’s much that Congress needs to do to help address it.
One of the challenges is a lack of data. While the government collects basic data on attacks against police that result in serious injury or death, we don’t have much data on the contributing factors. We also don’t have good data on attacks against police that don’t result in death and serious injury.
For this reason, I introduced the Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act. This bill will help expand our understanding of these attacks to better identify motives, trends and any coordinated efforts to target those officers who put on the badge to keep our communities safe.
I worked with police groups including Major County Sheriffs of America and the National Association of Police Organizations to identify gaps in reporting. Senators Luján, Tillis, Hassan, and Cassidy are original cosponsors of this bipartisan bill.
There are several bills proposed by members of this Committee that would make it a federal crime to attack law enforcement, and that would enhance penalties for doing so. Senators Cornyn, Tillis and Cotton have sponsored these bills.
A main cause of this violence against police is the demonization and disrespect shown to the profession of law enforcement throughout the country. When you allow hatred of a group to spread, people find it easy to justify violent attacks against them.
Kathy Smith, the wife of the late Sergeant Smith, sent us a letter that I’d like to introduce into the record. She tells us about what a wonderful and self-sacrificing man he was, but also that over the past six to eight years, he told her that officers have been treated with more hostility.
She writes that during the riots, “My husband stood with his tactical team protecting the state capital in Iowa and had frozen water bottles and rocks thrown at them. Protesters spit and insulted them for hours at a time.”
I held a roundtable with Iowa law enforcement a couple of months ago, and one theme that I heard constantly is officer recruitment and retention. There aren’t enough police officers to go around. There are not enough young people joining the profession. Most new hires they’re seeing come from other law enforcement offices.
The question that comes up is how we can ask young people to join a profession if we do not take care of them. How can we ask them to protect us if we don’t protect them? And if we don’t have enough officers, we can only expect to see other violent crimes get worse and worse.
I agree with her, and I hope this hearing will help to examine all the aspects of this crisis for police and how we can help protect them.
Before I close, I would also like to introduce a letter from the National Association of Police Organizations, and also a statement from the Fraternal Order of Police, which states that anti-police rhetoric – amplified by social media platforms – leads to brazen acts of violence against law enforcement.
Original source can be found here
