This week U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, along with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina) introduced the Threat Assessment, Prevention, and Safety Act of 2019 (S. 265).
The bill intends to streamline law enforcement efforts on local, state and national levels to better prevent violent acts of mass casualties.
Through the implementation of a Joint Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management Task Force (comprised of federal threat assessment experts, state and local law enforcement officials and mental health service professionals) a national strategy would be created to “prevent targeted violence through threat assessment and management, and evidence-based processes to identify individuals that exhibit patterns of dangerous behavior that may precede an act of targeted violence,” according to a press release.
Since perpetrators of these crimes can act anywhere at any time, the task force is supposed to help state and local law enforcement agencies access the same resources for combating these threats as the FBI and Secret Service.
The task force would be able to make recommendations on how to implement protocols for local law enforcement agencies to effectively preempt dangerous attacks. The bill requires these recommendations to reflect the different needs and resources of communities across the country, in order to prevent the enforcement of a national standard.
These recommendations would be funded through grants awarded by the Department of Homeland Security. Grant money would also be available to community stakeholders such as local governments, tribal organizations, educational institutions and nongovernmental organizations who create “community-based behavioral threat assessment and management units.”
The bill specifically requires recommendations for a Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management School Violence Prevention Program for educational institutions across the country.
A one-page briefing of the bill created by the office of Sen. Rubio states: “We have the expertise to combat the targeted violence plaguing our schools, places of worship, and public spaces, but we have yet to fully implement it to prevent attacks.”
“We must provide law enforcement with the tools they need to keep Arizona families safe and secure,” Sen. Sinema said in a press release. “I will work every day to protect Arizonans from senseless, tragic acts of violence.”
U.S. Representatives Brian Babin (R-Texas) and Val Demings (D-Florida) introduced a companion bill in the House.
This article appears in Jan 31 – Feb 6, 2019.
What a great way to ignore the crisis on the border.
A Mexican national was arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents on Saturday with enough fentynal to kill 57 million Americans, according to an internal memo …
Seized at the Nogales Port of Entry
They are using NAFTA and FSTA certifications to run drugs into the US in Mexican trucks.
I know, let’s chase them with drones, and watch them on cameras.
I don’t quite understand Misplaced Priorities? Seems to me (1) our national, state and local law enforcement efforts can’t be focused on any single target and (2) the law enforcement effort at the border did apprehend the attempted smuggling of a huge supply of fentanyl. And aside to the fomenter in chief of trumped up crises, this shipment was discovered at an urban border crossing; the drugs weren’t tossed over or tunneled under THE WALL.
We should leave the question of a wall, barrier, fence to the experts who have first hand experience on the matter. We should allow them to decide if there is a crisis on our southern border or not. If they say “yes” lets go with the best way they propose to secure our nation. Maybe ‘Nancy’ knows better, but I doubt it. One thing is apparent by her behavior, ‘there is only one thing on her mind, and that is to defy ‘Trump’ at all cost. Hate is a powerful force, one that can’t be reasoned with.