In an effort to bolster the discussions on crime and homeland security issues in this U.S. presidential election year, the IACP submitted a series of questions to both major-party candidates for president: Republican nominee Senator John McCain and Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama.

The IACP is a nonpartisan organization that neither endorses candidates nor contributes to campaigns; the nation’s chiefs of police have no agenda, political or otherwise, beyond their sworn duty to protect the public. The IACP’s sole purpose in presenting these questions to both candidates is that the association’s members in the United States, as well as the American public, deserve to know what steps the next administration will take to combat crime and terrorism and to make communities across the nation safer.

Below are six questions posed by the IACP and the responses from both candidates.