Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. BOOKER. Mr. President, when the Federal Government authorizes billions of dollars in grants to States, we have a duty to ensure that those dollars are spent in a responsible, effective manner. Accountability is essential to a healthy, functioning democracy.

And it is especially important when we discuss issues related to policing. In recent years, we have seen egregious instances of police misconduct, many of which have involved the unjustifiable deaths of Black people. Right now, it is vital that we prioritize initiatives that will improve public safety and strengthen public trust in law enforcement.

As mayor of Newark, I spent hundreds of hours with police officers riding along with them in their squad cars and learning about the daily challenges they face trying to make our communities safer. I have seen their bravery in the face of uncertainty and their fear knowing that their streets are filling up with deadly weapons of war. I have witnessed the enormous sacrifices they make in service of the public.

I have tremendous respect for our law enforcement officers. and I believe that they need support to be able to do their jobs effectively. I support improving officer training programs, hiring more officers in underresourced departments, and updating the outdated equipment law enforcement agencies are often left using.

Any resources provided, however, must be coupled with transparency. It flies in the face of responsible governance to invest significant resources into something without ever knowing what parts of that investment are paying dividends.

Transparency does not mean that every law enforcement program must come under the Federal Government's close scrutiny. Instead, it means commonsense data collection and reporting. It means tracking how Federal funds are spent and whether they produce positive or negative outcomes.

It means doing basic due diligence for the purpose of improving policing in this country and ensuring that taxpayer dollars are being spent as effectively as possible.

As Congress moves to increase Federal assistance to State and local law enforcement agencies, we must ensure responsible administration and oversight of grant programs and ensure resources are directed toward policing practices that actually enhance public safety and promote the dignity of all communities, especially Black and Brown communities.

One of the biggest pools of funding for our Nation's law enforcement comes in the form of grants from the Community Oriented Policing Services, COPS, Office. The amount of money given to State and local law enforcement through these grants has steadily increased over the last few years, from $222 million for fiscal year 2017 to $512 million for fiscal year 2022.

These grants fund the improvement of Tribal law enforcement agencies, school violence prevention, drug crime enforcement aria prevention, mental health and wellness services, equipment and technological capabilities, and community policing strategies.

All of these programs share the goal of improving public safety. Yet, despite the large increase in funding for the COPS grant program, Congress has not moved to measure the successes and failures of the program. As such, we cannot be sure that real improvements are actually being made with the more than half a billion dollars in taxpayer money being spent.

Reviewing how COPS grants are being spent and the outcomes they are producing will help realize the very goals that the COPS program aims to advance.

Ensuring that the Federal Government, through COPS grants, invests in best practices will help train officers in the most effective ways possible. Establishing performance metrics for COPS grants will allow law enforcement agencies to identify which initiatives make officers and the public safer and which reduce negative and dangerous interactions between law enforcement and the public.

As law enforcement agencies are called upon to bolster their data collection and reporting practices, it is also important to recognize that some agencies, particularly in underresourced communities, struggle to respond to those calls even with the availability of COPS grants. We must specifically dedicate more resources toward helping these law enforcement agencies meet these standards.

In particular, many law enforcement agencies have not been fully equipped to report data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Use-of-Force Data Collection. This dearth of data severely hinders our ability to analyze policing trends, develop best practices, and hold officers accountable for wrongdoing when it occurs.

These measures for transparency and accountability are basic, commonsense ways to invest effectively in policing and make our communities safer. All law enforcement agencies should be collecting and reporting data. All law enforcement agencies should be complying with civil rights laws. All law enforcement agencies should be using performance metrics to identify best practices. These are the building blocks of responsible, modern policing which we should all be able to agree on.

Today, I introduced the COPS Responsible Administration and Management Act of 2022, which will promote the kind of accountability and transparency that should accompany these important investments that the Federal Government makes in law enforcement.

This bill supports and complements the crucial investments we are making in police forces by reviewing COPS grants to ensure they are being effectively and efficiently administered, evaluating how COPS grants are being utilized and how well they are assisting law enforcement in making communities safer, offering grants to agencies to improve data reporting, and assessing agency compliance with civil rights laws.

This Congress has made historic investments in improving law enforcement and addressing violent crime in our communities. Let us also take the time to make sure that those investments are paying off.

Law enforcement agencies across the country are struggling to manage competing demands. Officers work incredibly hard every day to protect their neighborhoods, and they often do so without the equipment, personnel, and training that they need.

The good news is that law enforcement agencies will be receiving many of these important resources with COPS grant funding. At the same time, if the goal of this funding is to improve policing and public safety, which we can all agree it is, then we must also track and evaluate the success of these grants.

Our investments should produce positive outcomes for communities. They should reduce negative and dangerous interactions between officers and the public, including use-of-force incidents, and they should increase the public's trust in law enforcement.

Our officers deserve resources that will help them do their jobs effectively and keep them safe. Our communities deserve police forces that are well-trained and well-informed. The COPS Administration Act will help secure both of those goals.

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