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Weekly Update WEEKLY UPDATE June 1 - 5, 2020 BROOKS BAWDEN MOORE Inside This Latest News I s s u e : • The House met in pro forma sessions this week, and the Senate continued consideration Highlighted 1 I s s u e s on a handful of nominations, and approved legislation to amend provisions in the CARES Act with regards to the small business loans. This week the Senate Judiciary Committee This Week’s 4 held a hearing on best practices for jails and prisons during COVID-19. Additionally, there H e a r i n g s / were multiple other hearings and briefings on how COVID-19 has affected other sectors, M a r k u p s including a House Homeland Security discussion on election security during this current pandemic. Legislation 5 on the Floor • Next week, the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on policing practices. They P r e v i o u s 6 are expected to hear from the law enforcement community and reform activists on a H e a r i n g s / whole host of issues concerning law enforcement practices. The Senate Judiciary Commit- M a r k u p s tee is expected to hold a hearing the following week. There were numerous bills intro- duced this week focused on policing reforms, of which we will highlight in next week’s P r e v i o u s 6 Floor Actions weekly. Introduced 8 • Policing Reform - Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated that a policing reform measure could be Legislation unveiled as early as next Monday. The House Democratic Caucus, with the Congressional Black Caucus taking the lead, is looking at more than 50 pieces of current legislation to be U p c o m i n g 9 E v e n t s included in a policing reform package or for consideration as standalone measures. This legislation could include, but not limited to ending law enforcement practices of racial pro- filing and excessive use of force, bans on the use of chokeholds, elimination of military- Previous grade equipment used by police forces, ending "qualified immunity,” requiring additional U p d a t e s : training and development of training standards, and use of force data collection require- ments. The House is expected to vote on these policing reform measures when they re- • FY 2021 Budget turn at the end of the month. The Senate Armed Services Committee is expected to markup the annual Defense Authorization bill. Potential amendments to end or scale-back • FY 2020 Omnibus the 1033 program, which transfers military equipment to U.S. police departments, could be considered. The Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee has stated that he • FY 2020 FEMA expects reforms to the 1033 program to be included within the base bill or added as an Grants amendment when they consider their version of the bill. • Grant Deadlines • Using Multimedia Interoperability to Achieve Tactical Advantage - During these times of civil unrest, the ability of public safety agencies to respect and protect constitu- • Weekly 5/26/20 tionally guaranteed rights of free speech, peaceful assembly and petition is of the utmost importance. Unfortunately, we have seen where some anarchist groups have infiltrated • Weekly 5/18/20 and exploited peaceful protests by seeking to agitate and incite violence. The ability to counter these threats requires law enforcement to achieve tactical advantages by being • Weekly 5/11/20 able to rapidly assess ground conditions and anticipate movements. This can be achieved using advanced coordinated cross-agency communications, video surveillance monitoring • Weekly 5/4/20 and sharing, and discrete tactical communications tools. Recently, retired law enforcement officials to include Col. (Ret.) George Battle, CT State Police; Col.; (Ret.) Rick Fuentes, NJ • Weekly 4/27/20 State Police; Col. (Ret.) Frank Milstead, AZ Department of Public Safety, State Police; Asst. www.bbm-dc.com │300 M Street, S.E. Suite 402 Washington D.C. 20003 │ (202) 350-0103 J U N E 1 - 5 , 2 0 2 0 WEEKLY UPDATE Page 2 Chief (Ret.) Ronald Brooks, CA Dept. of Justice, Chief (Ret.) Chris Moore, San Jose Police Dept., wrote a whitepaper on how public safety officials can achieve tactical superiority using tools that can help deny access, anticipate, and dis- rupt activities while degrading command and control. You can read the paper here. • FY 2021 Appropriations Update - The House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman has indicated that the Committee is moving forward on consideration of the FY 2021 Appropriations bills. Markups will be held in all sub- committees and full committee the weeks of July 6 and 13. Further, spending bills could be on the floor the weeks of July 20 and 27. The Senate Appropriations CJS Subcommittee could potentially markup the CJS bill later this month. • COPS Hiring Grant Funding - This week, the Department of Justice announced nearly $400 million in grant funding awards under the COPS Hiring Grant Program. The awards to 596 law enforcement agencies across the nation, will allow those agencies to hire 2,732 additional full-time law enforcement professionals. You can find the full list of award- ees here. • Designation of Twelve Areas as HIDTA’s - The Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy designat- ed 12 additional areas as High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas. The new areas are (1) Davidson County in Tennessee as part of the Appalachia HIDTA; (2) Chatham County in Georgia as part of the Atlanta/Carolinas HIDTA; (3) Manatee and Leon Counties in Florida as part of the Central Florida and North Florida HIDTAs, respectively; (4) Lake County in Illinois as part of the Chicago HIDTA; (5) Chambers County in Texas as part of the Houston HIDTA; (6) Vanderburgh County in Indiana as part of the Indiana HIDTA; (7) Eau Claire County in Wisconsin as part of the North Central HIDTA; (8) Grant County in Washington as part of the Northwest HIDTA; (9) Westmoreland County in Pennsylvania as part of the Ohio HIDTA; (10) Kootenai County in Idaho as part of the Oregon/Idaho HIDTA; and (11) Allegany County in Maryland as part of the Washington/Baltimore HIDTA. The Director also removed one area from HIDTA designation, Barrow County in Georgia as part of the Atlanta/Carolinas HIDTA. • +RISS Equals Results - The latest edition of +RISS Equals Results is now available, and features the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee two-week-long fugitive roundup called “Bluff City Blues.” This initiative The ROCIC assisted in this operation by providing information on the wanted fugitives to the U.S. Marshals Service and the Tennessee Department of Corrections. You can read the latest +RISS Equals Results here. • CICC 5 in 5 Newsletter - The most recent CICC 5 in 5 was released, and includes information on the nominations for the 2020 Medal of Valor, information on the National Public Safety Partnership (PSP) Clearinghouse toolkit, and a new podcast from CenTF. You can view the CICC 5 in 5 here. • Latest Information on COVID-19 - You can find the latest information to updates for law enforcement on COVID -19 at the Major County Sheriffs of America website here, IACP website here, at the Police Foundation website here, at the National Sheriffs Association website here, and at the NCCHC website here. • ARTICLES OF INTEREST: Fraternal Order of Police: Justice will be served USA Today | Patrick Yoes Our nation was justifiably horrified by the death of George Floyd, and we share in the pain and anger from the commu- nities we protect. The Fraternal Order of Police has confidence in our criminal justice system. This incident is being thoroughly investigated: All four officers were fired the day after the incident, and now all four have been charged. We are heartened that the case will be handled by the State Attorney General. I believe justice will be served. This tragic incident cannot be allowed to define our profession or our nation’s police officers. Law enforcement is one of the most diverse professions in our nation. During this pandemic crisis, the men and women of law enforcement were in the field putting themselves, and by extension, the members of their family, at risk of exposure to the virus. We have been and will continue to do our duty no matter what the situation. Continue reading here. www.bbm-dc.com │300 M Street, S.E. Suite 402 Washington D.C. 20003 │ (202) 350-0103 J U N E 1 - 5 , 2 0 2 0 WEEKLY UPDATE Page 3 Democrats plan to introduce police reform bill on Monday, Nancy Pelosi says Politico | Jacob Pramuk Democrats plan to introduce a police reform bill Monday during nationwide uproar over police brutality and racism in the justice system. The legislation, drafted by members of the Congressional Black Caucus, will aim to address exces- sive use of force, qualified immunity and racial profiling, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday. Qualified immunity makes it harder for victims of violence and their families to sue police. Continue reading here. House may return early to consider policing overhaul Roll Call | Lindsey McPherson The House could return to session earlier than June 30 to consider legislation to overhaul policing laws in response to the killing of George Floyd and nationwide unrest about racial injustices, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer told reporters Tuesday. “If in fact legislation is proposed by the CBC, Congressional Black Caucus, is considered by the committee and ready to go, we will then call all the members back to consider and pass that legislation,” the Maryland Democrat said on his weekly press call. The CBC is taking the lead in sifting through various legislative proposals mem- bers have offered and plans to recommend legislation the House should consider “in the near term,” Hoyer said.
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