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Help for the Heartland

by Colo. Dem. Sen. Ken Salazar - 03/03/07 10:30 AM ET

Yesterday, the Senate overwhelmingly passed the bipartisan amendment backed by myself and Senators Chambliss (R-Ga.), Isakson (R-Ga.), and Pryor (D-Ark.) to create a Rural Policing Institute within the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).

I often refer to our rural communities as “the forgotten America.

The growing demands on rural law enforcement, and shrinking budgets, have hit training programs particularly hard. Many rural law enforcement agencies simply do not have the budget to provide officers with adequate training. Furthermore, even those agencies that can come up with the money simply can’t afford to take their police officers off the beat long enough to get additional training.

That is where this amendment comes in. By working with FLETC to create a special, rural-focused law enforcement training institute to assist rural agencies in receiving cutting-edge training without sacrificing public safety, we can help make sure that Americans who live in our small towns and rural communities benefit from the very latest in homeland security training.