Sponsors (13)
Introduced February 27, 2025 by Catherine Marie Cortez Masto · Last progress February 27, 2025
The bill channels federal grants to help small law-enforcement agencies recruit, retain, and train officers—potentially improving officer wellbeing and community safety—while imposing new federal spending, audit conditions, and compliance requirements that may divert funds, increase paperwork, or limit access for struggling jurisdictions.
Local law-enforcement agencies with fewer than 175 officers can receive federal grants to fund evidence-based de-escalation, domestic-violence, and other training, improving officer responses and community safety in the jurisdictions they serve.
Small agencies can use grant funds for signing and retention bonuses and graduate stipends (up to $10,000), helping recruit and retain officers and reduce staffing shortages that affect public safety and service levels.
The program funds mental-health services, peer support, and trauma-informed care for officers, improving officer wellbeing and potentially reducing PTSD-related harms and related safety risks.
Taxpayers would fund up to $50 million per year (FY2026–2030) in new DOJ spending to support this grant program.
Allowing signing and retention bonuses (and up to 20% of salary) creates a risk that grant funds will be diverted away from training, community programs, or services toward pay incentives.
Requiring agencies with unresolved audit findings to be excluded from grants for up to three fiscal years could penalize small or resource-constrained jurisdictions and reduce their ability to improve training and services.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Establishes a DOJ COPS grant program for small local governments (<175 officers) to fund officer mental‑health/de‑escalation training and recruitment/retention, with a two‑hour streamlined application and AG reporting requirements.
Creates a DOJ COPS grant program that gives small local governments (including Tribal governments) with fewer than 175 sworn officers money to provide mental‑health supports and de‑escalation training for officers and to improve recruitment and retention. The Office must use a streamlined application that can be completed in two hours, provide technical assistance and liaisons to applicants, and issue grants quickly (grants to be awarded within 120 days of enactment); the Attorney General must report within 60 days on barriers and a plan to implement the streamlined process.