Statement on the Signing of the Bulletproof Vests Partnership Grant Act

June 17, 1998

Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, yesterday I had the privilege to attend the signing ceremony at the White House for the Bulletproof Vests Partnership Grant Act, S. 1605, with Attorney General Reno, Vice President Gore and President Clinton, who signed the bill into law.

I was honored to be joined at the ceremony by Vermont State Police Captain A. Marc Metayer and Springfield, Vermont Police Chief Barbara Higgins, who represented state and local law enforcement officers in my home state. Captain Metayer spoke on the importance of this new law and introduced the President of the United States.

I am very proud of the remarks of Captain Metayer and I ask that his remarks be printed at this point in the Record.

The remarks follow:

REMARKS OF CAPTAIN A. MARC METAYER, TROOP `B' COMMANDER, VERMONT STATE POLICE, June 16, 1998

I am honored to have the opportunity to speak at the signing of the Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act of 1998. I would like to thank Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado for their efforts in making this life-saving grant a reality.

As Senator Leahy knows, the need for body armor for Vermont law enforcement officers was highlighted by the two-state manhunt for Carl Drega, last August. Drega killed four people in Colebrook, New Hampshire, including New Hampshire State Troopers Scott Phillips and Leslie Lord. He then traveled into Vermont where he wounded four more officers during two separate encounters. Drega was killed in the final exchange of gunfire with a combined force of Vermont, New Hampshire and Federal law enforcement officers.

I know these circumstances from first hand experience. I was the on scene incident commander for the Vermont State Police when Drega was finally stopped.

The Drega incident brought home the fact that no area of the country, regardless of its remote nature, is immune from senseless violence: violence against our citizens and violence against our law enforcement officers. Law enforcement officers must be prepared for such violence at any time, and any place.

The Drega incident erupted from a regular traffic stop in which the Troopers were going to remove registration plates from Drega's vehicle. Moments later, two Troopers were dead, horrifying their families and their communities. All from an activity which law enforcement officers perform countless times each day: a traffic stop for a minor violation.

In the twenty years that I have served as a Vermont State Trooper, I have worn body armor as a part of my daily routine. For those twenty years, I have personally purchased successive vests since the State did not provide them. I have been fortunate enough to be in a financial position that allowed me to make these important purchases. But I have known many officers, most with young families, who simply could not afford to purchase body armor.

The Bulletproof Vest Partnership Grant Act will provide the funding to assist police departments with the purchase of body armor for their officers. Every state in the nation has communities that need this help to provide their law enforcement officers with this basic protection. In the end, this new law will save the lives of law enforcement officers in each and every state.

Thank you to all that have made this important contribution to the safety of police officers around the country.

I am now honored to introduce the President of the United States, President Bill Clinton.