WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was recognized by the Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA) as the Legislator of the Year for championing legislation to benefit law enforcement agencies nationwide.

In her remarks, Klobuchar expressed her gratitude for the recent work of sheriffs and local law enforcement in Minnesota and discussed her work to provide law enforcement the tools and resources they need to keep Americans safe and getting her Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act signed into law last year.

The award was presented to Klobuchar by MCSA President Sheriff Bill Brown. A photo from the event can be found here.

"I have so appreciated our local law enforcement and how they have handled a really difficult time. I'm sure people have different views on some of this, but I will say one thing we can agree on is that they have just been extraordinary and trying to de-escalate things, both the sheriff's staff and our metro police staff and everyone has tried their best to do that."

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"Minnesota, as you know, has had a series of tragedies, from the assassinations of my friend and her husband, the former Speaker of the House in the early part of the summer, to Annunciation Church, where those kids were sitting in these pews…. the bullets came through the stained glass windows when they were in the mass. And out of that came the story that the Minneapolis police got there in three minutes. Three minutes. The first officer was there, and within less than 20 minutes, 21 people were in ambulances, and that's why only two little children died, and Fletcher and Harper, but the rest lived. because they were able to help the first responders and the sheriff's office and everyone came to the scene so quickly."

"So I try to remind people, while we're going through what we are right now…through it all, I don't want the end result being a breakdown of trust that people have worked so hard to build up with law enforcement - no matter if it's Republican sheriff or Democratic sheriff …..it's been a long time effort to build [trust] up."

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