CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Just months before the killing of four law enforcement officers in Charlotte, the director of the U.S. Marshals Service warned members of Congress about the growing threat to these officers' safety.
"Our work is exceedingly dangerous," Ronald Davis, the director of the U.S. Marshals Service, said before a House Judiciary subcommittee in mid-February. "It requires exceptional skill and sophisticated training and equipment... Officer safety, morale and wellness have, and will continue to be one, of my top priorities. We cannot effectively serve the American people if we do not take care of our most valuable asset."
The director's comments before the Congressional Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance followed deputy marshals and task force officers facing gunfire four separate times in the first two weeks of February alone. The comments came at the same time one sheriff's deputy recovered from a gunshot injury
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As part of the director's testimony, he talked, in part, about a three-year review his office completed. The review showed 147 shootings involving deputy marshals or task force officers from 2019-2021.
A U.S. Marshals task force is a multi-jurisdiction effort that involves law enforcement officers from local police departments and other agencies.
In the studied time frame, 13 officers suffered gunshot wounds. Among those, a deputy marshal from Arizona died while serving a warrant. USMS reported 97% of the shootings occurred while deputy marshals and officers were serving warrants.
On Monday, a U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force was trying to serve warrants on Terry Hughes, Jr. when they said he opened fire on officers. Three task force members and a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officer were killed as a result.
The agency's review of past shootings followed a critical U.S. Department of Justice Office of Inspector General report that flagged concerns about the agency's prior failure to learn from line-of-duty deaths
"I am grateful that the administration included $29 million to support deputy and safety wellness in their Fiscal 24 budget," Davis added during his comments. "I hope this committee and Congress will keep officer safety front-of-mind as it finishes this budget."
Despite detailing the growing risk of the job, no subcommittee members asked specific questions about officer safety. In fact, only one expressed worries about potential funding cuts that he believed would have "devastating" consequences to the Marshals' operations.