Director Wray Voices Support for Police During House Testimony

Video Transcript

It's important for Americans to take a deep breath for a second and think about what it means for somebody to put his or her life on the line for a complete stranger and then, after they've paused and thought about that for a second, to think about what it means to get up every morning and do that day after day after day after day. As I said in response to I think one of the earlier questions and you've touched on through your comments, the number of officers feloniously killed in the line of duty this year is up significantly from last year. And that's not even counting all the officers who were lost to COVID because they have to be out on the streets doing their jobs and they can't stay home. That's not counting all the officers who miraculously survived an attack but whose lives are forever altered. That's not counting the officers who died in things like vehicle incidents as their racing to the crime scene.

Every time an officer is shot and killed or killed through adversarial action in this country I was going to call myself the chief or the sheriff and express my condolences on behalf of the FBI and each time I do it I asked my staff to give me a picture, a photograph of the officer and a description of you know their families so I know how many kids they have, all of their kids were I had a guy recently who was engaged to be married six months out of his wedding day who was killed and I will never forget for example having to call in your home state to Brookhaven, Mississippi where they lost two officers in a single incident in the department of you know I want to say less than 30 people. We think about what that means to a department like that where every single person knew those two officers. So I understand people in this country are angry and upset and hurt and I get that and there's reasons to be angry and upset and no means mean to--to minimize their concern and hurt but the law enforcement family is hurt to and these people who put on the uniform and go out to protect all of us and our families every day deserve some level of appreciation and I appreciate your comments.