WEEKLY UPDATE May 11 - May 15, 2020 BROOKS BAWDEN MOORE Inside This Latest News I s s u e : • National Police Week 2020 – A Reflection by Ron Brooks: This week would nor- Highlighted 1 I s s u e s mally have seen thousands of law enforcement officers and their families and friends de- scend upon Washington, DC for Police Memorial events. Unfortunately we are all re- This Week’s 3 membering from home this year. Ron put together some thoughts about the significance H e a r i n g s / of this week and tells one of his personal stories about why this week is sacred. Check M a r k u p s out his reflection here. Legislation 4 on the Floor • New Member of the BBM Team: We are excited to welcome Jake Schiff to the Brooks Bawden Moore, LLC team as a Government P r e v i o u s 6 Affairs Associate. Jake most recently served as chief of staff to a H e a r i n g s / member of the Maryland House of Delegates. During law school at M a r k u p s the University of Maryland Jake served as a Law Clerk on the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and P r e v i o u s 7 was an intern in the office of a U.S. Representative. He is a Miami, Floor Actions Florida native and got his undergraduate degree from the University of Introduced 8 Florida. Jake can be reached at [email protected]. Please help us Legislation welcome him! U p c o m i n g 10 E v e n t s • Message from MCSA During NPW - During this 2020 National Police Week, the Major County Sheriffs of America pays tribute to those members of our law enforcement family who have made the ultimate sacrifice and offers thanks to those who are serving Previous our communities during this unprecedented time. You can watch their message here. U p d a t e s : • FOP National Police Week Tribute - In honor of National Police Week, the Frater- • FY 2021 Budget nal Order of Police released a virtual tribute to honor those who gave their lives in the service of their community. You can watch the tribute here. • FY 2020 Omnibus • Tributes from our LE Partners - National Police Week is a time when we come to- • FY 2020 FEMA gether to honor and remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice serving their com- Grants munities. You can view Attorney General Barr’s tribute here. You can view ATF’s tribute here. You can view DEA’s tribute here. • Grant Deadlines • Join Billy Crystal and the Secure Community Network (SCN) for a Live Virtual • Weekly 5/4/20 L'Chaim in honor of the first responders protecting our communities during the COVID- 19 crisis. You can register for this virtual event here. • Weekly 4/27/20 • FOP Urges DOJ to File Statement of Interest in LEOSA Case - The Fraternal • Weekly 4/20/20 Order of Police recently sent a letter to the Department of Justice urging the Justice De- partment to file a Statement of Interest to clarify a New Jersey Attorney General FAQ • Weekly 4/13/20 document regarding an interpretation of LEOSA. You can read the letter here. • Weekly 4/6/20 www.bbm-dc.com │300 M Street, S.E. Suite 402 Washington D.C. 20003 │ (202) 350-0103 M A Y 1 1 - MAY 15, 2020 WEEKLY UPDATE Page 2 • The House and Senate were in session this week, with the Senate meeting through-out the week and approving legisla- tion to extend public safety officer death benefits to public safety officers whose death is caused by COVID–19, legisla- tion to collect data on officer suicides, and a resolution to recognize National Police Week. The House considered a $3 trillion spending package to respond to COVID-19. This package included over $1 billion to the law enforcement community to address its needs. You can find more information on the details of this package on pg. 4. • Law Enforcement Congressional Briefing on LE Needs During COVID-19 - Law enforcement is facing un- precedented challenges as COVID-19 impacts communities across the nation. Earlier this week, representatives from twelve public safety associations hosted a congressional staff briefing webinar to brief Congress on what the public safe- ty community is seeing during COVID-19. You can watch a recording of the briefing here. • SEARCH Organizes May 8 Webinar on NICS for Capitol Hill Staff - SEARCH organized a webinar for Capitol Hill staff to provide an overview of the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The May 8 event featured experts from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statis- tics (BJS), National Center for State Courts (NCSC), and SEARCH, who briefed dozens of congressional, agency, and association staff. Panelists outlined how the firearms eligibility process works by providing an overview of NICS — including the data- bases involved, where the information comes from, and where it is stored. They also explored the critical role of the local and state agencies in contributing data, and that of the states and the FBI in the firearms eligibility decision-making process. In addition, panelists provided details on current funding programs that support the NICS, as well as challeng- es, obstacles, and successful information sharing strategies for making records available for firearms eligibility decisions. • GAO Report on Algorithms Used in Federal Law Enforcement - The Government Accountability Office re- cently released a review of forensic algorithms used by Federal law enforcement. The review found that Federal law enforcement is primarily using three types of forensic algorithms to help assess whether or not evidence collected in a criminal investigation may have originated from an individual: probabilistic genotyping, latent print analysis, and face recognition. You can view the report here. • Report on Drone use by Public Safety Agencies - In February 2019, the COPS Office, the Police Executive Re- search Forum (PERF), and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) convened a two-day conference in Wash- ington, D.C., to discuss the policy and operational issues regarding the implementation and use of drones. A recently released report details information presented and discussed by the conference participants; lessons learned; and prom- ising practices gathered from interviews, policy reviews, and survey data for the purpose of providing law enforcement agencies with guidance on implementing a drone program. You can read that report here. • Collaboration Services for Telework - The National Security Agency recently released cybersecurity guidance contains a snapshot of current, commercially-available collaboration tools available for use, along with a list of security criteria to consider when selecting which capability to leverage. In addition, the guidance contains a high-level security assessment of how each capability measures up against the defined security criteria, which can be used to more quickly identify the risks and features associated with each tool. You can view the guidance here. • Grants Awarded to Combat Violent Crime - This week, DOJ announced that it awarded seven cities with more than $61 million in grant funding to support the Operation Relentless Pursuit initiative. This initative aims to intensify federal law enforcement resources into seven cities with violent crime levels several times the national average. These cities include Albuquerque, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Kansas City, Memphis, and Milwaukee. You can read the press release here. • Further Information on COVID-19 - You can find further links 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. www.bbm-dc.com │300 M Street, S.E. Suite 402 Washington D.C. 20003 │ (202) 350-0103 M A Y 1 1 - MAY 15, 2020 WEEKLY UPDATE Page 3 • CLIENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Rapid DNA technology continues to play an important role in solving crimes. Recently, the Butte County Sheriffs De- partment used an ANDE Rapid DNA machine to solve a string of vehicle burglaries in 2019 and 2020. This technology was able to link a suspect to the scene of multiple crimes. You can read more about this here. • ARTICLES OF INTEREST: Trump Justice Department asks for more resources to enforce gun laws Politico | Betsy Woodruff Swan As gun sales surge during the coronavirus pandemic, the Justice Department is asking Congress for more enforcement resources — including to confiscate guns from people who shouldn’t legally be able to own them. In recent outreach to Capitol Hill, DOJ made two requests related to the spike in gun purchases, according to two sources with knowledge of those asks. First, the department asked for funding to help the FBI hire more staff to keep up with the growing num- ber of background checks and appeal requests going through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The bureau runs that system, which handles background checks on millions of gun buyers every year. Continue read- ing here. Republicans press DHS for details on Chinese drones donated to law enforcement Washington Examiner | Mica Soellner Republican lawmakers are raising security concerns about drones provided by Chinese company Da Jiang Innovations being used by law enforcement and public safety agencies throughout the United States. In a letter to Chris Krebs, di- rector of the Homeland Security Department's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, GOP members of the House Judiciary Committee asked for information about how state and local law enforcement use the devices to help against the coronavirus pandemic.