West Virginia Attorney General J.B. McCuskey joined Kyle Reyes, owner of the 1776 Project and Law Enforcement Today, for a brief interview at the White House during Police Week. AG McCuskey told Reyes that the greatest challenge facing law enforcement in West Virginia comes from the drugs funneled into the U.S. through Arizona, California, and Colorado.
Starting off the interview, McCuskey stated that he and other Attorneys General find themselves “in a world now with President Trump where we’re undoing a lot of damage that was done.”
“So, we live in a world now with President Trump where we’re undoing a lot of damage that was done,” he began. “And not just to the reputation of our law enforcement officers, but to recruitment and to sort of remake what is a commonsense crime.”
“…and so you know I’m thankful to live in a state that loves our law enforcement officers but we’re trying to sort of replicate the values of the people of West Virginia and we’re really proud that General Bondi has taken the reins and is doing that.”
When asked about the greatest challenges facing West Virginia law enforcement, the Attorney General told Reyes:
“Our biggest challenge is the fentanyl crisis and so you know like I was talking about a little bit earlier is that we are sort of the… the tail end of what we’re doing with ICE, right? …we are the place where the drugs end up.
And so every single thing that’s happening in Arizona and California and Colorado and these places that I have no control over are destroying families in West Virginia and they’re making it so children live without parents and children have a level of hopelessness based on, you know, not having the same chances that every other kid had just based on the drugs that were brought across our border from both China and Mexico that we can’t control.
And so, it’s of the utmost importance for us that the law enforcement communities in places where I don’t live are supported because their job is the only thing that’s going to make our families’ lives better.”
Reyes pivoted to his learning experience with the fentanyl epidemic, telling McCuskey, “I just saw it as being something that didn’t impact me, didn’t impact my family. It was drug abuse, right? And then we did a series in Connecticut where we interviewed families who had just lost loved ones to fentanyl overdoses.
And some of these people, man, they were just good kids. It was the star football player who broke his leg. And next thing you know, they take him off the opioids and he’s dead of a fentanyl overdose three months later. I think the awareness and the education for about just how bad this is, and these aren’t bad people. These are mothers and fathers and sons and daughters and brothers and sisters, and I think the way that we begin to combat that is through those very open conversations.”
The two found common ground in this when the Attorney General told the story of his Director of Substance Abuse Recovery Outreach, Josh Barker.
“Yeah, so I have a guy who works for me named Josh Barker, and Josh worked for me when I was in the state auditor’s office, and his wife called me about 20 minutes after he overdosed and passed away.
And he was… brought back to life and he’s doing great but you know the first response from our office was hey get him help his job’s waiting for him and he got out of rehab about 60 days later and now he’s my Director of Substance Abuse Recovery Outreach in the office and it’s… he’s a dad and a husband, and he’s been a friend of mine for 30 years, and we can’t continue to use the same sort of tired methodology as we try to treat this problem, right?
And it’s about getting people who’ve made a mistake to have a real life again, and to be able to go back to being a Dad, and being an employee, and being an American. And I think that’s where General Bondi and the president are really leading in trying to sort of change the narrative around substance abuse.”
Asked about the potential impact of eliminating taxes on overtime, McCuskey suggested:
“It would go over beautifully, not just with our officers, but with all of their support staff too.” He added, “I live in a state where our law enforcement has, unfortunately, for too long been underfunded, and we have too many officers who have to work overtime to make ends meet. But the idea that the government takes more out of your extra work, especially for people who are getting shot at and are doing the very job that makes it possible to live in our communities, is kind of ridiculous when you really think about it.”
“And so it would be welcome to me, and we need to get this through because it’ll be welcomed by all of them too, and they deserve it. I’ve heard countless officers over the years say I don’t do this for the money, but wouldn’t it be nice to not have to hear them say that ever again? Yeah, I mean, I don’t know that you could ever pay a police officer enough for what they’re doing.
And so that is why that kind of statement almost doesn’t even matter. You could be paying them a million dollars a year, and it still wouldn’t be enough. And so they’re doing it because of love of their country and community, and their families. And that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be taking care of them as best we can.”
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