by chuck wexler. he's the executive director of the police executive research forum. and darrell stephens. he's the executive director of the major cities' chiefs association. welcome to all three of you. darrell stephens, let me start with you. you do represent tens of thousands of police officers across the country. what is your reaction to what happened last night in ferguson? >> well, unfortunately, it's another one of those tragic situation where's police officers have been ambushed. police officers that were at a peaceful protest that were completely unaware that someone was waiting in the background to take a shot at them. so it's-- it puts the police officers not only in the st. louis county area in a situation of being fearful when they hit the streets. it has an impact throughout the country. it's something that they're used to something that they're trained to respond to, but nevertheless, it's an increasing challenge for them to go out do their job, police, and police effectively when they have this on their mind all the time. >> woodruff: chief blackwell,

chuck wexler executive director of perc, the police executive research forum. welcome, dr. wexler. >> thank you, miss robinson. and mr. ramsey, and the panel. it's good to be here again. and i also want to thank my fellow panel members for participating. thank you for the opportunity to offer my perspectives on the important issues of labor management issues. i am the executive director of the police executive research forum. i have held that position for over 20 years. you've asked me to focus my testimony today on building trust and collaboration between police executives, labor leaders and elected officials. when we talk about improving policing, the relationship between labor and management is an area that has been neglected for too long. historically, labor and management have often viewed each other with suspicion. it often has seemed that they see each other as warring factions and treat each other as the enemy. and as recent events have shown us, everyone loses when labor and management fail to work together. especially people in the community and the officers on the

chuck wexler today and i thank you for your time. >> thank you so much, mr. smith. and we're now going to turn to questions from the panel. we're going to start out with sue rahr followed by tracey meares. >> thank you. sacramento sounds lucky. good cooperation. actually, my question is for chief magaw. i have two questions. one, could you tell us a little more about the disciplinary review committee and how that works? that sounds pretty interesting. >> the committee meets quarterly and reviews -- we have laobr, law enforcement bill of rights in the state of maryland. there's a set process for discipline action. but lesser offenses and even things that go to disciplinary board, making sure that -- so they look at what's happened over the last three months. making sure that there's equity between what you got for discipline for an action and i did the same thing and i was -- i got less than you did. it's about keeping -- it's equal across the board for everyone. it's made up of f.o.p. members from their staff and command staff from the police department. and that gr

finally i'd like to endorse the testimony that will be given later today by chuck wexler with respectand mutual respect between labor and management. ongoing dialogue with the shared public safety goal is a must. even in the absence of collective bargaining, that said dialogue between the rank and file should complement, not supplant the collective bargaining process. in closing, i would like to thank you for allowing us to be here today. we're very encouraged about the response that this committee has received from the law enforcement community and we look forward to working with this group to enhance public safety and public service in the law enforcement community. thank you. >> and thank you very much for your testimony. next we'll hear from william j. johnson, executive director national association of police organizations. napo. >> thank you, commissioner ramsey, professor ramsey and members of the task force. i appreciate the opportunity to provide information on the topic of officer safety and wellness. today i'll focus my remarks on workplace due process, labor management rel