ingenuity classroom by classroom and state-by-state that will benefit children. >> the washington journal continues. host: to continue our the first timeor since 9/11 the government rating is the worst. guest: there is a sense that the world is chaotic. the middle east is increasingly chaotic. at that cannot be contained. say, we are just

getting out of the region, and the chaos will be just too bad. some people will be killed, but it will not come to paris or here. paris and san bernardino has brought home we could not let a region of the world to generate into chaos with land controlled by terrorist group's. in 2015 it different than in the past? guest: i think people have been very worried, even before 9/11. i think the situation in the middle east, and the refugee influx in europe, and europe is a place that is easy to get to from the united states. in that sense, it is more worrisome. moments during the bush presidency, but in 2008 we had won in iraq and other parts were reasonably stable.

in two thousand 12, some were worried about president obama's policy, but it did not look like a meltdown. you have that sense now. host: the house today is voting on the spending bill, the so-called omnibus. this is what rush limbaugh said. this is a transcript. now the republicans have the largest number of seats they have had since the civil war. it has now eight any difference. it is though nancy pelosi is still running the house and harry reid is running the senate . the trade is not even the word. it is worse than the trail. betrayed is not even the word. it is worse than betrayal. let the democrats run the party, because that is what is happening. omnibus do not like the

spending bill. i would probably vote against it . there is a lot of that provisions, that are necessary to keep the government going. writers.licy some of them are favorable to democrats, some to republicans. that's the part i find a sort of offensive. they should pasties tax provisions -- pasties tax provisions. these tax provisions. it would be a lot worse if nancy pelosi carried that house. this does not make the case for democratic control of congress. i think this is a case that paul ryan has said, they are stuck with where things were.

he felt he had to go with the way business has gone. he says they will go to regular order. provision, the work pieces -- visas. that may be a good idea. he may need people to work in resorts in the summertime. it that's a that matter of public policy. there's no reason that can't be reported out of committee. that's a really intelligent thing. appropriate thing to have a public policy debate on it. it being smuggled into a bill with no vote to -- chance to vote on it separately, that's bad process. paul ryan says he doesn't like it either. i think they could have done more. the coast mark

doesn't need. the chairman of the appropriations committee is from mississippi. ships will be built in mississippi. majorityr senate both very close to thad cochran. this is why people do not like politics in washington. why donald trump is getting so many votes in the primary. host: what you think about donald trump? like donald't trump. i don't think he should be president of united's dates -- united states. i do not respect him. he says things that are foolish and irresponsible. he is an effective demagogue. challenging the political elites. the is one of those elites in many ways. it's an interesting challenge for the other candidates.

that ted cruz or marco rubio or chris christie can't deal with trump, then they probably can't deal with isis either. i think it's a good test for the more established candidates who have experience. co-opt whatnnel or is legitimate? can they not be irresponsible or foolish the way trump is? host: have you ever seen a person like donald trump run for president before? guest: ross perot is the obvious one. ross perot was an admirable person. he did huge amount for our servicemen and women. he was worried about the deficit.

i don't think he should've been president either. more demagogic. he reminds me more of jesse ventura running for governor of minnesota. a celebrity comes along. people are sick of politics as usual. they do well. governor is one thing. minnesota is doing ok and california is ok. they survived four years of not great governorships. the presidency is another thing. another person who praises put in and says irresponsible things. there is a price to be paid if you are running for president of united states. this is a huge country and people can say a lot of things.

they may be ill advised and life goes on. these are the finalists for president and they do have some responsibility to be more careful with what they say. host: i am sure you saw this. this was from salon. guest: i met sarah palin. she had run for several offices and one those races. she was a very bright young

governor and she was very effective. i thought she should be considered for the vice presidency and i think she did well at times in that race and then she was not serious enough to sustain a clear. she is not running for president. she probably should not be president of the united states. , maybe the mccain team they should have done more than enough. tting. she is not running for president and she did not say things. she was not well prepared. she was not at demagogue in the way that donald trump is. that is not fair to her. she did not tar whole religions or say 90 public policies. she was more of a movement conservative. trumps support does not come

from conservatives, it comes from a lot of moderates who are disaffected. ,e is more of a classic all-purpose demagogue. there are conservatives who say things that i disagree with, they are more radically conservative than i am. donald trump is not part of the conservative movement. tois never used his wealth advance conservative ideas. he has not tried to support conservative think tanks or various projects. it's all about himself. no interest in the conservative movement or conservative ideas or policies. he doesn't now. he's not really advocating conservative policies. sarah palin may have been simpleminded. unfair.it's

they were movements that were mixed in their subtlety and their complexity and understanding of issues. the tea party was about women limitedrnment -- government. i think those were good things. donald trump is never talked about the constitution. one of the reason i dislike trump is he has succeeded in persuading and charming some conservatives to think that he is the next stage of conservative leadership. he really isn't. we have had some very good conservative leaders. kind ofthe sort of conservative leaders, he is not a conservative leader. host: have you endorsed? .uest: we do not endorse i just comment on the race. cub should not be the nominee or

president of the united states. someone asked me if i would vote for comp and i said no. i don't think he has the character be president. appoint conservative justices to the supreme court? whatever you think of jeb bush or john kasich, everyone else on that stage with the exception of paul has aeven rand set of views and he has been open about them. i just disagree with him. muchthers are all pretty big picture on it constitutional issues and the justices they would appoint. they fall within the general conservative critique of big government, welfare state, modern liberalism.

trump really doesn't. -- i once said described myself as anti-anti-trump. some of the criticism of trump was sanctimonious. was, i did not see why he was saying some of the things that were important. announced, you've got to take this guy seriously. they are hitting the legitimate court. i was early on that. i was wrong for the last three or four months. i thought that he had peaked. i thought the air was going to go out of the balloon. he said outrageous things. he said p.o.w.'s got what they deserved after being captured. he said we should exclude all muslims. survive all of

these missteps. part of it is people have a sense and a reaction against obama's political correctness. the reaction has gone too far. if the mainstream media attacks it, we have to like it. i am is critical of the mainstream media is anyone, but you can't like anything that the mainstream media dislikes. host: paul is in orlando. good morning. thanks for taking my call. are treatinglidays everyone well. good morning and happy honda. -- hanukkah. i don't change the channel. i think your opinions and insights are very informative.

i do agree with you on this last budget deal. at what point are both republicans and democrats going about the budget deficit? this is a major problem. i do disagree with you on donald trump. i do like the guy. i don't think what he said about moslems is helpful. we need both american and foreign muslims on our side if we are going to win this war against the new version of not see as him. see -- nazism. carly says the political class has failed us. think about it. the war on poverty has been going on since the 60's. the war on drugs has been going

on since the 60's. justice, theinal political class fails all of us. host: that's a lot on the table. to show you this picture. you were calling in from orlando. x-rays disney with the detectors to get into disney now. surprised that it hasn't happened sooner. this is a great city here. we have so much more than the big theme parks. orlando international airport is one of the busiest airports. that somebodyed hasn't smuggled in to the country one of those shoulder launched missiles at any one of the airports in the country and taken down a plane.

i'm surprised more acts like san bernardino hasn't happened. the previous segment about trusting the government to keep us safe from terrorism, i'm not sure that's a yes or no question. i am very surprised that it's taken this long for the theme parks -- it said. it's sad that it has come to this. i have taken up too much of your time. host: it's good to hear from you. frometersons are a couple texas. that is what he is referencing. guest: thank you for the kind words. i think what paul said, he suggests carly fiorina and marco suggested rubio and carly fiorina. both are very good tickets. i think both are strong tickets.

they have different qualifications and backgrounds. exemplifies the thoughtful person who understands. he is not for trump. he is expressing dissatisfaction with the political class. that is not the way washington takes it. someone said to me the other , the elites have failed in many ways. not in every way. not just the political elites, the financial elites. foreign-policy elites, i put myself in that category. i supported the iraq war. we call for more troops very early. we were very hostile to the management of the war. it was not very successful.

look at the way we've handled things post-9/11. there have been some good people working awfully hard and national security and the military. i don't think the leadership is always been what should've been. that was true of republicans and democrats in -- or it i think --. i think people are entitled to being ready for a change. that's why i was excited about field. to see trump ben carson and fiorina in the race. i admire ben carson as an individual. i don't think he's the right person to be president. i enjoy people welcoming him to the stage. i admire carly fiorina.

at first, i thought trump would make a real impression. he is taken off. i don't think the way he has been healthy. i don't think it's the end of the world. i don't think that conservatism has gone off the cliff. you do worry that people get so unhappy with the elites in the conventional wisdom, i'm not happy with all of them. you go to the opposite extreme. just because somebody does something shocking, you think that's a good thing. these issue should be debated. today,l that's coming up you can't underestimate how much that kind of legislation has hurt people's confidence in government or a sense that they got a fair shot. whatever you think about worker visas for the immigration

that's a public policy debate. if you have the debate and the president signs the bill, people on both sides say they had a chance to make their case. for or against our representative or senator eckstein. what is put in something like this, people feel disenfranchised. people feel like they have more of a sense and ability to govern themselves at those levels. i think people feel self-government is slipping away in this country. that leads to frustration. i think one has to understand the frustration. ron is in braden 10, florida. ton, florida.

toler: i take objection jesse ventura. i am not from minnesota. he was probably one of the best governors. if you want to talk about grassroots, he was independent. he was probably preceding the tea party. as far as mr. cup goes, he's goes, i can trump sit back and laugh and enjoy it. damage that i do know is going to take some time to fix. as thinking the government is going to protect me, i am afraid they are going to use too much of my resources

to worry about al qaeda, isis coming in here. they should worry about the other tens of thousands of , the white males in the united states that are shooting up clinics and congresswomen and movie theaters and churches. i want those things stopped. those are the things that they are going to be lax about. i think we can be tough on all forms of violent crime and terrorism. the amount of money we're spending on national defense is close to historic lows. enforcement, it's not excessive. it's money worth spending.

abroad, peacety through strength abroad are the first functions of the federal government. the police forces local. crossedthese things state lines and need national agencies to get involved. i am a hawk abroad and a lawnmower guy at home. i think we can afford to do it. there are a lot of things we don't need to be doing with the federal government. it's an interesting question about donald trump. is he going to tear apart the party? it's possible. i don't really see it yet. that is a poll last week had trump ahead. it was not minimizing the strength of trump.

by 10 points against hillary clinton. he is the weakest candidate. it does not mean he could charm and persuade a lot of voters. people change their minds. we see that. doubt, -- now, ted cruz was only trailing hillary clinton by three points. empirically, they have been on stage with donald trump for or five times. that not be damaging to other republicans to look that way? if you told me a year ago that rubio would be plus three against hillary clinton and ted be minus three, i would say that was good odds for much lesser-known candidates.

now, i plan to vote republican unless it donald trump. i don't feel he is done much damage. maybe it's because people think trump is trump. i don't think you look at him and think that is the republican party. andwhile, there is rubio jeb bush, there are more normal republicans out there. i think the caller could be right. internet's --ine bitterness. they might not support trump. you could imagine the party in some disarray. host: a caller from texas is next. caller: good morning. how are you people doing?

you are so out of touch with the american people. you just do stuff one third of ssed off one third of the republican party. your ideas go back to reagan. host: are you a supporter? guest: the whole government is corrupt. hitmanrying to be the for the government powers. host: what is your opinion of donald trump? caller: why don't you all retire? guest: that occurs to me occasionally. will try to keep on editing. i'm not a spokesman for the political class.

entitled to be for trump. it's a free country. i'm entitled to say he should be -- not the president of the united states. say?am i supposed to some people like donald trump, i'm not supposed to say what i think? it's fun and it's exciting. he's an entertaining guy. he is likable when i have met him. thinking sit around donald trump is high on people i dislike in america. he is a reality tv show guy and a real estate guy. he is colorful. a lot of people like that in america. i just don't think he should be president of the united states. convince yourself that he should be president of the united states and not that it's fun annoying people like me.

those things can be fun. when it comes to voting, people have to vote for somebody to be president. i think his support will diminish as we get closer to the votes. host: we have talked about terrorism and the spending bill this morning. we talked about donald trump. it has sucked the oxygen out of this program. that has become our topic now. he has been fantastic it making himself the center of attention. cruz surpassed trump in iowa. the people were suddenly talking about could ted cruz be stronger than we think? z fight will cru be interesting. then trump comes out and dominates.

clever demagogue it i'll mean that in a nasty way. it's a term that describes a certain kind of politician. i think it describes trump. will dothe others better in reacting trump than they were. i think the colors are right. i think the political classes in denial. see that they have to explain what their policies are. people are taking on trump. some more effectively than others. maybe this will make better candidates. i think whoever beats trump will be a stronger candidate as a result. host: john is in pennsylvania. thank you for holding. you are on with william kristol. well withgo back as

him when he was chief of staff for dan quayle. be an immigration enthusiast. he was a middle east hawk. moderate his immigration enthusiasm. i agree wholeheartedly. being aailed as far as political elite with respect to his middle east ideology. obviously, the financial elites have failed. the political class has failed. the media classes failed. the hollywood class has corrupted the culture.

it would be interesting to find a class who hasn't failed. the issues are immigration and foreign policy. i am very encouraged to hear trump, ted like cruz, rand paul be sensible andt the middle east replacing tyrants and then creating chaos and killing millions. there was no need to occupy afghanistan. ladenuld have killed bin and his crew. andever should have invaded occupied iraq. that has cost trillions of dollars. guest: i wish your viewers did not remember me going so far back. it makes me feel old. host: have you changed your

positions? guest: i am consistent on foreign policy. the execution has failed. onon't agree with the caller going back in the middle east or a lack of necessity. it's unpopular to put it that way. experiment for the last six or seven years with america pulling out in the middle east. not the situation in 2008. those interventions did not fail. it failed because obama pulled out in 2009 and 2010. i haven't changed my views on foreign policy. i don't know that i was wrong at the time. i think it would have been good to resolve the immigration

issue. president bush tried to do so. republican president and a republican congress will be our best chance to do it. had a high level of legal immigration. there was great pressure on working class wages. been more forceful before. everybody changes their mind to some degree. , it just convinced happened that 9/11 happened. you don't get to choose the parts of the world that you think a lot about. the rest of the world gets to choose you. that's what 9/11 showed. we were very good at thinking about afghanistan for a decade.

i am convinced of the need for american leadership and strength. i think that's an important debate. it's a useful thing to have that debate. i think the marco rubio ted cruz is an intelligent debate. night, ithat tuesday thought this wasn't a bad demonstration of serious people. they only had 90 seconds to talk. coherent giving worldviews. that is healthy for a political party. staff had this article. think the merits of

marco rubio and ted cruz as candidates. i think it's an intelligent case. if trump were to win the nomination, he would be the weakest. nomination, ithe will be such an earthquake in american politics it's assumed to assume that everything goes back to normal. maybe they would stay mobilized for the general election. there would be a lot of democrats who would decide they would want to vote for donald trump. i think trump is a wildcard. if people think they can say with assurance, it's foolish to say he could never be president. i think it's unlikely. i think others will have better chances for obvious reasons.

i do think a matchup with rubio and ted cruz are probably the top two. hillary clinton would be very interesting. the democrats have always had good candidates. now suddenly democrats -- republicans look that way. that's a ticket of people who are in their 40's. secretary clinton hasn't been around a long time. she first came to the white house in 1993. i think the generational contrast becomes striking. republicans can say they are the young party.

paul ryan's speaker of the house. that is an underreported thing. it's amazing how little we talked about that. the speaker of the house is -- 45 years old. that is a big change i think for the image of the party. if mitch mcconnell once a little advice for me, he is a very shrewd leader. he should let the younger members step forward more. has extremely capable members. cory gardner is in his 40's. and sullivan is 50. they've got a ton of the senators who are impressive and

young. there are some good young republican governors. they remain impressive. whether it's scott walker or nikki haley. you think of that party, that is a different looking party from dole/push republicans. basically, the democratic party, i would be worried. maybe hillary clinton can pull it out. there are some young democratic governors. hillary clinton is running against bernie sanders. the leadership in the house is mid 70's. chuck schumer is late 60's. this is not the face of the future. host: as

prevent gender bias. this is about an hour and a half.

good morning, everyone. now, we can't bring the ag out like that. good morning, everyone. happy holidays to you, we all ready to go? this is a very good day. and so, let's get a little lively. looking forward to the hearing with the ag and the panel discussion, so first, let me spruce myself. i'm ron davis, the director of the policing services. i'm looking down to read where i work. that i should have known already. at the cop's office. it's really my pleasure to call this meeting to order and to welcome you here today. it is also my distiblgt pleasure to introduce and to welcome the attorney general, who's going to be kicking off the meeting. before we invite her in, just going to tell you a little bit

about her. i think you should know that obviously, our attorney general is the 83rd of the united states and she is a lifelong prosecutor and has been an outstanding advocate has been outstanding advocate for survives of sexual assault and domestic violence. the attorney general continues to make clear that these efforts can and must be done in close partnership with colleagues from local law enforcement who work tirelessly to protect and serve our communities as well as advocates and service providers that help to ensure our work is informed by the experience of survivors. she made it clear from day one that she wants the strategic partnerships. so today is furthering that agenda. so ladies and gentlemen, please join me and it is an honor for me to announce the attorney general of the united states, the honorable loretta lynch.

[ applause ] >> thank you. everyone have a seat. thank you all. good morning all. >> good morning. >> what a team. what a team. and i'm so happy to be here. i want to thank you, ron, for that introduction. i'm so pleased to be here today with so many of my colleagues from the department of justice who have spent time working on this issue. you're going to be hearing from them later. gupta head of our civil rights division. ron davis, my warmup act, so to speak. i did tell him not to sing, so you're welcome. ron is the head of our office of community oriented policing services, and that particular trio should tell you the focus of the work that we're all here to talk about today. not just law enforcement. not just civil rights.

but the focus on the victims of domestic and sexual violence and why it's important that all three of those thought processes, all three of those advocacy communities, all three of those issues be together at the table. but i'm really happy to be here with all of you because the fact that all of you have come here today for this important discussion is so important because you are the advocates. you're the dedicated law enforcement officers. you're the community leaders that we lean on so much and that we need and that we have to have as part of this vital discussion about how doj, the department of justice, can help our state, our local, and our tribal partners. particularly our tribal partners combat this scourge of domestic assault and sexual violence. those of you who work in the field do not need the statistics or the data to know that sexual

assault and domestic violence is a particular heinous crime that has an effect and impact long after the initial impact of the blows, long after the violence. i think many of you also saw recent studies within the past year that talked about the long-term adverse health consequences for women, even years after they escape situations involving domestic violence and sexual violence and the fact that that is often the only factor that be attributed to the increase in these health concerns for women. there consequences for the survivors, and we also know that there are grave consequences for the loved ones, for children who are also victims as they are witnesses, but who also bear the psychological scars of domestic violence as well. and we also know, in fact, that this can, in fact, harm not just

a woman involved, not just the children involved, but the entire family unit and, in fact, the community. it was often the community that is caught up in either supporting the family or supporting what tends to become a web of lies that are used to hide and conceal this violence. this eats away at the health, not just the physical health, but the mental health of everyone involved in this particular issue. now, just because also the brunt of sexual violence and domestic violence is born disproportionately by women and lgbt individuals, it harms us all. it weakens us all. it weakens the fabric of protection that we try and build around vulnerable victims, and it weakens the communities that we need to be strong and vibrant to protect all victims. now, as you will learn today, but i'm certainly happy to reinforce, the department of

justice is committed to do everything that it can to help prevent these crimes, to help investigate these crimes, and to help prosecute these crimes. but that also includes working to ensure that our greatest partners in this effort, the state, the local, and tribal law enforcement leaders on whom we all rely have the necessary tools, training, and resources they need to fairly and effectively address the allegations of sexual assault and domestic violence. it's a problem that often hides in plain sight. it's a problem that often doesn't present as what it is because victims are either unable or prevented from speaking up. and so the goal in a victim-centered response, that is the goal of, i believe, everyone in this room, is not only do we empower the victims to find a voice, but how do we

train ourselves to recognize the victimology and reach out to them and help them find that voice. as part of our ongoing effort, i'm so pleased to announce today that a new justice department guidance that is designed to help state, local, and tribal agencies eliminate gender bias from their policing practices has been issued. this is the result of work, effort, dedication from everyone in this room and beyond. all the organizations that you represent. and we thank you so much for these contributions because we know that sometimes this bias, whether implicit or explicit, can stand in the way of effective law enforcement and it can severely undermine law enforcement's ability to keep survivors safe and to hold the offenders accountable. for instance, we've seen situations where false assumptions about things like alcohol use or the physical strength of a victim's partner or victim's sexual orientation

can lead police officers to make judgments about the truthfulness or the creditability of a survivors' account or the severity of the assault and these assumptions can be wrong. when they come at the beginning of the case in particular, they can send the case into a spiral of ineffectiveness and the victim back into a spiral of despair and pain. when that happens, justice is delayed and victims suffer, which is no one's goal. now, the new guidance that will be discussed today was prepared in consultation with law enforcement organizations to best address their theses who are really on the really on the the front lines in providing guidance and comfort, frankly, to victims who have no voice. it contains guidelines for recognizing and addressing stereotypes and assumptions. it contains interview techniques

that encourage victims to share critical information, and it contains recommendations for gathering and using crime reporting statistics to develop an evidence-based and data-driven strategy. this is a blueprint that law enforcement can use to develop victim centered in handling cases of sexual assault and domestic violence. we know that this approach can work. we've seen its impact before. one example. in missoula, montana, after a 2013 justice department investigation found that several local entities were failing to meet their legal responsibilities in responding to sexual assault kmants we reached four reform agreements. these agreements were geared towards changing the community's collective practices and policies. and thanks in large part to the

extraordinary cooperation of missoula police department, missoula has made tremendous strides. missoula is working to promote trust among members of the community, and missoula is demonstrating that real and lasting progress can be made when we make it together. now, the guidance we're announcing today is an important edition to just a wide array of steps that the department is taking to assist our state and local and tribal partners. i'm proud of, for example, our national institute of justice, our research arm. we're working to better help law enforcement understand and address sexual violence focusing on funding, research, and data. our office of violence against women provides grants and technical assistance aimed at strengthening the way we handle these cases. and i'm just going to steal bea's thunder for a moment and note the office of violence against women announced just

today seven pilot jurisdictions that will receive funds and tech nal assistance through the sexual assault justice initiative. it is designed to bolster the justice system's response at the state and local level where most of these crimes are prosecuted and investigated. just this past september, i was tremendously proud to join vice president joe biden that our bureau of justice assistance would provide grants to 20 jurisdictions to help them eliminate or reduce backlogs in untested sexual assault kits because of course without the evidence we can't build the cases. now these are tremendously important initiatives and the department is committed to continuing to support them. but, of course, we still have a great deal of more work to do. every time a victim is afraid to come forward, every time a young lgbt teenager contemplates

suicide as opposed to seeking help, every time a child witnesses their parent either inflict or be the victim of violence is a step that we have to acknowledge and take and it's a responsibility on all have us to find and address these situations. and i want you to know that in all of our efforts, all of our collective efforts, the justice department is committed to working alongside professionals like all of you assembled here today. from the law enforcement officers who are the first to field the complaints and crimes to the service providers who work so tirelessly to help these survivors heal, and to the public officials who are tasked with creating stronger and safer neighborhoods. you know your communities best, and the department of justice relies on you. we need you to tell us what challenges you face, what trends you are seeing, and what

assistance that you need. and we are ready to offer that assistance. now, together we can ensure that survivors get the support that they need. together, we can ensure that justice is faithfully served. and together, we can ensure that everyone who has ever lived in fear in their own home can walk out of that door and stand in the sunlight. that is my commitment to you on behalf of the department of justice and as the attorney general of the united states. so i thank you, all of you, for coming here together today, but for all the work that you've done that led you to this moment. this is a great moment. we're going to seize it. we're going to move forward, and we are going to help people. thank you so very, very much. [ applause ] >> thank you.

>> so i was given the very daunting task of following our incredible attorney general. we should just call it quits and end the morning, but we won't because we have a lot of good coming forth. i want to thank the attorney general for her words that she is always inspiring and always energizes us to do more. but her unwavering dedication to these issues is astounding. so it's a pleasure to join you all this morning. i feel like i know almost all of you in the room. as the attorney general just highlighted, gender bias and stereotypes combined with misinformation about sexual assault and domestic violence can have a devastating impact, as we all know, on all stakeholders across society to victims seeking protection to

prosecutors administering justice. in order to collectively advance the type of victim centered and trauma response that is so vital to protecting public safety, we need to identify gender stereotypes. we also, of course, need to recognize and address the unique harm that survivors experience at the intersection of discrimination on the basis of race and gender because in america we guarantee equal justice, dignity, and fairness for all people regardless of what they look like, whom they love, and with which gender they identify. today that's simple, but unwavering belief continues to define the beauty, identity, and v vibrancy of our nation. you just heard from the attorney general on the investigation in

missoula, montana. i want to speak about the troubling trends we found there that show w and that we've seen such a transformation over the last two years as a result of their leadership and work. stereotypes about women and misinformation about sexual assault there prevented the police from conducting fair, impartial, thorough investigations. in one case we found a female student told a missoula police department while intoxicated at a fraternity house that her assailant held her up like a sack of flour and a rag doll until she fell over and lost consciousness. he concluded the assault was largely voluntary and identified the primary offense as suspicious activity. two campus police officers

responded to a reported sexual assault used the term of regrett regretted sex. this diminished the likelihood from the outset that she orqé=qo other sexual assault survivors would be willing to participate in the prosecution of their cases. these stories from missoula illustrate the consequences that can result when law enforcement don't have the guidance or tools or the training that they deserve for responding to reports of sexual assault. without established protocols and comprehensive training in place, gender stereotypes and bias can undermine the quality of investigations and impede justice. but the agreements that we reached in missoula really demonstrate the promise and potential for meaningful reform when law enforcement agencies collaborate and coordinate with the communities they serve. and the leadership of many law enforcement officials in this room and beyond around the country demonstrates the shared and dedicated commitment to preventing and responding more

effectively to sexual assault and domestic violence. i will say again that the leadership that has been demonstrated by the missoula police department and in the community in missoula really serves as a guide for the nation. while still a work in progress, has inspired us to share the story in rooms where we're talking about these issues. these principles include utilizing trauma informed interview tactics, replacing prejudice statements that assume what happened with neutral open-ended questions to learn what actually occurred. they advise police officers to adopt a victim-centered approach, including referrals to

appropriate services. and they urge law enforcement agencies to train their officers in recognizing the potential for abusers to report domestic violence complaints preempti preemptively. these principles along with several others that are outlined in today's guidance and are illustrated with case examples really reflect the lessons learned and feedback that we heard from all of you, from folks outside of the room, from law enforcement, from advocates, from service providers, those on the front lines of doing this work as well as from the settlements that we have reached with police departments at the civil rights division. following each of these cases an array of stakeholders from law enforcement leaders to victims to civil rights advocates to service providers really requested the justice department issue informative and detailed guidance. it's because you raised your voices and because you led the

p productive conversations about the challenges we're facing on these issues. today we are taking a very significant step toward preventing the crimes of sexual assault and domestic violence that deserve no place in civilized society. i applaud each of you for your steadfast efforts to far and i commend you for your leadership on this vital work. we're going to be relying on you to help push this out to use the guidance to generate conversations in rooms all over the country like this one. and i'm deeply grateful to the partnership the civil rights division has had with the office of violence against women and the cops office. we heard from all of you recently at a convening where we got a lot of input into the guidance and what would be most useful to support law enforcement. we've incorporated that. i look forward to all we're

going to be able to achieve on this front to protect all victims of domestic violence and sexual assault in the future. so thank you so much. [ applause ] >> thanks. my name is bea hanson. i head up the office on violence against women. i'm intimidated to be up here with the attorney general. she sort of said it all. just so thankful for her leadership and making sure the guidance came to fruition. i also want to thank gupta and ron davis, who are really my partners in doing all this. a high point of my tenure on the office of violence against women has been forging true partnerships between the civil rights division and the cops office and working with the extraordinary staff of the sifl rights division and the cops office. it's an honor to join all of you

that are here today, distinguished panelists and guests that are here this morning. since the passage of the violence against women act in 1994 the justice septembdepartm worked to improve the criminal justice response to violence against women particularly through grant funding administered by ovw. it has transformed the way communities respond to sexual assault and domestic violence. thanks to grants, law enforcement and victim service providers are working together as never before. we now have specialized law enforcement and prosecution units and improved training for police, prosecutors, and judges. today, we have pioneering interventions and innovations such as enhanced offender training, domestic violence courts, and the use of evidence-based lethality assessments. the justice department and our partners in law enforcement,

prosecution, and victims services and elsewhere should be rightfully proud of all of our accomplishments. but we also know our progress has been uneven and many kmurgets still struggle to implement effective responses to sexual assault and domestic violence. while the civil rights division's investigations have exposed how gender bias can undermine police response to sexual assault and domestic violence, these investigations have also paved the way to progress and reform. they highlight how collaborations between law enforcement and victims service providers and advocacy organizations and other promising practices can create meaningful change in both law enforcement as well as their communities as a whole.

throughout our many partnerships with state, local, and tribal law enforcement, many agencies are seeking assistance and support for their efforts to improve their response to domestic violence and sexual assault. the guidance being issued today will further our partnerships with police officers, line officers, and detectives. to support them in keeping their communities safe, it also reflects our partnership with advocates and service providers that make sure we hear and listen to the voice offences of survivors. we'll hear from a panel of law enforcement experts and advocates about how this guidance can be kplimplemented the ground. i want to thank them for their advice they provided to the department. i also want to thank those of you who attended the roundtable

we had this summer to review and discuss the draft guidance. your insight, criticism, and experience were invaluable in creating this final document of guidance. before turning the discussion over to the panel, i'd like to briefly share with you the eight fundamental principles to prevent gender bias in policing that are set forth in the guidance. i realize they may seem elementary to you and indeed these principles are only a starting point for departments who are looking to strengthen their policies, protocol, and training. principle one is to recognize and address biases, assumptions, and stereotypes about victims. principle two, treat all victims with respect and employ interviewing tactics that encourage the victim to participate. principle three, investigate sexual assault or domestic violence complaints thoroughly

and efblgtively. principle four, classify reports of sexual assault and domestic violence. principle five, refer victims to appropriate services. principle six, properly identify the assailant in domestic violence incidents. principle seven, hold offenders -- excuse me, hold officers who commit domestic violence or sexual assault accountable. what these guidelines ask of us is to continue and deepen our relationships between law enforcement and advocates, between all members of our communities. i want to thank all of you in supporting victims, holding offenders accountable, and

keeping our community safe. together, we can truly address the crimes of sexual assault and domestic violence with sensitivity, expertise, collaboration, and justice. thank you. [ applause ] >> so we're about ready to start the panel, but before i want to share a couple of words with you. in addition to being the director of the cops office, my background is 30 years law enforcement, and we're doing this project -- i think it was last august when we convened together, the cops officer along with the police executive research forum and advocate groups. i have a confession to make. i really sat there and i started thinking about my response to sexual assault victims and to domestic violence and to a lot of the issues that we're talking

about going back 30 years into law enforcement and started thinking about what did i miss. i started thinking about which stereotypes did i have. i started thinking about the judgment calls i made and how counterproductive they were, but those were the times of the day. for me, now this is a reconciliation, if you will. i can reconcile that. i can correct that by making sure the field really understands the impact that it has. back to my 30 years, i have to start with an apology. i think that's the first way to start is to apologize to how we have responded and have allowed these stereotypes and bias to influence the decisions we make. so now as leading the cops office, it was an honor for us to partner with you to really talk about this. i really want to thank gupta and bea for the way that they -- my field is a very good field. we have honorable men and women serve it, but we engage and adopt things better when people

respect our opinions as well and to hear all sides of it. there's really only one side. you don't know that. i really appreciate the way that it was done. i think it was very respectful for the industry, and i think the industry is going to respond in kind in the way we distribute this, the way implement this, and the way we make sure we strive to do better. the model for my office in the cops off i have said is the cops office is here to help the field and advance the field. coming from the field, when i got to d.c., i started searching the building, looking behind doors into closets to look for those magic answers, the answer to the problems we all have. bottom line is we don't have them. we do not have them in d.c. you have them. you're out there every day on the ground working with victims, working with survivors, offenders. you have the solutions to it. any guidance that did not engage you would be, in my opinion,

very incomplete. i want to thank the advocate groups for engaging. i close with a thought that my staff gets tired of hearing me say it and that is we have this opportunity right now with everything that's going on in this country -- we're talking about trust and if you think about it, it applies across the board. i was the executive director of the president's task force. i watched these4# individuals o the task force really build the issues. if you think about it, there's not only specific recommendations. there's two or three major pillars that address it. building trust and legitlegitim. you can't have those if implicit bias is effecting the way you investigate crimes. you can't hold people accountable for you're biassed in your response on how you investigated.

that's not community policing because you're not respecting the community. this will make sure we empower the officers to do a great job. this ties perfectly to what we're doing today. but to me, what comes out of it during this moment, this moment where trust seems to be so important, this moment where it is a question of whether or not we have earned the trust is keep in mind this phrase. public safety cannot just be the absence of crime. it must include a presence of justice. and until i started working on this project, i think justice to me was always a process. so i have to expand that definition to justice for the survivors and victims as well and that's starting from the moment the victim makes the call to the moment the offender is prosecuted and held accountable. and so i want to thank you for the education you have given me. it is now my responsibility to make sure we share this with the

field and together i think we can make sure that this is something that will make the defining moment as the attorney general said, this is one of her priorities, so i'm really excited about today. i want to thank you for all the work you have done and most importantly the work you're about to do. thank you guys. [ applause ] >> thank you. and now i am very pleased to introduce the next panel who will come to talk about how we're going to effectively implement the principles in this guidance. i would like to ask the panelists to walk on up. i want to say these panelists are remarkable not only because they represent leaders from law enforcement and advocacy and work with service providers every day, but they're people who provided extraordinarily important input to this guidance and who worked with us

throughout this process to make sure it would be effective as possible. our panel moderator is a retired police chief from a department in vermont. he's worked as a monitor for the department of justice on some of our important policing cases. lisa is the attorney general of the state of illinois. carol tracy the executive director of the women's law project. lisa jacobs, who the vice president of legal momentum. t a professor of law a. i want to ask you to join me in welcoming our panelists and we look forward to our conversation with all of you about how do we

make sure we implement this guidance effectively. [ applause ] >> thank you. good morning. it's a pleasure to be here. i'd like to thank the department of justice for asking me to moderate this panel. it's truly an honor to be part of today's conversation because this is historic. this is historic guidance. i know these challenges. i know these challenges well following a 30-plus year in law enforcement. i also spent two years as an independent monitor for the department of justice agreements with the missoula police department and the university of montana police department as the attorney general in the director of civil rights division said. it was a pleasure being part of that process. real quickly, in missoula it's been described as transformational. the transformation started with

a courageous conversation around the police department with the potential for bias. it also included a community coordinated response, which creat created policies and standard operating procedures complete with multidisciplinary team with input on these policies. the university police department, the city police department sharing in policy language for consistency in its response. over 5,000 hours of training on sexual assault in the city of missoula and the university for its police department, for both police departments. a real connection, a real commitment to creating training and assistance to supervisors making sure that supervision is a key part of any transformation. data collection and analysis looking at your data.

no police chief wants to believe there's a concern for bias of any kind in its department, but it starts with examining the potential, looking at the data, and then analyzing that data for trends. a creation of a special victims unit. this is all within two years. the missoula city police department recognized they needed a specialized unit. the courageous leadership that created this unit to include advocacy involvement in police interviews. i think one of the most exciting lessons out of missoula is the external review panel in which four advocates in the community were specially trained to understand the policies and then provide additional information and guidance and feedback to

officers who responded. the external review panel provides feedback to officers on all felony assault cases. an audit that focused specifically on sexual assault and the gaps in sexual assault, which also identified a potential for a societal bias around these crimes. and again, the community is addressing this, not just the police department. and then finally memorandums of understanding between local police, university police, the university, and the prosecutors office to make sure that there are no gaps in the system, to make sure that there is clear communication between all of those involved in ensuring justice for these crimes. missoula is a great example of what a community can accomplish when police departments use that helpful guidance and take leadership. a leadership role to better

protect and vindicate the rights of sexual assault and domestic violence victims. today's guidance from the department of justice can be considered the same, transformation transformational. it was created as part of the partnership with local, state, tribal law enforcement agencies. as we know, effective law enforcement leaders and professional organizations are constantly striving to raise the bar. that's what good professionals do. that's what good organizations do. our noble profession, the maintenance of the public's trust, requires law enforcement agencies to examine the potential for gender bias in their response. today's guidance and the eight powerful principles that are described to prevent such bias will assist law enforcement agencies in communities across the country. it's truly an honor to be a part of this event and to assist in promoting this historic guidance. i would like to invite each

panelist to share their initial thoughts and reflections on this new guidance and how they and others can use this in their work, in our collective work, to improve law enforcement response to sexual assault and domestic violence. after we hear from all the pa l panelis panelists, we'll turn it over to those in attendance for questions you may have. good morning. >> thank you very, very much. let me start by saying thank you really to everybody in this room. there has been a tremendous amount of work done to bring forth today's guidance and in particular i want to say thank you to attorney general loretta lynch and the department of justice, but i also want to say thank you to the civil rights division, the cops office, and the office of violence against women. i particularly appreciate being part of this, even a very, very small part of it as a state

attorney general because whether or not the attorney general is the front line criminal prosecutor in her state, we're always looked upon and are always playing a significant role when it comes to developing law enforcement policy and practices and legislation in particular. when he also do a tremendous amount of work in illinois and many ag offices in the country in funding crime victim service providers, so we have a deep and meaningful relationship with them in seeing what they have to contend with on the front lines in domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers. in the state of illinois, i've been working on law, policy, and programs to prevent and respond to sexual assault and domestic violence and to provide services to the survivors of those terrible crimes. and i have to say it has been for many years very frustrating to be honest because these crimes are so prevalent. as you know, the statistics are

absolutely alarming in terms of the number of women, the number of children, the number of men, people in the lgbt community who are impacted by sexual assault and domestic violence in our country and yet too infrequently i think we've seen over the years these crimes do not seem to be prioritized. victims who come forward are not believed. they're not taken seriously. and unfortunately, they didn't receive justice. and because they didn't receive justice, they have felt revictimized. once they feel revictimized, we have a circumstance where there's not cooperation because there's not trust, and so we don't have successful prosecutions. so instead of reducing and curtailing the amount of crime that's taking place in homes and in our communities, we have seen just the opposite, that the crimes continue. and so i think that this

guidance is very, very important and it does not come a moment too soon. in fact, i will give you an example from earlier this year. we conducted a series of summits at universities around the state of illinois and we had one member of law enforcement who said when he was at the academy that 86% of allegations of sexual assault were false. that demonstrates the incredible need and importance for this guidance. so i very, very much appreciate all of the work that this guidance does and i want to highlight five things quickly. number one, it provides the legal justification, the legal basis to make sure that we are addressing gender bias in policing. two, i think the recommendations that go through the

research-based best practices in terms of victims' sensitive trauma informed interview techniques are incredibly important. one of the things i have learned over the years is when somebody comes forward is to believe them and to listen to them and not to blame them, if we want to establish trust, if we want to get the necessary information, if we want to have a successful prosecution and reduce crime. i think it's important to talk about the need to always write reports, always take reports, and to make sure we're connecting survivors with the services they need so they can rebuild. as tom and other people have mentioned, sexual assault response teams very, very important to make sure that everybody, all of the stakeholders, can come together. and i would also say this. law enforcement that i have worked with in illinois, they are hungry for this guidance. every single summit t