ATLANTIC CITY, NJ – Saturday, November 17, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) was named Legislator of the Year at the New Jersey State Police Benevolent Association (PBA) Valor Awards Dinner.

“Our police officers are heroes — they deserve our deep appreciation for their work and they deserve our full support for everything they do to protect our communities from crime and lone wolf terror,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “That’s why I will continue to do everything I can in Congress to make sure our law enforcement and our first responders have the resources they need to keep us safe and keep themselves safe, including clawing back more of our federal tax dollars for our first responders.”

Earlier this year, Gottheimer announced the Fifth District clawed back from the federal government $290 per household — a 16% increase from recent years — through programs like the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO) excess equipment program, FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG), and DOJ’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant program.

In July, Gottheimer also introduced the bipartisan the Darren Drake Combatting 21st Century Weapons of Terror Act. The  Darren Drake Act would help us thwart lone-wolf, ISIS-inspired terrorist attacks by requiring that all vehicle dealers and rental companies match critical information on individuals against the government’s terror watch list. Rental companies would be required to instantly share this information with the FBI and the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to flag any potential terrorist matches.

The Darren Drake Combatting 21st Century Weapons of Terror Act will also establish a competitive grant program at the Department of Homeland Security to help state and local governments protect exposed public and pedestrian areas with security barriers and bollards. The legislation is named for Darren Drake, the New Milford resident tragically killed in 2017 when an ISIS-inspired terrorist drove a rented pickup truck through the bike path along the Henry Hudson Parkway.

Gottheimer has also been a leading bipartisan advocate for protecting law enforcement and first responders, including crossing party lines to vote for the Thin Blue Line Act. As Co-Chair of the bipartisan Problem Solver’s Caucus, he’s pushed to empower first responders and local organizations to help address the opioid crisis by enacting new legislation, like the Stop the Importation and Trafficking of Synthetic Analogues (SITSA) Act of 2017.