Kentucky Republican Rep. Andy Barr introduced legislation Friday that would amend the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits program to include retired law enforcement who are killed or who suffer a permanent injury as a result of their work on the front lines.
The Daily Caller first obtained a copy of the bill, which is titled the Chief Herbert D. Proffitt Act of 2024. The legislation honors Chief Herbert Proffitt, who was shot and killed in his driveway in 2012, by a man whom he had arrested a decade prior. Profit was not able to qualify for the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits program, because he had retired just a few years prior.
The Public Safety Officers’ Benefits program leaves out former officers who have died as a result of their service in the line of duty, such as Proffitt. Barr’s legislation aims to include those retired officers who were killed as a result of their service.
Proffitt was part of the Tompkinsville, Kentucky Police Department and also served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He was a part of law enforcement for 55 years before retiring in 2009.
“We call it the Chief Herbert D. Proffitt Act, and it’s named after Chief Proffitt from Kentucky, who was sadly, murdered after he had retired. But as a result of his in line of duty activities he had arrested and sent to prison a criminal and when the criminal that he had apprehended and, resulted in his, punishment and his imprisonment was released from prison, he murdered Chief Proffitt as an act of revenge. Chief Proffitt’s family was denied in line of duty death benefits, under the Public safety officers benefits program because he was retired. He was no longer, quote on quote, an ‘active law enforcement officer’ at the time of his murder. But the reality is his murder resulted from his in line of duty, activities,” Barr told the Caller before introducing the bill.
READ THE LEGISLATION HERE:
(DAILY CALLER OBTAINED) — … by Henry Rodgers
“So this bill would simply correct this injustice and make sure that retired officers, police officers who are killed and or injured in direct response to their work on the front lines and in the line of duty, are eligible for benefits and it obviously benefits the murdered police officers family that deserves the benefits from this preexisting program,” he continued.
The Caller asked Barr if he thinks Democrats will vote in favor of this legislation, to which he said: “The defund police movement in the Democratic Party is a cancer and there is a real, and I would call it a nasty, a nasty antipathy, for, brave men and women who put on the uniform and protect our communities, and for any member of Congress to oppose giving families of the fallen police officers the benefits that they’ve earned and deserve is just outrageous in my opinion.”