Support NGB Training for Police

I reach out to seek your support regarding the National Guard Bureau’s Counter Drug Training Program. I am distressed in having to continually battle for a program that has demonstrated such great success since 1992, but, the benefit to all first responders necessitate my efforts. 

Last week on Fox News VP Pence made the statement that the Trump administration was committed to police training and the war on drugs. President Trump has repeatedly stated that his administration is going to stop the flow of drugs into this country. With good reason is this attitude necessary. This year’s report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) were released on December 8, 2016. For the first year in memory they were not done in the public arena as historically released, but, rather in a teleconference with few reporters. CDC attempted to hide the results by merely directing interested parties to their website to search for the findings. This was a deliberate effort to hide what law enforcement has known for eight years...recent policies have failed this nation on the increase in drug usage and the associated criminal acts due to it. The reports prove a drastic increase in marijuana use by teenagers and college students, leading to staggering number of dropouts and thus no longer even a part of the survey. The use of heroin and other opioids is at epidemic levels with 19,885 deaths from illicit opioid production, a 23% increase in heroin from 2015 and a 73% increase in synthetics in the same period. The initial reports from 2016 confirm a continuing rise in every area and an apparent 63% increase in cocaine usage. The reports also validate the connection between the availability of high grade commercial marijuana in the states allowing legalization and the importation and use of every other addictive illegal substance. The effect of this epidemic is felt in communities large and small with increased crime and violence.

YET, every year recently the National Guard Bureau’s Counter Drug Training Schools have had their funding drastically reduced and for the past four years every effort has been made to shut the training down permanently. For those not familiar the NGB Counter Drug Program has 5 school houses around the country that offer free training to first responders. Before the attack on the program starting in 2010, for $40 million dollars over 127,000 first responders were provided training in over 100 drug related topics. Students traveling more than 50 miles were provided free lodging and meals in an effort to make the training available to even the smallest of police and mental health organizations. The courses conducted by RCTA since 1992 and MCTC in particular have demonstrated a long history of success in providing first responders with the nation’s most qualified experts in the field (both agencies have gone to great lengths to seek out subject matter experts and those that have been the original researchers in the field) and the students have been given information that enables them to better serve their agencies and communities.

Due to the bi-partisan efforts of members of the Senate (Boxer, Casey, Cochran, Grassley, Leahy, and Sessions in particular) funding was approved and a specific line item added in last and this years budget for the curriculum at the five counter drug school houses to be conducted by the DOD through the NGB. In spite of the directives of congress, bureaucrats at DOD have continued their efforts to derail the training and ultimately the success of the five training schools covered in the program. This past year they with held monies until the third quarter even though the budget was funded in December. Again, this year the appointees at DOD are inhibiting the success of the program by withholding monies from the training program. Even though congress has appropriated the money in the two year budget, albeit at reduced levels, and a continuing resolution has been authorized, the funding is being held back and has happened in the past three years the staff at the centers are on hold as is all of the programs that were scheduled to be conducted from October forward.

Considering the above documentation the efforts of this training program and the students who have benefitted from all fifty states, Canada, and as far away as Australia, the information and skills provided are needed now more than ever. In an era where police officers are being attacked, injured, and murdered at levels never imagined in the history of the profession and politicians and interest groups are screaming for police to receive better training for community relations a program that has met these goals is in place and able to accomplish the mission of making our communities safer is suffering. All 5 NGB training providers have insured that those students attending the programs leave with information and skills that can immediately allow them to perform their assigned duties with a new level of appreciation for community relations and having the knowledge to prevent and detect crime at all levels, with RCTA and MCTC insuring that only qualified civilian instructors conduct the training. Countless numbers of cases can be proven where the information provided the student has saved lives and solved crimes at all levels. This training is provided through the DOD and thus the NGB due to the fact that they have the facilities and manpower that no other agency in the federal government can match. They can be neutral in the selection of instructors and training providers that insures that the training is consistently the most professional and up to date without the influence of politics or agency rivalry. 

Having said all of the above I write to ask for your support in getting the funding for the program released immediately. And just as important, with this new administration stating a desire to support the police and police training, provide the support for this program by returning it to the level of funding of the past and allow the students to receive training that will allow them to combat the findings as outlined above and not only meet the cries for more training of police but also to respect the community in which they serve and the people that reside therein.  Please reach out to your US Senators and US Congressmen and demand that we accept VP Pence's commitment and allow our employees to benefit from the NGB program that has proven since 1992 to make a tremendous difference in the welfare of our communities and the safety of our officers.

You can contact RCTA at www.RCTA.org:

MCTC is found at www.counterdrugtraining.com