NAPO has serious concerns with President Biden’s nominee to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Adeel A. Mangi, who was narrowly approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 18. NAPO sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Ranking Member Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Jan. 25, outlining our concerns and urging opposition to his nomination to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Mangi is an Advisory Board Member of the Alliance of Families for Justice, which was founded by Kathy Boudin, who was convicted for her role in the 1981 Brink’s robbery by the Weather Underground that left two police officers executed in cold blood.
NAPO pledged our support for the Housing for Heroes Act of 2023 (H.R. 6863), introduced by Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), which expands the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Good Neighbor Next Door
Sales Program for law enforcement officers, firefighters, and members of the Armed Services.
Representatives Nick LaLota (R-NY) and Chris Pappas (D-NH) introduced the House version of the COPS on the Beat Grant Program Reauthorization and Parity Act (H.R.6973). This legislation would reauthorize the COPS Grant Program and expand it to allow rural, low-income communities to use COPS Hiring Program (CHP) grant funding to increase law enforcement wages. The bill would also provide for a lower match for qualifying lower-income rural communities that gradually increases over time to ensure these departments can participate in the CHP.
NAPO joined the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, Major Cities Chiefs Association, Major County Sheriffs of America, National District Attorneys Association, National Fusion Center Association, National Narcotic Officers’ Associations’ Coalition, and the National Sheriffs Association in a letter to Congressional leadership urging the reauthorization of the Undetectable Firearms Act before the current authorization expires on March 8, 2024. The Undetectable Firearms Act makes it unlawful to manufacture or possess any firearm that is not detectable by a walk-through metal detector or x-ray machine.
Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) introduced the Senate version of the NAPO-supported Preserving Safe Communities by Ending Swatting Act (S. 3602). Swatting calls are on the rise and are being used to harass and intimidate victims. These calls are not only a serious waste of resources, but they also put the officers and any innocent people at the scene of the fake incident in a dangerous and difficult situation. The legislation defines swatting as a call to a police department with a false story of a crime in progress with the intent to draw a large police presence to a particular address.
Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-KS) reintroduced the Kelsey Smith Act (H.R. 6823), which would require telecommunications companies to give law enforcement information about the location of a subscriber’s phone when there is an emergency involving the risk of death or serious physical injury. While current law does not prohibit these companies from giving location information to law enforcement in emergencies, it does not require them to do so and there is no uniform industry standard for responding to such requests.
NAPO continues to support the Combating Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing, and Counterfeiting Act (S. 3643), which was introduced Jan. 23. This legislation would modernize and strengthen our nation’s criminal money laundering statutes to more effectively fight criminal organizations, drug traffickers and terrorists who are increasingly using sophisticated methodologies to smuggle, transfer and counterfeit money to pay for their operations.
For more information on this and other legislation impacting law enforcement, please click here for the Jan. 26, 2024 Washington Report.
