Congressman Etheridge on Crime

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One of my top priorities in Congress is to make our streets, our neighborhoods, and our communities safer. In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks, we must put the safety of our families first. The first responsibility of the federal government is to ensure the safety of our people, and we must act to eliminate the threat of terrorism wherever that threat exists and beef up law enforcement to keep our families safe and secure. In Congress, I have supported legislation to help the government identify, target and detain suspected terrorists, secured federal money to help Wake County law enforcement officials prepare to respond to a catastrophic event, and continued working with the Second Congressional District Youth Advisory Committee to prevent and reduce youth violence.

The USA PATRIOT Act: On October 24, I was pleased to support the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001, which was signed into law on October 26. The USA PATRIOT Act will help U.S. law enforcement officials identify, target and detain those who would do harm to our great nation. This bill bolsters the ability of federal authorities to conduct criminal and intelligence investigations, will allow authorities to bar and expel foreign terrorists from the United States, and will separate terrorists from their sources of financial support. The USA PATRIOT Act also establishes severe penalties for those convicted of acts of terrorism, and expands the government's authority to detain immigrants who are certified by the Attorney General as security threats.

Wake County Interconnect Module: I helped to secure $300,000 for Wake County law enforcement officials to implement an emergency communication system that will allow local emergency personnel communicate more effectively. Within Wake County, almost 20 agencies have law enforcement and emergency management responsibilities. Unfortunately, these agencies were not able to communicate with each other by radio because of incompatible equipment and varying bandwidths. In the event of a multi-jurisdictional incident or catastrophe like the terrorist attacks of September 11, responding officers from different departments would be unable to coordinate with each other.

The Interconnect Module will allow County officials to interface these different radio systems, thus allowing radio communication among all law enforcement and emergency management departments in Wake County and the surrounding areas. Wake County is striving to be completely prepared for catastrophic incidents like the September 11 terrorist attacks, and I am pleased to assist them with this important initiative. The Interconnect Module will help ensure the continued safety of the citizens of Wake County.

Youth Advisory Committee: As the tragedy at Columbine High School taught us, youth violence does not discriminate. Every student, teacher, administrator, and parent is effected by this problem in some way. Teachers cannot teach and students cannot learn in a threatening environment. Students have told me stories of students threatening their peers, teachers, administrators, and coaches. Sometimes the stories come from personal experience, and all of them are very frightening.

Fortunately, students have a unique opportunity to help solve this problem. To address to the circumstances that cause youth violence, I organized the Second Congressional District Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) to help me better understand the issues that our young people face in their schools and communities. During our first meeting in April 2000, the members of the YAC and I collectively decided to focus on reducing youth violence and elected a student from each area high school to serve on the YAC steering committee. In subsequent YAC meetings, the members of the YAC and I have worked to raise awareness about ways to prevent and reduce youth violence. I will continue to work to eradicate the problem of youth violence.