U.S. Senate Hearing on Police Safety Focuses on Independence Trooper’s Death

The U.S. Senate held a hearing on police safety on Tuesday – and it focused on the shooting death of Patrol Sergeant Jim Smith of Independence. 

Zach Anderson was a Grundy County deputy last year when Sergeant Smith led a tactical team to confront a man barricaded in his Grundy Center home.

Anderson considered leaving law enforcement, but is now a Cedar Falls police officer. He told senators more must be done to protect police and provide more counseling after attacks like the one he survived. He credits his wife for encouraging him to talk.  

Anderson said the man who killed Sergeant Smith had a hatred of law enforcement that ramped up in the current environment. He’s calling on senators to play a role in changing attitudes.

Senator Chuck Grassley, who invited Anderson to speak at the hearing, says there’s too much hostility toward law enforcement.

A Michigan sheriff, the president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Baltimore’s police commissioner and a Chicago policeman who survived a shooting also testified during Tuesday’s hearing.

 

story courtesy of Radio Iowa