For Immediate Release: June 11, 2024 1:00 PM EDT [email protected]
PROMINENT POLICE LEADERS LAUNCH NEW C4 ADVOCACY GROUP
Fed Up with Congressional Inaction in Face of Rising Threats New Group Will Champion Policies to Make Us Safer, Improve & Evolve Policing, Safeguard Rule of Law
Will Also Endorse Federal Candidates
Nationally Prominent Police Leaders from Across the U.S. Join Together to Form “Police Leaders for Community Safety
Citing Congressional inaction on crucial public safety and policing issues – especially those addressing gun violence – more than 50 prominent police leaders from across the nation today launched Police Leaders for Community Safety (Police Leaders), a national nonpartisan advocacy organization.
The group, formed as a 501(c)4 organization, will work to impact policy in Congress and the Executive Branch and will also endorse aligned federal candidates – the only national police leadership organization to do so.
Led by a diverse group of prominent police professionals – who have been at the helm of the major national law enforcement leadership organizations – the organization will champion policies to make communities and the people in them safer, improve and evolve policing, and safeguard the rule of law.
Police Leaders for Community Safety is advocating for universal background checks and extreme risk protection laws to keep guns from those who are a danger to themselves or others, and is calling for more aggressive prosecution of gun crimes and increased funding for law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
“We are tired of hearing political speeches on crime and violence and seeing little action. Politicians can’t call themselves tough on crime and oppose stronger gun laws,” said Board Vice Chair Rick Myers, who has been a police chief in eight communities in multiple states.
“Police leaders across the nation are fed up that Congress has failed to act on legislation that will save lives and make our communities safer,” said Board Chair Sue Riseling, past Executive Director of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA) and former Chief of the University of Wisconsin Madison. “We can’t sit on the sidelines expecting that things will change on their own. We know we need more robust and active involvement of police leaders to get lawmakers to act.”
“We have been on the front lines and we know what works – and what needs to change,” said Riseling. “We have a responsibility to share our expertise about what needs to be done to better protect our communities, and to call it like we see it,” she added.
“The brave men and women of policing run towards the sound of gunfire to protect and preserve human life. It is long past time for Congress to bravely seek bipartisan solutions to limit the extreme impact of weapons of mass destruction,” Myers said, referring to the need to regulate military style assault weapons used in mass shootings.
Former Aurora Chief Dan Oates, who led the department during the massacre at the movie theater that killed 12 and injured 70 others said, “I saw firsthand how a military style, high-capacity assault rifle — designed and built to kill people – could cause such carnage so quickly. Congress must show the courage to protect our nation and our officers from the violence that comes from military style assault weapons.”
The group’s efforts to improve and evolve the policing profession will include advocating for higher standards and accountability for police agencies. “We simply must ensure that police agencies are professionally managed and have the ability to discipline and remove officers and executives who betray the public trust,” said former Rochester, NY Chief and past Board member of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE), Cynthia Herriott. The group will advocate for federal funding for law enforcement leaders to participate in nationally recognized leadership training and development programs, and is calling for use of a national registry for police who have been discharged for egregious conduct.
Board member Dave Mahoney, former Sheriff of Dane County, WI and past president of the National Sheriffs’ Association, talked about the group’s intent to protect the rule of law and public processes. “For 247 years our nation has depended on laws and traditions that have ensured fair and free elections, followed by an orderly and peaceful transition of power.” Lamenting about the rising threat of violence around the 2024 elections, Mahoney said, “It is disgraceful that we even have to have this conversation about protecting the right to vote or protecting election workers from harassment or danger, but that’s where we are now,”
Determined to put these issues front and center, police leaders on the Board and Advisory Board have personally funded the launch of this group, but will now begin seeking support from the general public.
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