"This week is National Police Week, a time to reflect on our brave law enforcement officers throughout the country who have given their lives to protect others," said Representative Trey Hollingsworth. "I'm honored to reintroduce the POLICE Act and offer additional protections to our policemen and women who dedicate their lives to keeping us safe."
Recent executive interpretation of federal law currently prohibits state and local law enforcement officers from carrying their agency-issued firearms onto the civilian federal property unless the officers are responding to incidents in progress or are specifically called to the location. This double standard means any officers who might need to visit federal facilities throughout the day would be required to disarm beforehand and would be unable to respond to incidents in their communities until they rearm. In 2017, Floyd County Sheriff Frank Loop contacted Representative Hollingsworth to share his frustration with how this federal law makes his officers vulnerable and unable to respond to an emergency.
Together, Sheriff Loop and Representative Hollingsworth wrote the POLICE Act to allow uniformed law enforcement officers to remain armed on certain civilian public access federal facilities. The POLICE Act ensures our publicly recognizable law enforcement officers are always ready to respond when necessary.
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