H.R. 5407 Deserves a Hearing

Floor Speech

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Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I would like to say without
reservation, hesitation, or equivocation, I have preeminent respect for
the constabulary. I have a relative who was a part of the constabulary.
I believe that police officers have a very difficult job, and they do
it under stressful circumstances, and I believe that most police
officers are doing a good job every day.

I also want to say that there are many people without the
constabulary, however, who would have us get over Michael Brown, get
over Eric Garner, get on with it. And then there are those who say in
the alternative--not in these exact words but with words connoting
this--they say, if you can't get over Garner, get over Brown, because
Garner is a better case for you to take to the court of public opinion.

To these people I say, we can't get over Garner and we can't get over
Brown, because if the truth be told, Garner and Brown are two sides of
the same coin, two sides of one coin. If the truth be told, without the
eye of the camera, without what appears to be clear and convincing
evidence, without what appears to be evidence that is beyond reproach,
without the eye of the camera, Garner would be Brown. The Garner case
is only what it is because the camera was there to capture the essence
of what happened.

If the truth be told, without the camera, there would be questions
about how Garner was arrested, there would be questions about how he
was taken to the ground, there would be questions about whether he made
comments about his inability to breathe. How many times did he say, ``I
can't breathe?'' There would be questions about whether or not he made
some effort to harm some officer. There would be questions about
whether the guns were somehow at risk of being taken from an officer.

If the truth be told, without the eye of the camera, Garner would be
Brown.

This is why, Mr. Speaker, I have made an appeal to this House to
bring H.R. 5407 to the floor. Let it go to a hearing. H.R. 5407 is the
TIP Act, the Transparency in Policing Act. H.R. 5407 would accord the
Justice Department the opportunity to do a survey and ascertain the
cost of equipping municipalities, counties, police departments--the
constabulary, if you will--with cameras. Then it would go on to require
those that can afford it to have the cameras, and those that cannot, it
provides an exemption to them.

H.R. 5407 is good legislation. It is not a panacea; it won't cure
all. For those who are concerned about the camera not being enough to
cause a proper decision to be reached before a grand jury, it may not
be, but it sure does provide the opportunity to galvanize the country
around the notion that something needs to be done. It is not a panacea,
not a cure-all, but it does present an opportunity for officers to be
exonerated.

H.R. 5407 would do more to help officers than anything out there
right now that I can see, because it gives the evidence of what
actually occurred at an event, it can cause officers not to be
questioned about what they did, and it will cause those who would
perpetrate dastardly deeds and fraudulent circumstances upon officers
to be properly prosecuted.

H.R. 5407 is a bill that is before the House and has a good many
supporters right now, more than 40.

I believe that H.R. 5407 deserves a hearing. I make an appeal, I
beseech, and I implore my colleagues, who have the preeminent authority
to make a decision as to whether it moves forward, to please give H.R.
5407 an opportunity to be heard. This is not an appeal from one
Congressperson; this is an appeal from those who are concerned about
proper policing.

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