Aug 11, 2016 5 min read

Tense racial relations with police, opioid overdoses and the availability of equipment like body cameras were all part of a law enforcement roundtable hosted by U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey in Washington Thursday.

“I painfully recognize how much more dangerous it is to be a police officer today,” Toomey said, “because there is a dangerous, pernicious and dishonest narrative about cops that they’re racist rogues.”

According to FBI statistics, 44 percent of police killed on the job in the United States are classified as felonious killings. Since 2000, 791 police officers have been killed feloniously; 996 were killed accidentally. An average of 55 police officers are killed feloniously every year, according to the data.

Deliberate, targeted killings of police were more frequent in the 1990s than they have been in this decade, and assaults on police have been declining each year since 1999. The fatal shootings of five officers in Dallas in July could skew that data this year.

The last felonious killing of a local cop was when East Washington police officer John David Dryer was shot and killed during a traffic stop on Interstate 70 in December 2011.

“Every profession has its bad apples, but to smear an entire profession is wrong,” Toomey said.

Canonsburg police Chief Alex Coghill said he feels like his and other departments are “under the gun.”

“I never realized until this year what the president says can have an effect on morale, because I feel like we’ve become some tumor to the federal government,” Coghill said in response to a question on funding departments and providing military surplus equipment.

In January 2015, President Barack Obama signed an executive order prohibiting military surplus or military-style equipment to be acquired by local police departments with federal grants. Toomey said the need for life-saving defensive equipment, like heavy-duty military-style vehicles, would assist in hostage situations, and legislative maneuvers should be taken to open up funding appeals for the equipment.

When the conversation turned to heroin and opioid addiction, officers said fentanyl – a synthetic opioid much more potent than heroin – is becoming more popular and that’s a problem.

“We’ve seen the presence of fentanyl in batches of heroin go from 30, 40 percent to now people are picking up nearly pure fentanyl,” Coghill said, “and with Narcan and these naloxone antidotes, they shoot up in public parking lots and do it together because (users) know there’s a greater chance they’ll be saved by medical personnel or anyone who finds them.”

District Attorney Gene Vittone said he’s trying to work with state legislators to change sentencing laws to hit dealers with harsher penalties if it can be found that a drug resulted in overdose or death from a specific dealer.

“We need greater tools to target these dealers who are preying on people who need this drug or they get sick,” Vittone said. Vittone added the Washington County drug court program is still in dire need, as it maxes out with 75 participants almost at all times.

“It’s an 18-month program, and part of that is 90 days of treatment. The people who can’t get into this program (because they’re not first-time or low-level offenders) need that time, but insurances most often won’t pay beyond 30 days of in-patient treatment,” Vittone said, “and the cycle continues because of that. That’s why our drug court program has been so successful.”

“But there’s always going to be a demand. That’s the problem,” Coghill said.

“I want to push back on that,” Toomey said. “There’s been a huge decrease in the amount of people consuming cigarettes, and that came by way of education and culture change.”

For pain management, director of Victims’ Services in the district attorney’s office, Judy Nemeth, suggested H-Wave and other older technologies that stimulate muscles and nerves instead of opioid drugs. Nemeth said her office benefits from increased federal funding, to which Toomey said an overhaul is needed to guarantee federal funding year after year. For drug addicts who are “doctor shoppers,” Toomey said his Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act passed the Senate in July and awaits Obama’s signature.

“There are hundreds of thousands of patients that doctor shop. … Part of CARA would identify such people, and they can be locked into one doctor, one pharmacy,” Toomey said.

The topic of body cameras was also tackled, as Toomey asked for officers’ thoughts on their role.

“They’re not going to solve the problem (of police relations),” said Peters Township police Chief Doug Grimes.

“They’re a plus and a negative,” said retired Canonsburg police Chief R.T. Bell, “because I understand the right for the public to know, but it could bankrupt departments managing subpoenas of that information.”

Current Chief Coghill agreed, saying he would “need a nearly full-time position” to organize body camera captured video.

“In my experience, victims have been helped by photos and videos,” Nemeth said.