'This Is Going To Save Lives': David Trone Questions AG Garland About Police Deescalation Program

5 months ago

At a House Appropriations Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. David Trone (D-MD) questioned Attorney General Merrick Garland about a police deescalation program.

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Transcript

00:00 Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Last year we helped pass the bipartisan law enforcement de-escalation

00:08 training act, which provides $124 million in grant funding over four years on de-escalation

00:16 training for police officers. This is going to save lives, improve police community relations.

00:24 Although this program is new, could you talk briefly about its implementation and more

00:30 broadly how DOJ's budget prioritizes mental health and crisis stabilization?

00:37 Yeah, I don't have the specifics with respect to that program, but as a general matter,

00:43 our COPS office and our Office of Justice Programs provides de-escalation, money for

00:49 de-escalation training. It is an important way to protect the lives of officers and first

00:55 respondents as well as the people who are calling for help. You are also right in the

01:02 implication of your questions that many of these calls involve people who are mentally

01:06 ill or have mental impairment and that the sensitivity of respondents to that possibility

01:14 is an important element of the need for de-escalation.

01:19 Thank you for your efforts there. 70 to 100 million Americans have criminal records that

01:24 appear on routine background checks, often preventing them from getting jobs. Over the

01:31 last seven years, my company has hired about 1,400 returning citizens, which is good for

01:37 business and cuts down recidivism. State-passed clean slate automatic clearing records, these

01:45 type of efforts are costly and have been a barrier to widespread adoption. What resources

01:52 does the DOJ need to help support these clean slate laws?

01:56 Well, I don't think I'm going to be able to talk to you specifically about the clean slate

02:02 laws. In the area of criminal justice reform, in the implementation of the Second Chance

02:11 Act, which involves reentry programs, we are asking for $125 million for those reentry

02:19 programs. In addition, there is a new program called the Accelerating Justice System Reform

02:26 Grants, which is a $300 million request for FY '25 and $15 billion over 10 years. I'm

02:35 not sure exactly whether the clean slate would fall within those, but I'll ask my staff to

02:40 get back to you on which of the grant programs go to the program.

02:43 We'd love to keep working with you. Last quick question to build on Ranking Member

02:48 DeLauro on the antitrust division. Should this committee take another look at the language

02:55 that eliminates, stops you from having full access to the merger filing fees and locks

03:03 you into that $233 million? I'm going to leave it to the members of Congress

03:11 to resolve this question. Justice Barnum is in favor of the antitrust division getting

03:20 the full access to the fees, but in the end, the Congress makes those determinations.

03:27 It seems like a good idea. It does seem like a good idea.

'This Is Going To Save Lives': David Trone Questions AG Garland About Police Deescalation Program

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