Guest Opinion

Safety of families is No. 1 priority for Congress

, Jul 26, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Speaker of the House Jeff Merkley

Contributed photo

Keeping our families and our children safe is our No. 1 priority.

Since I first ran for the Oregon House 10 years ago, crime issues have been a top priority because of significant public safety issues afflicting my mid-Multnomah County district.

Taking on these challenges is key to building strong communities where families and children, such as my two little ones, can thrive.

Over the last decade, I’ve addressed several major public safety challenges. I helped pass a sweeping anti-meth plan that Governing magazine called the “nation’s strictest.”

As Speaker of the House, I fought to keep sex offenders away from our kids by making it illegal to lure children over the Internet. I led the charge to add 139 state troopers to keep patrols on Oregon highways 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I fought to fund the expansion of the state DNA crime lab in order to erase the backlog and keep the justice system on track.

As a state, we’ve made great strides here when it comes to protecting our communities, but we need to push for more public safety support on the national level.

That’s why I’ve worked with John Kroger to develop a plan that calls for increased federal support to combat meth, add police to the streets, crack down on sex offenders, and protect victims of violent crime.

Right now in Oregon, meth is threatening our communities and casting a cloud upon the future of our state.

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