Bill Pascrell: “There is nothing like the presence of a police officer. It is not only a deterrent to crime, but it is at the very heart…”

“There is nothing like the presence of a police officer. It is not only a deterrent to crime, but it is at the very heart of homeland security. That is why the British are way ahead of us. They have a bottom-up philosophy of looking at what is going wrong in the community. We cannot have a top-down. So 117,000 police officers later, to our rear right now is going the National Peace Officers Memorial Service, and we know who is there. But we know who is here. This is critical. We pray for these police officers on the streets every day. I agree with the gentleman from Ohio, the technology is just as significant as the number of personnel we put on the street. This administration tried to cut the FIRE Program, and they tried desperately to cut the COPS Program. It is a new day, and we started it in the sunshine.”