Cory Booker Demands Database Of Officers Fired For Cause So 'They Never Put People In Danger Again'

Madame President I rise today with a lot of hurt and anguish I start with these words please don't hurt me please don't hurt me those were the first words that Sonia Massie said to the officers who knocked on her door on July 6th she had called 911 for help she dialed those digits out of distress she thought there might have been a possible intruder at her home two officers responded they were supposed to help less than five minutes later she was dead With A Bullet to the Head the officer who killed her stopped the other officer at the scene from rushing forward to render Aid by saying these words nah that's a head shot dude chuckled she's dead Sonia massie's words please don't hurt me her words please don't hurt me four words please don't hurt me Sonia Massie was a mother and a daughter she was a friend and a neighbor she was young she was just 36 years old this African-American woman was in her home and needed help she should be alive today today we all grow up being taught in school that when we need help police will be there we know and are taught that they are to protect and serve all across America there are extraordinary stories of officers who do just that I know it intimately some of the bravest people I've ever encountered are men and women who serve as Law Enforcement Officers they do keep our community safe I believe overwhelmingly the overwhelming majority of American officers are not just good people but they are good people who do great things and Times of extraordinary distress I have such incredible experience and forged Incredibly Close bonds with many police officers as mayor of New Jersey's largest city I actually oversaw a police department I sat with officers for countless hours hundreds of them in patrol cars I went out with them in Patrols in some of our more challenged neighborhoods in late hours of the nights I watched them put themselves In Harm's Way I watch them intervene in life and death situations I know countless police officers who report to work day in and day out and carry out their oath to protect and serve faithfully and professionally often going above and beyond the call of their Duty and yet I also know in the small fraction of those officers from some of the worst tragedies that this country has had to witness too often I know that there are people that should not be officers that have not merited those badges should be kept away from the profession I've seen some of it in attitude and conduct and behavior of people that view it as an US versus them they don't see themselves as Guardians of the community often see themselves as Warriors they don't know the neighborhoods that they're serving or respect them there are some a very narrow small fraction of a percent of our officers who don't do their job who are quick to jump to conclusions who see often people of color or poor people or homeless people or those suffering from addiction as threats we are a nation that must do better there are people that somehow get on to our police departments in America that are unfit to serve the officer that killed Sonia Massie should never have had a badge and a gun while we still do not know all the details here's what we do know we know that he had worked for six different police departments in less than four years he was discharged from the Army for quote serious misconduct unquote he had pleaded guilty to two charges of driving Under the Influence he also failed to obey a command while working for another sheriff's office in Illinois and was told that he needed high strength address decision-making classes unfortunately this officer is not the only one who's managed to go from Department to Department escaping scrutiny and accountability this is because in the United States of America we have no real system to keep bad officers from Simply jumping over to the next town if they're fired think about this so many of our local communities have police departments they have people that apply for those jobs and there is no National system or database that they can check to see if that officer came from a different state or a different city and was bounced out of their job for misconduct in one of the most important roles in American society that is often the difference between life and death where you have the power and the capacity to fire weapons where you have to operate and act under high stress situations we have no National way no database that departments can check to see if the officer they're hiring has shown in other jurisdictions behavior and conduct un becoming of an officer Sonia Massie should not be dead this could have been prevented we have known this is a problem in our country because of past tragedies this November will be a 10-year anniversary of a little boy's death his name was Tamir rice Tamir was 12 years old old doing something that I did in my childhood that I imagine lots of kids have done in their childhoods play with toy guns a 12-year-old was playing when an officer drove up to him jumped out of the car and shot him within 3 seconds of leaving his vehicle I talked to other police officers 10 years ago when this happened and they bemon the fact that that child died they talked about how no well-trained officer should ever let that happen that good police officers would have never made that fatal mistake but this was not a good police officer this officer had been fired from his previous police job he'd been deemed unfit for his duty in another jurisdiction and then left that jurisdiction and applied for a job was there a database in our nation that that department could have checked to see if this officer was fired for Just Cause in another jurisdiction no this was a decade ago this was a little boy but here I am talking about this problem and the death of another American an unnecessary murder of another American a preventable murder of another American by someone who should have never been hired by a police department I appreciate that President Biden has taken steps to correct this issue I I appreciate that under his administration in America we established a police officer accountability database to try to track bad officers and make sure they're never hired again so that they never put people in danger again but right now departments aren't required to report these officers into that database they're not required to check that database before hiring an officer this is the change that's needed it reflects best practices it reflects what police leadership police professionals and others have said we should have in America this is not some effort to federalized police departments it's simply about keeping the public safe and officers safe it's about doing things that deepen the trust and the faith in those who are sworn to protect us we have rules and laws for doctors rules and laws for lawyers rules and laws for manufacturers rules and laws for the energy sector rules and laws even for the media sector how is it that we can't demand that every Police Department have to check a database to make sure that the person they're hiring or thinking of hiring doesn't have something in their background that puts the community they serve in danger this is not too much to ask this is common sense every police chief that I've have ever talked to does not want to hire an officer that has been fired for misconduct or conduct Unbecoming an officer from another jurisdiction it's just common sense we should not resist the kind of changes in this body that can make sure that the deaths of Tamir rice or Sonia Massi do not happen it's change that's overdue when George Floyd was murdered four years ago our country had a reckoning so many people from every end of the political and ideological Spectrum acknowledged that we could make sure that we that we could improve police accountability we heard this from every sector people came out and every state demanding that we take Common Sense measures to improve one of the most important jobs we've had I sat with police leaders who talked about steps we could take common sense to improve the profession to create higher standards that our officers could meet because they want to but here we stand again on the senate floor talking about another death that could have been prevented by a common sense measure I worry about this reality that we still live in a nation where parents teach their children they're often young African-American children survival techniques about police encounters have a conversation with them that shouldn't necessarily be had to have but when you have example after example like with Sonia Massie who herself evidenced fear when the police came to her house a 12-year-old boy shot with a toy gun a woman afraid when she calls the police I've been fighting for greater police accountability my entire time in the Senate and I stand with others who have done the saying one of those people is representative Sheila Jackson Lee today we mourn her loss she passed on July 19th with her passing came an extraordinary Fierce leader in Congress in the nearly three decades that she spent in Congress representing the people of district 18 of Texas she fought not only for her constituents but for Americans across the country country she was the daughter of Jamaican immigrants Miss Jackson Lee was born in Brooklyn New York in 1950 she went on to graduate with a degree in political science from Yale University and a law degree from the University of Virginia this was not a thing that many black women at the time did but she broke down barriers of race and gender that kept so many like her from these Elite institutions she went on to become a municipal judge before she was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1994 one of the very last Bills Miss Jackson Lee introduced was the George Floyd Justice and policing act she had not stopped fighting for what she believed was right to raise standards of accountability to increase transparency to create higher standards of professional conduct I received a voice message from Sheila Jackson Lee just days before her death I could hear in her voice the illness that was taking over her body I could hear her voice shaking but still just as strong as defiant and one of the last things she said to me in that voice message days before she died was calling on me to not give up to press forward with the George Floyd Justice and policing act I think about that I played this message over and over on my phone that the last thing she said to me was about the George Floyd Justice in policing act that one of her last communications with her colleagues one of her last calls to a United States Senator days before her death was about police accountability about police transparency about raising Professional Standards I know she would have condemned the death of Sonia Massie I know she would have stood on the floor of the House of Representatives and demanded change she would have said that her death would not be in vain and she would have said that we need to create a mandatory database that has to be checked before you hire officers in the United States of America she would have demanded that the principles and pillars of the George Floyd Justice and policing act be put into place so I will heed her call in the coming days I'll reintroduce the George Floyd Justice and policing act here in the Senate with my colleagues to bring about that accountability to bring about that transparency to raise those standards of professionalisms I will work to make sure there is not a day again in America where people unnecessarily die where when people call the police they can be confident that they'll be protected not shot dead we the most important profession perhaps in our nation those who every day get up and go to bed with this firm commitment to protect us whe the thousands of officers every single day do not have their profession besched by that narrow few who violate our values who abuse their position and commit crimes like the one that killed Miss Massie there's an old proverb from the Old Testament that says do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to act it is within our power to act it is our duty to act to do the common sense things that can prevent the deaths of people like Tam rice and Sonia Massie it's an oath we take in this body it is the call of our country first and foremost to defend our citizens these tragedies must stop these unnecessary deaths must stop we must rise in this moment to be instruments of Justice to make sure that the oath we swear is more true and more real that we are a nation of liberty and justice for all thank you Mr President M Madam president thank you he'll close then he'll Rel you