Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, H.R. 8352 is a commonsense and bipartisan bill that fixes a critical flaw in the Federal statute. State peace officer standards and training agencies, or POSTs, are responsible for certifying, licensing, and overseeing law enforcement officers in their respective jurisdictions. All 50 States have some form of a POST agency, although they go by different names. More than 50,000 individuals apply each year for law enforcement positions across the United States, and local, county, State, and Tribal agencies submit these applicants to their respective State POST agencies for certification. It is our expectation that each of those men and women would be a person of integrity and capable of upholding the position of public trust, but we shouldn't just take an applicant's word for it. As President Reagan might have said: 'Trust, but verify.' Applicants voluntarily consent in writing to these background checks when applying for employment to perform the duties of a law enforcement officer, but current Federal law does not give POST agencies full access to criminal history records contained within the FBI's CJIS system. This can result in POST agencies having incomplete records when deciding whether to certify a candidate for employment as law enforcement. This unnecessary barrier has resulted in candidates with disqualifying convictions slipping through the cracks.”