Statement of Support Issued by Chuck Canterbury- National President of the Fraternal Order of Police
Originally Published By: Fraternal Order of Police
Chuck Canterbury, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, announced his support today for legislation developed by the Administration to make important reforms to our nation’s criminal justice system.
“The President and his team have been working hard on this issue since Inauguration Day,” Canterbury said. “From the outset, they let us know they wanted our input because this effort could not succeed without our support. We are proud to announce that by working together with the Administration and leaders on Capitol Hill we have a bill that will make our streets and neighborhoods safer, our police will be better protected and improve the ability of our criminal justice system to effectively rehabilitate offenders.”
The legislation, entitled the “First Step Act,” would establish a comprehensive risk and needs assessment tool to provide an individual profile of all Federal inmates. Those offenders deemed to be at low risk to recidivate would be given incentives and access to evidence-based recidivist reduction programs to better prepare them to return to their neighborhoods and become productive members of the community.
“By individually targeting those offenders with the lowest risk to re-offend, law enforcement and correctional officers can better focus their resources,” Canterbury explained. “The FOP played a key role in making sure that truly dangerous offenders like those who commit crimes while armed and those who traffic deadly narcotics like fentanyl, are ineligible to participate in the First Step program.”
The legislation also contains certain sentencing reforms. The FOP engaged with our allies on Capitol Hill to make sure these changes are prospective and would not, except in the case of the existing Fair Sentencing Act, be applied retroactively. The bill also contains an FOP-backed provision that would improve the safety of our Federal correctional officers carrying firearms under the auspices of the Law Enforcement Officers’ Safety Act.
“We have been proud to partner in this effort with President Trump and are grateful for his leadership and for his constant and unwavering support for law enforcement,” Canterbury said. “We look forward to working with him and Congress to get this bill to his desk.”
The Fraternal Order of Police is the largest law enforcement labor organization in the United States with more than 345,000 members.