Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley announced a new legislative agenda on Wednesday that includes hiring 100,000 new police officers to help keep Americans safe.
“American families aren’t safe, but they deserve to be. And they can be if we will act,” Hawley said in a news release.
Violent crime is surging across the country. Our families need protection. Our cops need support. We should raise officers’ pay and put 100,000 new cops on the beat
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) June 23, 2021
“This is not the time to defund the police or vilify them, but to support the brave men and women in blue — and put more of them on the streets. Immediately,” he added.
Hawley’s plan includes several responses to what his office called “America’s crime wave and unprecedented assault on America’s law enforcement officers.”
The agenda calls for 100,000 new law enforcement officers to be hired via “a bill to provide grants to local communities to support hiring an additional 100,000 additional law enforcement officers to protect American families.”
The senator’s plan also calls for additional protections for police officers with “a bill to increase maximum penalties for assaulting federal officers by 50%.”
Another measure would “create a separate criminal offense for targeting someone based on their status as a law enforcement officer.”
Hawley discussed his new plan on Wednesday during a Fox News interview.
“It’s absolutely vital that we keep American families safe,” the senator said during the interview. “That is the bottom line. And right now too many American families aren’t.”
“Why aren’t they? Because crime is up, violent crime is up, by over 30 percent in cities across the country,” Hawley added.
“And unfortunately, that includes my home state of Missouri,” he said, before specifically addressing the need for more police officers.
Hawley added, “We need more cops. We shouldn’t be defunding the police.
“We shouldn’t be targeting the police. We should be supporting them.”
We need 100,000 new cops on the beat – and tough new penalties for criminals who target or ambush or dox police pic.twitter.com/UNT8G7iGxK
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) June 23, 2021
Hawley’s new legislative agenda was released on the same day President Joe Biden announced “a comprehensive strategy to combat gun violence and other violent crime,” according to a White House Fact Sheet.
The president’s plan calls for stricter gun control measured and tougher policies against gun sellers who break the law.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.