{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/releases?ContentRecord_id=E1D1CA88-8700-4121-B8A0-7677D83232B8", "Hatch Praises Utah Law Enforcement in Visit to Chiefs of Police Association", "2016-11-02", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "UT", "Orrin Hatch", "H000338", "www.hatch.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "SALT LAKE CITY\u2014This afternoon, Senator Hatch praised police officers and expressed his gratitude for Utah\u2019s law enforcement community in an address to the Utah Chiefs of Police Association at the organization's Mid-Winter Conference. \u00a0\r\nIn a year fraught with increased tension between police departments and surrounding communities, Hatch sought to correct misconceptions about law enforcement, saying \u201cThe narrative that police are the enemy is false. It\u2019s fiction. It\u2019s a libel on the hundreds of thousands of brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep the rest of us safe from harm. You know that, and I know that. But unfortunately, that\u2019s not what we see in the media.\u201d\r\nHe continued, \u201cI reject emphatically the false and pernicious narrative we see peddled in the media that police officers are the bad guys. You\u2019re not. You\u2019re the good guys\u2014and gals. You\u2019re the ones we turn to when we face danger or when a criminal\u2014let\u2019s call them what they are\u2014threatens us or our families. You keep the peace. You keep society together. You do more good in one day than any smug Washington bureaucrat can hope to do in a year, or a decade. You\u2019re not the bad guys. You\u2019re heroes. And it\u2019s time we paid you the respect you\u2019re due.\u201d\r\n\u00a0In a recent letter to the Utah Chiefs of Police Association, Hatch highlighted his efforts to empower and strengthen law enforcement, including legislation he has championed to fight prescription drug abuse, expedite the processing of DNA evidence, improve office safety, facilitate active shooting training, and ensure justice for fallen officers and their families.\r\n\r\nThe full speech, as prepared for delivery, is below:\r\n\u00a0\r\nI\u2019m here today because I want to convey to you my strong support for law enforcement and for the important work you do.\r\nThis is not an easy time to be a police officer. Many in the media, and in government, have been promulgating the pernicious view that police are the bad guys, that there is something untoward about enforcing our laws and working to keep our communities safe.\r\nIn the topsy-turvy world of these misguided critics, criminals are the oppressed. Criminals are the ones who deserve our sympathy and compassion. It\u2019s not the drug dealer, the burglar, or the street thug that\u2019s harming our community, producing civil unrest, and fraying the bonds that hold society together. Rather, it\u2019s the police that are causing these problems, by enforcing unjust laws and singling out individuals for undeserved punishment.\r\nThese critics not only challenge the actions of police officers, but they challenge their motives as well. They find bias and prejudice in everyday police practices\u2014techniques that officers have used for decades to keep our streets and homes safe from harm. They impugn the work of honest cops with long, distinguished records of service, jumping to conclusions based on nothing more than the race or background of the officer.\r\nEvery incident becomes a potential flashpoint. Officers respond to a call, or show up at a home, where they\u2019re greeted by an agitated crowd with cell phones primed to record any potential misstep. Some individuals even taunt officers with the hope of catching something embarrassing on tape. Most problematic, an increased number of citizens are feeling emboldened to resist law enforcement, as though it\u2019s brave or courageous to defy an officer\u2019s commands, rather than dangerous and dumb.\r\nThe narrative that police are the enemy is false. It\u2019s fiction. It\u2019s a libel on the hundreds of thousands of brave men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep the rest of us safe from harm. You know that, and I know that. But unfortunately, that\u2019s not what we see in the media.\r\nNow, there have always been those who criticize the police and who would rather undermine than support law enforcement. There have always been bad elements in society. But this moment feels different, and I think it is different.\r\nAnd what\u2019s different about it is the posture we\u2019re seeing from some of our top officials in Washington and in cities around the country. When the President of the United States comes out and opines that police officers \u201cacted stupidly\u201d in responding to an incident before all the facts are even known, it undermines respect for law enforcement. When the State\u2019s Attorney in a major American city reacts to a tragic death by bringing unjustified charges against the officers involved and by withholding evidence proving the officers\u2019 innocence, it tilts the system against those who deserve our admiration and thanks. And when the federal Department of Justice takes it upon itself to act as a watchdog for purported abuses at the state and local level, well, I can think of few things more likely to weaken morale and strain relations between federal and local law enforcement.\r\nThe sad fact is that many in the current administration have taken sides against police in the ongoing struggle between effective community policing and ever-encroaching political correctness. Officials at DOJ and in other administration posts are all too eager to point out alleged mistakes and imperfections without adequately considering the tremendous pressures law enforcement officials operate under. Police officers deserve our gratitude; what they get from our federal overlords is condemnation.\r\nNow, I do not mean to suggest that there should be no federal role in protecting against civil rights violations and other abuses. There are bad apples, and it\u2019s important to find them and to rectify the harms they\u2019ve caused.\u00a0\r\nBut this notion that there\u2019s bias and prejudice everywhere you look, even if you can\u2019t see it\u2014even if no one can see it\u2014is absurd. Worse, it\u2019s dangerous, because it undermines morale and leads officers to second-guess their instincts.\r\nWe\u2019ve even reached the point now where DOJ officials refuse to use the term criminal. Individuals who break the law and are convicted for their crimes are no longer criminals. Rather, they\u2019re \u201cjustice-involved individuals.\u201d I\u2019m serious. This is not a joke. The first time I read this I thought maybe I\u2019d accidentally stumbled upon an Onion article. But it\u2019s true. The administration is now so concerned with the plight of criminals that it refuses even to call them by that name. Someone call George Orwell. He would love this.\r\nSo we have leaders who denigrate and second-guess our police officers while at the same time inventing laughable euphemisms for the people we should actually be concerned about. Truly the world is upside-down.\r\nBut my message to you today is that not everyone in Washington and other places has been snookered by this destructive narrative. In fact, polls indicate that the American people reject it overwhelmingly. A poll last month found that 76 percent of Americans have a \u201cgreat deal\u201d of respect for police in their area, up 12 points from last year. That is the highest level of respect the poll has found since 1967. So the American people\u2014the people who are interacting with police officers on a day-to-day basis and who are relying on officers to keep them safe\u2014have tremendous respect for law enforcement. And their support has only increased over the last 12 months.\r\nI can tell you as well that many of my Senate colleagues\u2014the vast majority in fact\u2014agree with the American people on this. Support for law enforcement runs broad and deep among my colleagues. This year, just as it has the past several years, the Senate unanimously passed a resolution designating a week in May as National Police Week and honoring those law enforcement officers who gave their lives in the line of duty over the last twelve months. More than half the Senate, including myself, joined as cosponsors of the resolution.\r\nI\u2019ve been working hard this Congress to support law enforcement and to counter the anti-police narrative we see so frequently in the media.\r\nIn fact, I wrote recently to each of the police chiefs in the state to describe what I\u2019ve been doing and how these efforts will help Utah law enforcement. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ve all read and re-read\u2014and re-re-read\u2014the letter many times, so I won\u2019t repeat it here. But let me give just a few toplines for those who haven\u2019t had a chance yet to study it in earnest.\r\nOne initiative I\u2019m particularly excited about, and which I think will make a big difference here in Utah, is Rapid DNA. As you all know, DNA technology has made tremendous strides in recent years. Creating a DNA profile from a cheek swab or other sample used to be a cumbersome, time-consuming process that required significant involvement by a lab technician. Recent advances, however, have streamlined the process so that many samples can now be analyzed by fully automated Rapid DNA devices in less than two hours. These devices, which can be placed in booking stations, can enable an officer to know almost immediately whether an individual in custody is wanted for an outstanding crime or has a connection to evidence from a crime scene. This is exciting technology.\r\nUnfortunately, federal law has not kept pace with these technological advances. Federal law still requires all DNA profiles uploaded to the FBI\u2019s CODIS database to be processed at an accredited crime lab. This requirement may have made sense back when even simple DNA analysis required extensive direct involvement by a lab technician, but it no longer makes sense today.\r\nSo I introduced the bipartisan Rapid DNA Act to authorize trained law enforcement officials to upload DNA profiles generated by Rapid DNA devices to CODIS and to perform database comparisons. The FBI has said that the authority in my bill would \u201cchange the world in a very, very exciting way [by enabling law enforcement] to know instantly\u2014or near instantly\u2014whether [a] person is the [criminal] who\u2019s been on the loose in a particular community before they\u2019re released on bail and get away, or to clear somebody, to show that they\u2019re not the [criminal].\u201d The bill has already passed the Senate. I\u2019m working with my House colleagues to get it through the House so it can become law.\r\nAnother bill that I firmly believe will make a meaningful difference for you and your officers is the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Reauthorization Act. This bill renews for another five years a federal grant program that provides $25 million in matching funds for state and local law enforcement to purchase bulletproof vests for officers. These vests save many lives each year. \u00a0But as you know, they\u2019re also quite costly. I was glad to be part of the effort to renew this important grant program to protect you and your officers from harm.\r\nTwo more bills I\u2019d like to briefly mention. First is a bill I cosponsored to authorize grants to state and local law enforcement for training to counter active shooter threats and acts of terrorism. Recent tragedies in Orlando, San Bernardino, and other cities have highlighted the importance of training officers to respond to active shooter situations. President Obama signed the bill into law this summer.\r\nSecond is the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, which I negotiated with my House and Senate counterparts and which is also now law. This bill was the first effort at the national level to address the prescription drug crisis in a comprehensive manner. It creates or improves a number of crucial programs to fight prescription drug abuse, including programs to provide medication-assisted treatment for offenders with substance abuse problems. It also provides funding for naloxone, a drug used to counteract opioid overdoses. The authority in the bill will help you in your efforts to fight prescription drug abuse and to keep young people from becoming addicted to prescription drugs.\r\nIt\u2019s time now for me to close, but before I do, I\u2019d like to emphasize again my strong support for you and for the important work you do. You labor every day to keep our homes and communities safe from harm. You are the front lines in the fight against crime. You work to keep drugs off our streets and guns out of the hands of criminals.\r\nI reject emphatically the false and pernicious narrative we see peddled in the media that police officers are the bad guys. You\u2019re not. You\u2019re the good guys\u2014and gals. You\u2019re the ones we turn to when we face danger or when a criminal\u2014let\u2019s call them what they are\u2014threatens us or our families. You keep the peace. You keep society together. You do more good in one day than any smug Washington bureaucrat can hope to do in a year, or a decade. You\u2019re not the bad guys. You\u2019re heroes. And it\u2019s time we paid you the respect you\u2019re due.\r\nThank you.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/releases?ContentRecord_id=E1D1CA88-8700-4121-B8A0-7677D83232B8"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.0341749768704176, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}