U.S. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Claire McCaskill (D-MO), the committee’s ranking member, recently sent a public letter to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Inspector General John Roth, regarding assaults on law enforcement personnel in order to help mitigate various threats they face.
The letter specifically requested a review of assaults on Border Patrol agents, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, and maritime officers and agents since 2010. According to the letter, the senators’ concerns stem from CBP data stating that the number of assaults on law enforcement personnel, including Border Patrol agents, has increased substantially between FY2016 and FY2017.
For their review, the senators requested information regarding the number of assaults on CBP personnel sustained during the course of their duty for each year since FY2010, including the locations of each assault and days lost to injury; the methods that CBP used to collect, compile, and track data on CBP personnel; and any measures DHS took to improve CBP personnel safety in the field, including tactical and de-escalation training.
The senators also sought information regarding any measures that CBP could take to promote law enforcement personnel safety in the future and the percentage of incidents that resulted in prosecution.