HAGER CITY, WI – Yesterday, Derrick Van Orden was part of a roundtable discussion with members of law enforcement representing 11 different departments. The attendees discussed the challenges facing law enforcement and a variety of solutions.
Derrick has been a frequent critic of Ron Kind for lying to the sheriffs of the 3rd District, releasing an ad yesterday with a first hand account of the phone call in question.
See below for excerpts from the La Crosse Tribune’s coverage of the roundtable and click here to read the full story.
…Republicans said they believed addressing gaps in public safety included more funding for things like training and mandates such as the enforcement of body cams. And more resources for mental-health responses, including a regional facility to bring an individual in police custody experiencing a mental-health crisis.
But one of the most immediate and critical components to improving public safety was more support for law enforcement, Republicans said.
“We asked everyone to get together so that first and foremost they could communicate to the officers,” said 3rd Congressional candidate Derrick Van Orden, “that the vast majority of the people in the 3rd District support their efforts.”
Van Orden said specifically, if elected, he would staff an individual in his office to coordinate with the 18 police departments in the district to make sure that “if there’s something the federal government can do for them, it will be done….”
…At the event, Van Orden said law enforcement had lost trust in Rep. Ron Kind, D-La Crosse, because of a phone call he had with sheriffs earlier this year where they say he was dishonest about police reform.
During the call, officials said, Kind told law enforcement he would not support a bill that removed qualified immunity or no-knock warrants, though he had voted in favor of the George Floyd police reform bill in the House on June 25, which included removing those two practices.
“Ron Kind got on the phone, he told this to all of the sheriff deputies, when he actually co-sponsored a bill that did the exact opposite eight days before that phone call,” Van Orden said. “And if you can think of another word other than lying, I’d be interested in hearing what it is.”
…Kind’s spokesperson said that he had the best intention going into the call, knowing the bill from June was far from final, and voted for it to ensure that calls from activists didn’t “die down….”
