National Police Week

Floor Speech

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Ms. HEITKAMP. Madam President, this evening, I want to honor our Nation's peace officers and to remember those who we have lost in the line of duty over the last year.

Sunday was Peace Officers Memorial Day, a day set aside by President Kennedy in 1962 to honor those law enforcement officers who we have lost in the line of duty, a day that unfortunately has touched me personally, both in the past while serving as attorney general for North Dakota and tragically again earlier this year when the city of Fargo, ND, lost one of its finest in the line of duty.

On the evening of Wednesday, February 10, 2016, Fargo Police Officer Jason Moszer answered the call to serve and protect for what would turn out to be the last time. He knew when he answered that call that he would confront an active-shooter situation, and he never hesitated in taking up a position to put himself between the shooter and the community he so very much loved.

Officer Moszer was struck down that evening, and his name will forever be etched in stone on the North Dakota's Peace Officer's Memorial that sits on the grounds of the State capitol in Bismarck. Through rain, sleet, and snow--extreme heat and cold--he will now stand alongside those other North Dakota officers who gave the ultimate sacrifice. They provide an unwavering example that, regardless of what conditions they face, our peace officers will stand steadfast regardless of what challenges they may face.

National Police Week is very special to me. When I served as attorney general of North Dakota in the 1990s, I had the privilege to work directly with many of our State's law enforcement officers, from the highway patrol, to State and local officers, various Federal officers, and our tribal police. It was in that job that I truly began to appreciate the hard work and dedication of those officers who serve the people of North Dakota. These are some of the finest men and women I have ever met.

During my time as a U.S. Senator, I have been able to see many old friends that continue their service and have met an entire new generation of law enforcement officers at the beginning of their careers. I can tell you that this new generation of law enforcement officers are not only up to the task, but will most certainly meet the same standards of excellence as their predecessors.

I want to give special recognition to the Grand Forks Country Drug Task Force, a collection of State, local, and Federal law enforcement members who were honored earlier this year by the HIDTA program with an Outstanding Cooperative Effort award. This award came was the result of Operation Denial, a multiagency investigation into the international trafficking of fentanyl and other lethal drugs that led to multiple arrests and convictions in various States and countries. As we talk about the opioid abuse epidemic in the Senate and look to address this scourge on our communities, law enforcement officers are on the front lines tackling this challenge head-on.

When honoring the service and sacrifice of our Nation's law enforcement officers, all too often there is a group of officers that don't garner the attention and praise that they deserve, our tribal law enforcement officers. Tribal officers work in some of the most challenging conditions, with incredible jurisdictional challenges and an embarrassing lack of resources, but they do not let that stand in the way of their dedication and passion to protect Indian Country. This evening, I want to extend special recognition and a personal thank you to all of our tribal law enforcement officers.

I continue to work on behalf of our men and women in law enforcement, and all of us in Congress must continue to support our law enforcement officers with the resources and protections necessary for them to perform their duties.

Last year, I was proud see a bill that I cosponsored, the Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu [Wen-Gin Lew] National Blue Alert Act, enacted into law. This bipartisan legislation established a national Blue Alert communications network to disseminate information about threats to officers. The law seeks to make sure that appropriate steps can be taken as quickly as possible to provide for an officer's safety.

Just yesterday, the President signed two more bills into law that I supported and that will give law enforcement additional and sorely needed resources, the Transnational Drug Trafficking Act that will provide increased tools to go after foreign manufacturers or distributors of chemicals that will eventually end up in the U.S. as illicit drugs, and the Bulletproof Vest Reauthorization Act will extend for 5 years the matching grant program that helps law enforcement purchase lifesaving bulletproof vests.

Just last week, another bill, the POLICE Act, passed out of the Judiciary Committee. This bill would make Federal grants available for law enforcement officers and medical personnel to help them better prepare for active-shooter situations, including training civilians on how to respond if confronted by an active shooter. Congress needs to swiftly pass this bill.

And I am a proud cosponsor of Senator Leahy and Senator Grassley's resolution recognizing among other things, the dedication and sacrifice of all of our law enforcement officers and our debt of gratitude to each and every one of them.

Thank you to all of our Nation's law enforcement officers for the jobs you do every day. I want to especially thank the law enforcement officers in my home State of North Dakota. I believe they are the finest collection of officers in the Nation. They are out there working day and night to keep our families safe, and just as they do for us, I will keep fighting for them every day. This Nation, our State, and our local communities owe our law enforcement officers a continuing debt of gratitude for their selfless actions to meet their sworn duty to protect and serve.

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