WASHINGTON –(ENEWSPF)–July 13, 2016. Congresswoman Robin Kelly has been named to a Congressional working group tasked with examining police accountability, aggression towards law enforcement, and public safety concerns related to these issues. The bipartisan working group will hold a series of roundtables, starting with a private roundtable in Washington, D.C., to candidly discuss the issues fueling excessive force used by law enforcement and attacks against police officers and will invite outside leaders on this issue to meet with the working group.
“The tragic shooting events in Dallas, Baton Rouge and St. Paul have shaken our country’s consciousness and forced us to grapple with a dangerous breakdown in police-community relations that threatens our collective safety. These events have also challenged me personally – as the mother of a Black son who also comes from a family of police officers. I’ve struggled to reconcile the pride I have in my law enforcement relatives with the fear I have at the possibility of my son having a negative encounter with a bad apple cop,” Kelly said. “My goal in joining this task force is to find bipartisan solutions to building mutually respectful and accountable relationships between law enforcement and the communities they serve. That is how we create a fairer, safer society for us all.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.) will lead the working group. In addition to Rep. Kelly, members of the working group are: Representatives Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), Doug Collins (R-Ga.), Dave Reichert (R-Wash.), Susan Brooks (R-Ind.), Will Hurd (R-Texas), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Cedric Richmond (D-La.), and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.).
The first private roundtable will be held on Thursday, July 14, 2016. The working group has invited Reverend Doctor DeForest B. Suares, Jr., the Senior Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset, New Jersey, and Deborah A. Ramirez, the Executive Director for Partnering for Prevention and Community Safety Initiative and Professor of Law at Northeastern University School of Law, to participate.
Source: http://www.robinkelly.house.gov
