The safety of our families, homes, schools, and businesses is vital, and I want to make sure we give law enforcement the support and tools they need to safely carry out their duties to protect our communities.

Here are a few ways I’m supporting our law enforcement and keeping Southwest Washington safe:

• Introducing legislation to increase federal funding for COPS Grants to hire, train, and retain police officers. 
• Introducing legislation to increase funding for smaller, local police departments. 
• Introducing legislation to incentivize states like Washington to reverse bad police laws. 
• Securing $1.5 million to equip Vancouver police force with body-worn and in-car cameras – requested and supported by the Vancouver Police Department and the City of Vancouver.
• Introducing legislation to expand schools’ access to school resource officers and the use of silent panic alarms to immediately alert law enforcement to respond more quickly to school incidents.
• Meeting with and hearing from local law enforcement from across our region to hear directly the issues they’re facing, including rising crime, training and recruitment concerns, budgetary challenges, and more.

I will also continue to actively oppose the dangerous notion of “defunding the police” that has been taken up by certain politicians, city councils and activists. While we should always strive to reform and improve policing to make sure all citizens are protected, we should abandon the notion that defunding and treating them like the enemy will make our communities safer.