Past and present U.S. law enforcement leaders have started a nonprofit to shape federal policy on public safety issues and toughen gun laws. Helping lead the group is a former local police chief from a turbulent period in Central Florida’s past.
Police Leaders for Community Safety launched two weeks ago with an advisory board of over 50 mostly retired former police chiefs, commissioners and sheriffs who served in cities ranging from Miami to Seattle. The group intends to play a direct role in electoral politics: Leaders said that later this year it will endorse congressional candidates who support policies such as universal background checks and red-flag laws.
The vice chairman of its board of directors is Rick Myers, who spent almost a year as interim chief of the Sanford Police Department. He was hired to lead in the aftermath of the killing of Trayvon Martin — from May 2012 to April 2013. The outrage over the incident and subsequent acquittal of shooter George Zimmerman contributed to the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The nonprofit’s members describe the group as the first of its kind where current and former law enforcement leaders can publicly advocate policy at the national level.
“Once we’re retired and we’re not representing our agencies, our communities, and we no longer work for city managers or mayors, it’s far easier to speak truth to power, if you will, without fear of repercussion,” said Myers, a retiree who served as police chief in several cities.
Police groups have traditionally walked a careful line on gun issues. While many officers tend to be politically conservative, law enforcement leaders often worry about laws and practices they believe allow criminals to acquire heavy firepower and threaten police. But those leaders often have been reluctant to translate those concerns into political action.
The police leaders group says it can change that dynamic.
In addition to combating gun violence, the group seeks to raise the standards of the law enforcement profession through policies such as creation of a national registry of officers discharged for misconduct.
Its members were motivated to start the group due to a lack of law enforcement voices in Washington, D.C. and perceived inactions by Congress. According to a report from the Congressional Research Office dated June 7, there are three former sheriffs and four former police officers in the 118th Congress — all are members of the House of Representatives.
Myers says the group supports Americans’ rights to defend themselves, but believes it can be done without certain types of weapons which he describes as being meant for mass killing. So it supports tighter regulations of assault-style weapons and large ammunition clips.
It also strongly supports background-check policies which can keep guns out of the wrong hands, and red-flag laws which create a process to take away guns from dangerous individuals. But it hasn’t decided for sure how best to interact with Congress on its issues — which races it will seek to intervene in, and whether it will lobby lawmakers directly.
“Congress isn’t even talking about this right now,” he said, “and so our goal is to get the attention of Congress, have them look at it from a bipartisan approach, and [determine] what are some workable solutions so that we can reverse this scary increasing trend of mass shootings in this country.”
In his criticism of Congress, Myers cited the U.S. Senate’s failed attempt Tuesday to advance legislation that would lead to a new ban on bump stocks after the Supreme Court on June 14 overturned a Trump-era ban on the item, which allows guns to fire far more rapidly.
“But sure enough, at least one senator objected, and that kicked the bill out,” Myers said. “Now they’re going to have to go through committee and have a roll call and delay it, and in the meantime, how many people are going to, with ill intent, run out and load up on bump stocks and start mowing people down.”
Luis Valdes, a former police officer who serves as a spokesperson for Gun Owners of America, blasted the new organization, saying it has no respect for Americans’ 2nd Amendment rights.
“Law enforcement officers swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States the moment they start, but this grandstanding from these former cops only confirms they have no respect for Americans’ inherent right to self-defense with the weapon of their choosing,” he said. “There’s plenty of good, honorable police out there who respect our rights as citizens, but these folks are not among them.”
But Myers disagrees, as does Dan Oates, who was chief in Aurora, Colorado, during the 2012 shooting at a movie theater which killed 12 and injured 70 in that town. The retiree now lives in Oviedo.
“The entire country was horrified,” Oates said. “Now, of course, we’ve had so many of these events since, but they were still extremely rare back in 2012 so the torment and destruction that a community has visited upon it when someone does this is just awful.”
Central Florida had its own mass shooting tragedy with the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando which left 49 dead. The 8th anniversary of the shooting was earlier in June.
Myers believes the emotional trauma caused by these events leads people to greater participation in the political process, which is key, as always, in driving change on gun issues.
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