Federal Law Enforcement Personnel and Resources Allocation Improvement Act of 2012

Thank you, Ranking Member Scott.

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by expressing my gratitude to the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Lamar Smith, for supporting H.R. 1550 and for

working with House leadership to schedule the bill for floor consideration.

I also want to thank the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Congressman Conyers, the chairman of the Crime Subcommittee, Congressman Sensenbrenner, and the ranking member of the Crime Subcommittee, Congressman Scott, for their support.

H.R. 1550 was unanimously approved by the Judiciary Committee and has been endorsed by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents over 25,000 Federal law enforcement officers employed by 65 agencies.

The short title of this bill, as modified, is the Federal Law Enforcement Personnel and Resources Allocation Improvement Act of 2012. The bill would direct the Department of Justice, when allocating law enforcement personnel and resources among U.S. jurisdictions, to give priority to those areas of the country that have high rates of homicide and other violent crime, including forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

The bill would require the Attorney General to designate an existing official within the Department of Justice who will be responsible for developing practices and procedures to implement this directive and for monitoring compliance with the directive by the Department's component agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Drug Enforcement Administration; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and the United States Marshals Service.

Finally, the bill would require the Attorney General to submit an annual report to the appropriate congressional committees. The report would specify which jurisdictions have a high incidence of homicide or other violent crime and would identify the steps that the Department of Justice is taking to prioritize the allocation of law enforcement personnel and resources to those high-crime areas.

In addition, the report would describe the methodology the Department is using to determine the total number of authorized Federal law enforcement positions nationwide, to allocate those authorized positions among different jurisdictions, and to assign personnel to fill those authorized positions.

The basis for H.R. 1550 is as follows: in recent years, the number of murders and other violent crimes nationwide has decreased substantially. Between 2007 and 2011, for example, the total number of murders in the United States decreased by over 20 percent, and the total number of violent crimes decreased by nearly 18 percent.

Most U.S. jurisdictions, whether urban, suburban or rural, have experienced a meaningful reduction in murders and other violent crimes. From the macro-perspective, the progress we have witnessed has been real and, in many cases, remarkable. Much of the credit is due to law enforcement officers on the Federal and local levels. Enhanced and effective policing can make, and has made, a tremendous difference in our communities.

Unfortunately, certain jurisdictions, sometimes referred to as ``hot spots,'' have been exceptions to this steady downward trend in violent crime. My own district, Puerto Rico, is a case in point. Today, the number of annual murders in Puerto Rico is nearly 90 percent higher than it was in 1990. Between 2007 and 2011 alone, homicides rose by 55 percent, with most of the violence linked to the drug trade. Yet the Federal law enforcement footprint in the U.S. Territory has not evolved in light of these changed circumstances. Instead, it has remained stagnant.

Puerto Rico may be the most dramatic example of a U.S. jurisdiction where violent crime has increased rather than decreased, but it's by no means alone. For example, Flint, Michigan, experienced a 73 percent increase in homicides between 2007 and 2011, while a major metropolitan area in the Central Valley of California witnessed a 100 percent increase in murders.

Moreover, there are numerous other areas where there has been some progress in reducing crime, but where violence remains far too high. Examples of such areas include Detroit, St. Louis, Memphis, Oakland, Little Rock, Birmingham, Atlanta, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, and New Orleans.

H.R. 1550 would promote and institutionalize steps that the Department of Justice, to its credit, has already begun to take. Recently, the Department developed a new initiative known as the Violent Crime Reduction Partnership to help target Federal resources to areas in need of additional law enforcement support.

Pursuant to this initiative, for example, more than 50 officials from the FBI, DEA, ATF, the U.S. Attorney's Office, and DOJ's criminal division have begun a 4-month surge of Federal law enforcement resources in order to prevent and combat violent crime in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. This is a positive step that should be encouraged and replicated in other high-crime jurisdictions, which is the precise result that H.R. 1550 seeks to bring about.

To be clear, it is well understood that the methods that DOJ may successfully employ to reduce violent crime in, say, Philadelphia or Baltimore may need to be adjusted for use in San Juan or St. Louis, with the specific approach dependent upon the nature of the crime problem that each jurisdiction confronts and other relevant factors.

For that reason, my bill does not in any way try to micromanage the Department or to promote a one-size-fits-all approach to fighting crime. H.R. 1550 simply seeks to ensure, in this time of fiscal constraint on both the Federal and local levels, that DOJ has in place a carefully crafted and consistently applied policy of allocating limited law enforcement personnel and resources to those areas where they are needed the most.

Again, I thank Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Scott; and I hope my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will support this bill.

I thank the ranking member for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I too rise in very strong support of H.R. 1550, the Federal Law Enforcement Personnel and Resources Allocation Improvement Act of 2012, which would require the Attorney General, in the allocation of Federal law enforcement personnel and resources, to give priority to placing and retaining such personnel and resources in States and local jurisdictions that have a high incidence of homicide or other violent crime.

I commend my friend, the Congressman from Puerto Rico (Mr. Pierluisi) for its introduction, for his hard work, and for his leadership in getting it to the floor today.

If this bill were to become law, my district, along with Congressman Pierluisi's, will be one of the local jurisdictions that would qualify for having that high incidence of homicide and violent crime. This is not a fact that we're proud of, but it is a reality; and it's the by- product of the USVI and Puerto Rico being a trans-shipment point for illegal drugs traveling from Central and South America to mainland United States.

There are many other communities in our country that are facing the same or similar incidence of violence; and the blame, in most cases, can be traced to drug trafficking. In the case of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, it stems from the fact that we have become the route of choice for drug shipments to the east coast of the United States.

According to Department of Justice statistics, in 2011, 165,000 metric tons of illegal drugs were seized in the Caribbean, Bahamas and Gulf of Mexico, up 36 percent over 4 years. And up to 80 percent of cocaine trafficked through the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico is directed to U.S. east coast cities.

Congressman Pierluisi and I were recently at the Coast Guard station in Puerto Rico, and we had the opportunity to meet with the commander of the ship that had recently captured 1.4 kilos of cocaine off of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. That was the port's largest capture in its history. These routes are also a threat to America's national security. In addition to the guns, assault weapons and drugs, the Caribbean region is susceptible to smuggling nuclear and all other kinds

of materials that could easily be used as staging areas for violence against our country.

The most tragic of all are the young people who had been killed or who are now in jail, many of whom I knew and took care of as a family physician. Unfortunately, we, too, have one of the highest murder rates per 100,000 in our country. Our community was shocked a few months ago when two of our young policemen, who were in a high crime area but who were on what seemed to be a routine patrol, were shot earlier this year. Both sustained injuries which go beyond the physical. One is paralyzed and will require lifelong care and support.

Our community, though, is fighting back. Our law enforcement has been meeting with those from across the Caribbean region. We are working with the Federal law enforcement that does exist in the Territory. Both of us, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, are high-intensity drug trafficking areas. We have a well-integrated but still incomplete team led by Adjutant General Vicens from Puerto Rico and Executive Director Catherine Mills from the Virgin Islands, but we do need more Federal help in order to restore the safety of our communities and to protect the lives of our children. This is not only important to my constituents and me; it is critical to the well-being of the constituents of all of our colleagues but especially to those whose communities have high homicide and violent crime rates.

In this legislation, which I am pleased to cosponsor, we are pleading for this critically important help in order to bring the vital Federal resources to save our communities--to save all of our communities--and to protect our Nation. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1550.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1550) to establish programs in the Department of Justice and in the Department of Homeland Security to help States that have high rates of homicide and other violent crime, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 1550, as amended, currently under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1550, the Federal Law Enforcement Recruitment and Retention Act of 2012, was introduced by my friend and colleague on the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Pierluisi of Puerto Rico. It helps focus the Justice Department's law enforcement efforts on the areas of the country that need them the most.

Crime in the United States began to rise sharply in the 1960s and continued up to its peak in the early 1990s. In response, Congress and the States reformed their criminal laws to include tougher penalties and truth-in-sentencing laws, and they dedicated additional resources to target the rising crime rate.

To a great extent, our national focus on crime has been successful. The national violent crime rate in 2010 was almost half of what it was in 1991, and crime in the United States has continued to fall in spite of difficult economic times. The violent crime rate fell 5 percent from 2008 to 2009, and another 5 percent from 2009 to 2010.

Despite this good news, we are far from a solution to the problem of violent crime in all areas of the country. There are still areas where violent crime remains a very serious issue and is even on the rise. For example, in my district, the number of murders in the city of Austin nearly doubled in 1 year, going from 22 homicides in 2009 to 38 homicides in 2010. Puerto Rico, home to the sponsor of this bill, has experienced an increase in drug-related violent crime. With more than 1,100 deaths in 2011, the homicide rate in Puerto Rico last year was more than five times the national average. The majority of this violence is attributed to the area's growing drug trafficking trade, which has implications, of course, for mainland U.S.

The problem with high-crime areas may increase if there are not sufficient Federal law enforcement officers in these communities. To address this situation, the Justice Department started to dispatch surges of Federal law enforcement officers to prevent and investigate crime in high-crime cities like Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Oakland, California. H.R. 1550 continues this momentum. It directs the Department of Justice to consider, in coordination with State and local governments, the need to recruit, assign, and retain Federal law enforcement personnel in areas of the country with high rates of homicides and other violent crimes, which of course should include Puerto Rico.

H.R. 1550 has bipartisan support and has been endorsed by the law enforcement community. The bill was reported out of the Judiciary Committee on a voice vote, and once again I want to thank Mr. Pierluisi for sponsoring this legislation.

H.R. 1550 improves the safety of the many Americans who live in fear of violent crime in their neighborhoods. So I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1550, the Federal Law Enforcement Recruitment and Retention Act. This bill would require the Department of Justice to prioritize the placement and retention of personnel in those States and local jurisdictions that have high incidences of homicide and other violent crimes.

The recruitment and retention of law enforcement officers has become increasingly difficult in recent years. These challenges are faced not only by State and local police agencies, but also by Federal law enforcement agencies. Difficulty in recruiting and retaining law enforcement officers is particularly acute in jurisdictions that experience high rates of violent crime.

In fact, the high incidence of crime in a jurisdiction can deter a Federal law enforcement officer from seeking assignment in that jurisdiction and can frequently lead to high turnover. The failure to retain a law enforcement officer has been estimated to result in approximately $100,000 in additional costs for the Department of Justice.

H.R. 1550, as amended, aims to address this problem by directing the Attorney General to give priority in placing and retaining agents in jurisdictions with particularly high crime rates. This bill also requires the Department of Justice to annually provide Congress with a detailed report on how it is implementing this directive.

H.R. 1550 is a modest, but necessary, measure to focus our crime- fighting efforts on the areas most in need.

I, too, want to commend our colleague, the gentleman from Puerto Rico (Mr. Pierluisi), for his work in developing this bill. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1550.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Puerto Rico (Mr. Pierluisi), the sponsor of the legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlelady from the Virgin Islands and the gentleman from Puerto Rico.

I urge the passage of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.