mr. conyers: thank you mr. speaker. i'm pleased now to recognize an effective member of the house judiciary committee, ms. lofgren of california, and i recognize her -- i yield to her for 2 1/2 minutes. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california is recognized for 2 1/2 minutes. ms. lofgren: thank you, mr. speaker. i believe this bill makes a meaningful reform to a few of the surveillance programs but in no way stops all of the bulk collection of u.s. person communications currently occurring. this bill won't stop the most egregious and widely reported privacy violations that occur under section 702 and executive order 12333. in a classified decision, the fisa court was collecting more communications through the upstream collection program than it originally told the court. with upstream collection, the n.s.a. directly taps into international internet cables to search through all of the communications that flow through it looking for communications that map certain criteria. four years ago, the court foun

mr. conyers: thank you madam speaker. i am now pleased to yield three minutes to the distinguished member of the judiciary committee ms. jackson lee from houston, texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for three minutes. ms. jackson lee: madam speaker, i have had more than a momentous time to be in this body. i was moved by the conviction of my friend and colleague and the speaker boehner and representative franks, because i know they speak from their heart. but states cannot be distributed on one side of the aisle. my faith my god is no less than the republicans'. and i speak for those who cannot be here today. i speak for mothers who suffer in corners trying to provide for their children, but love their children and gave birth to them. i speak for those who i sat in a room called the judiciary committee some years ago by listening to the pain of mothers who said, i want this child. but my doctor has advised me that my life would not have survived to take care of my other children had i

mr. conyers: of course. mr. hartley: but for the public's consideration and for the officers' consideration, confidence in the process is important and it has to do with planning for the event from start to finish and include community contacts, media engagement and other processors related to the legal system. mr. conyers: thank you very much. ms. rahr, just in closing do you see some hope in president obama's recent statements on the subject when he was in camden yesterday? ms. rahr: i do. i think that there are a number of recommendations that will be helpful to every police department in the nation for some departments, they will be able to follow many of those recommendations. i hope that as time goes on the distribution of federal funding and resources will take into account the cooperation of agencies that are doing their best to follow those recommendations. mr. conyers: thank you. mr. goodlatte: chair thanks the gentleman. the chair recognizes the gentleman from south carolina, mr. gowdy, for five minut

mr. conyers: of course. mr. hartley: but for the public's consideration and for the officers' consideration confidence in the process is important and it has to do with planning for the event from start to finish and include community contacts, media engagement and other processors related to the legal system. mr. conyers: thank you very much. ms. rahr, just in closing, do you see some hope in president obama's recent statements on the subject when he was in camden yesterday? ms. rahr: i do. i think that there are a number of recommendations that will be helpful to every police department in the nation for some departments, they will be able to follow many of those recommendations. i hope that as time goes on the distribution of federal funding and resources will take into account the cooperation of agencies that are doing their best to follow those recommendations. mr. conyers: thank you. mr. goodlatte: chair thanks the gentleman. the chair recognizes the gentleman from south carolina, mr. gowdy, for five minut

mr. conyers mr. scott, mr. cohen requesting a hearing in 2014. >> mr. scott, mr. cohen, mr. conyers, and then an article entitled law enforcement warrior problem to be added into the record. >> without objection. >> mr. chairman, if i might, in thanking the witnesses, just make one simple comment and that is i want to express to all of you the significance of your testimony. the judiciary committee, how very serious about coming forward in the spirit of recognizing the pain of an officer's death and the pain of apprehension about police and maybe their death. i believe we can find that common ground. i hope you will allow us to inquire -- we did not get to question everyone. i hope you will make yourself resources as we write to address a mother's pain as well find that place. by quoting a philosopher, treat people as if they were what they should be. you help them become what their capable of being. if we're to keep our democracy there must be one commandment. i think this is what you're speaking of, everyone deserves justice, we do not deny your officers justice and we have

mr. conyers. and then an article entitled "law enforcement warrior problem" to be added into the record. >> without objection. >> and then mr. chairman if i might just in thanking the witnesses just make one simple comment. and that is i want to express to all of you the significance of your testimony. and that the judiciary committee through our chairman and ranking member and those of us who work on these issues are very serious about coming forward in the spirit of recognizing the pain of an officer's death and the pain of a civilian's confusion and apprehension about police and maybe even their death. and i frankly believe we can find that common found. i hope that you will allow us to inquire of you. we did not get to question everyone. i hope you will make yourself resources as we ride forward to address a mother's pain and as well find that even place. and i, in my remarks, by quoting a philosopher, treat people as if they were what they should be and you help them become what they're capeab

mr. conyers.hout objection, all of the members' opening statements will be made a part of the record. we welcome our distinguished panel of witnesses today. and if you would all please rise, i'll begin by swearing you in. please raise your right hand. do you and each of you solemnly swear that the testimony that you are about to give shall be the truth the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? thank you very much. let the record reflect that the witnesses responded in the affirmative. sheriff david a. clark jr. has served as a sheriff of milwaukee county wisconsin, since march 2002, when he was appointed by then-governor. he be was elected in november, 2002, and is currently serving his fourth term as sheriff. sheriff clark holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice management from concordia university, wisconsin, a master's in security studies from the naval post graduate school, and has completed various executive education programs with the fbi and at harvard university's

mr. conyers is recognized for his question. >> thank you. i appreciate the different contributions from each of the five panelists, and i think we're off to a good discussion. i'd like you to know that thanks to the chairman and mr. scott and sensenbrenner we've been having hearings on overcriminalization. they started out for six months and the chairman, goodlatte added six more months to it it was so effective. this moves us further along. but the fact of the matter is how do we change this culture? this goes back a long ways. this isn't something a recent phenomenon at all. and so i'm thinking about how we get into this infrastructure and architecture that we're trying to move to and i'd like to look at that for just a moment. but before we do i'd like to raise the question of police prosecutions. we all know the conundrum, the prosecutor and the police work together much of the time, and then all of a sudden the prosecutor's got to decide whether to prosecute one that he's been working with a long time. professor ramirez and any of the r

mr. conyers. rep. conyers: thank you, mr. chairman. members of the committee, to our distinguished witnesses and to those who have come to this hearing, law enforcement accountability is an issue that is very topical, given current events. but also one that has long been a concern of mine and many other members. as a member of congress, i stood on the streets of detroit with able mourn, an appeal for calm while my city burned around me in 1967. thinking back, there was a race riot in detroit in 1943. on too many occasions i have met with the grieving relatives of those who have lost their lives at the hands of police, but i have also met with the families of police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. some of these officers were killed by violent criminals, while other officers were inadvertently killed by their colleagues, or some of their colleagues who could only see the color of their skin. i have cochaired a town hall meetings with fellow members of congress and others across this nation in response to policing incid

mr. conyers. and without objection all the members' opening statements will be made part of the record. if you would all please rise, i'll begin by swearing you in. please raise your right hand. do you and each of you solemnly swear that the testimony that you are about to give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god? thank you very much. let the record reflect that the witnesses responded in the affirmative. sheriff david a. clark jr. has served as the sheriff of milwaukee county, wisconsin since march 2002, when he was appointed by then governor scott mccallum. he was elected in november 2002 and is currently serving his fourth term as sheriff. sheriff clark holds a bachelor's degree in criminal justice management from concordia university wisconsin a master's in security studies from the naval post-graduate school, and has completed various executive education programs with the fbi and at harvard university's john f. kennedy school of government. matthew barge is the vice president and deputy director of the police assessment resource center pa

mr. conyers. rep. conyers: thank you, mr. chairman. members of the committee, to our distinguished witnesses and to those who have come to this hearing, law enforcement accountability is an issue that is very topical given current events. but also one that has long been a concern of mine and many other members. as a member of congress, i stood on the streets of detroit with a bullhorn and appealed for calm while my city burned around me in 1967. thinking back, there was a race riot in detroit in 1943. on too many occasions, i have met with the grieving relatives of those who have lost their lives at the hands of police, but i have also met with the families of police officers who lost their lives in the line of duty. some of these officers were killed by violent criminals, while other officers were inadvertently killed by their colleagues, or some of their colleagues, who could only see the color of their skin. i have cochaired a town hall meetings with fellow members of congress and others across this nation in response to policing in

mr. conyers of the judiciary committee, for this timely presentation and the offering of this legislation on this floor this week which is a time to commemorate and mourn and to hold up the nation's law enforcement. it's a very important statement that we make today on the floor of the house and as a senior member of the house judiciary committee, as the ranking member of the subcommittee on crime terrorism and homeland security and investigations, and yes, as a member of congress from houston, which has one of the flakes' most effective -- nation's most effective police departments, and as co-sponsor of the house companion measure i rise in strong support of s. 665, the rafael ramos and wenjian liu national blue alert act of 2013. i, too, thank senator cardin, congressman reichart and, of course, my colleague and friend, congressman pascrell. i am also a co-sponsor. i thank them for their particular leadership on this bill. every day more than 900,000 officers protect and serve the people of the united states. on average, one law enforcement officer is killed in the line of duty every 58

mr. conyers and the subcommittee chairman, mr.ing member, are grateful for the leadership of our colleagues in working through the human trafficking legislation. i would associate myself with the words that all of us have said very often as tragically and heinously sex trafficking and human trafficking the trafficking of children keeps on giving in an ugly, horrible disastrous way that ruins the lives of innocent victims. for they are used over and over again. stand here recognizing that houston ranks very high among those cities that have had the scourge of human trafficking. in fact, as i rise to support s. 178 the justice victims act -- trafficking act of 2015, i recognize that human trafficking is a scourge that impacts greatly on my home district in houston, texas. houston currently ranks number one among the u.s. cities with the most victims of human trafficking. so i congratulate on the house bill judge ted poe congressman poe, my neighbor in houston, and care lynn maloney, a -- carolyn maloney, a member from new york, who

mr. speaker, held in front of the judiciary committee on tuesday and we thank chairman goodlatte and ranking member conyers for heeding our voices asking for this hearing. and it was a hearing of information. but i think it did evidence that there is a divide that must be bridged. . tonight i stand on the floor to honor, mr. johnson, a fallen officer in my district and none of us want to consent to actions against law enforcement officers in the line of duty protecting our communities and our nation. at the same time, i believe that we have the opportunity to do some serious issues or confront serious issues developing a road map for better police community tissue better police-community relations. so in addition to the legislation that i know mr. johnson has already elaborated on and i support him in his efforts, we will be looking at legislation that deals with holding the standard matrix to provide a road map of training for police officers and law enforcement officers from de-escalation to ideas of interaction with community, professional training, educational training, we'll also hopefully pass a cade