Register Today for NAPO’s Annual Lobby Day & Legislative Awards Luncheon; NAPO on the Hill: National Police Week Priorities; Legislation to Provide Childcare for Police Officers Introduced in Senate; NAPO Backs Targeting Online Sales of Fentanyl Act; NAPO-Backed Bill to Help Law Enforcement Improve Homicide Clearance Rates Reintroduced; Senate Banking Committee Hearing on Affordable Housing Crisis; National Blue Alert Advisory Committee Holds Quarterly Meeting;President Biden Releases FY 2025 Budget Proposal; NAPO in the News; Funding Available: FY 2024 Collaborative Crisis Response and Intervention Training Program
March 22, 2024
Register Today for NAPO’s Annual Lobby Day &
Legislative Awards Luncheon
Don’t miss the opportunity to join NAPO on Tuesday, May 14th for our Annual Lobby Day & Legislative Awards Luncheon on Capitol Hill. This is a great opportunity to lobby Congressional Representatives and Senators on behalf of your members concerning the issues which affect law enforcement. Prior to lobbying Capitol Hill, plan to attend NAPO’s Legislative Breakfast for an update on NAPO’s legislative priorities, results to date from the 118th Congress, and to receive handouts to use during your Hill visits.
Please Register online or complete the registration form and return to NAPO at aedmiston@napo.org or eloranger@napo.org by MAY 1, 2024.
We have reserved hotel rooms at a discounted rate at the Omni Shoreham hotel for NAPO members attending the TOP COPS Awards Dinner and the Legislative Awards Luncheon. The Hotel is selling out fast! Please register and make your hotel reservation at your earliest convenience. We ask that you reserve rooms only for those attending the NAPO events. For hotel reservations at the Omni please click here.
If you want assistance setting up your Capitol Hill meetings, let NAPO’s Director of Government Affairs, Andy Edmiston, know no later than May 1 at aedmiston@napo.org or (703) 549-0775.
The registration fee of $150.00 per person includes the Legislative Update Breakfast, handouts for your Congressional visits, and the Legislative Awards Luncheon. Advanced Registration is required. Please contact Elizabeth Loranger, NAPO’s Director of Events, at (800) 322-6278 or eloranger@napo.org if you have any questions regarding registration or hotel arrangements. May 14th will be here before you know it. Register today!
NAPO on the Hill: National Police Week Priorities
NAPO, together with our law enforcement coalition – Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies (ASCIA); Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA); Major Cities Chiefs Association (MCCA); Major County Sheriffs of America (MCSA); National District Attorneys Association (NDAA): National Narcotics Officers Associations’ Coalition (NNOAC); and National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) – continues to push our National Police Week agenda with Congressional leadership. We met the staff of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Republican Caucus Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY), and House and Senate Judiciary Committees to discuss the pro-law enforcement legislation we want to see the Committees move during National Police Week this year to honor the law enforcement profession.
We discussed the need for legislation to enhance officer safety by increasing penalties for the murder, attempted murder, or assault of federal, state, and local law enforcement officers, the LEOSA Reform Act, legislation aiding state and local agencies to hire and retain qualified officers, a bill to cover exposure-related cancers under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Program, and legislation to provide public safety officers with access to affordable homeownership. We also touched on our continued strong opposition to the Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act (FANFSA), which would produce significant public safety consequences by restricting law enforcement access to critical, publicly available investigative information that is utilized every day to combat violent and serious crimes such as murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, terrorism, and threats of mass violence.
Having to discuss legislation we oppose during our legislative push for National Police Week is a new phenomenon and a surprising one given that Republicans are the majority party in the House. This is a time we should only be on the offense, moving legislation that is important to the law enforcement community. While we are being promised that pro-law enforcement legislation will move through the House and Senate during Police Week, we have so far received no commitments to moving any of our listed priority legislation. We will continue to press the case that Congress must act in a significant manner to support our nation’s law enforcement.
Legislation to Provide Childcare for Police
Officers Introduced in Senate
Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced the Senate version of the Providing Childcare for Police Officers Act (S. 3884). NAPO has thrown its full support behind this bill, which was spearheaded by NAPO member organization, the San Diego Police Officers Association (SDPOA), and is modeled after its childcare center, the first such center specifically for law enforcement officers and their families in the nation.
NAPO strongly believes that this bill will help contribute to safer communities as it will remove barriers to entry and retention for law enforcement parents by helping agencies establish childcare centers specifically tailored for officers and the nonstandard hours they work and their financial needs. These centers could also help provide provisions of care for sick children and children with disabilities to ensure that all officers’ childcare needs are met. According to the SDPOA, their childcare center has yielded a marked improvement in police work by easing the stresses and worries of childcare for officer parents.
We stand with Senators Gillibrand and Tillis in support of the Providing Childcare for Police Officers Act and thank them for the leadership and support of the law enforcement community. Representatives Scott Peters (D-CA), Josh Harder (D-CA), Darrell Issa (R-CA), and David Valadao (D-CA) introduced the House version of this bill, H.R. 2722, in April 2023.
NAPO Backs Targeting Online Sales of Fentanyl Act
NAPO pledged its support for the Targeting Online Sales of Fentanyl Act (H.R. 7730), introduced by Representatives Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Wesley Hunt (R-TX), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), and Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), which would require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the methods used to enable the online sale of fentanyl and assess efforts by federal law enforcement and online providers to combat the practice.
The spread of fentanyl in our communities is devastating. It is being mixed with already deadly illicit drugs, hidden in counterfeit drugs, and being peddled at alarmingly high rates to our youth through social media. The data that will be produced due to Targeting Online Sales of Fentanyl Act will ensure the right resources and tools are being provided to law enforcement, government entities and private sector organizations to combat and deter sales of fentanyl on social media. With 77 percent of teen overdose deaths in 2021 linked to fentanyl, the time to act to protect our children is now. NAPO supports this important bill and thanks Representatives Spanberger, Hunt, Dean, and Crenshaw for their advocacy and leadership.
NAPO-Backed Bill to Help Law Enforcement Improve
Homicide Clearance Rates Reintroduced
Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and John Kennedy (R-LA) reintroduced the Violent Incident Clearance and Technological Investigative Methods Act (VICTIM) Act of 2024 (S. 3763). NAPO supports this bill as it would establish a grant program under the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to help state, tribal, and local law enforcement agencies improve their clearance rates for homicides and non-fatal shootings. The grant funding can be used to hire additional detectives, officers, and personnel to support efforts to improve clearance rates as well as train detectives and police personnel to investigate, solve, and respond to homicides and non-fatal shootings.
Our nation’s cities and communities are facing a law enforcement staffing crisis, which is significantly impacting law enforcement’s response to crime and consequently how safe the communities they serve feel. Murders and non-fatal shootings are going unresolved at higher rates as law enforcement agencies do not have the officers and resources to dedicate to improving clearance rates for these horrendous crimes. The VICTIM Act will help address this issue by supplying much needed grant funding to agencies to fill, replenish, train, and support their detective and homicide personnel. Through this legislation, law enforcement will be able to focus on solving these violent crimes that have such a detrimental impact on our communities and improve the services that they render to victims.
We look forward to working with Senators Booker and Kennedy to ensure law enforcement agencies have the support and resources necessary to effectively serve and protect our communities.
Senate Banking Committee Hearing on Affordable Housing Crisis
On March 12, the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing entitled, “Examining Proposals to Address Housing Affordability, Availability, and Other Community Needs.” While the hearing addressed the various obstacles to affordable home ownership, Committee Chairman Sherrod Brown (D-OH) took the opportunity to highlight the HELPER Act (S. 1514), which he introduced with Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Jon Ossoff (D-GA), as a solution:
“[T]he HELPER Act, which I introduced with Senators Rubio and Ossoff, will create a new type of FHA mortgage to make first-time homeownership more affordable for the law enforcement personnel, firefighters, and teachers who are serving our communities but can’t afford to live there.
This commonsense bill is supported by the National Association of Police Organizations, the Major County Sheriffs of America, Major Cities Chiefs of Police, the International Association of Fire Fighters, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and more than 200 other national organizations, mayors, governors, and state and local groups across the country.
They know first-hand how critical it is to support the people who teach our kids and keep us safe.”
A hearing is the first step towards moving legislation forward in Congress, followed by a markup of the bill by the Committee. We are working closely with Chairman Brown and Senators Rubio and Ossoff to have this bill marked up and moved to the Senator floor for a vote. The HELPER Act currently has 19 bipartisan cosponsors and NAPO continues to push to garner additional support for this important bill. We and our national law enforcement partners included it on our annual National Police Week legislative agenda and are pushing Senate leadership to support moving this bill forward.
National Blue Alert Advisory Committee Holds Quarterly Meeting
The Blue Alert Advisory Committee, of which NAPO is a member, in conjunction with the Justice Department’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office, convened on March 19 to discuss the Network’s continued work to establish Blue Alert systems in all 50 states. The Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Director Hugh Clements led the meeting.
Currently, twelve states and Washington, D.C. do not have Blue Alert networks. Getting Blue Alert plans up and running in all 50 states is a priority for NAPO as it ensures the National Blue Alert Network we fought so hard to get enacted as part of the Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act works efficiently and effectively to protect officers from harm. The Act was named after NAPO members NYPD Officers Ramos and Liu, who were assassinated while sitting in their police cruiser on December 20, 2014.
The states that currently do not have active Blue Alert Networks are Alaska, Arkansas, Hawaii, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Legislation to create Blue Alert plans is pending in Pennsylvania. The Massachusetts state legislature held a joint hearing in December on a bill to establish a Blue Alert plan and we are monitoring its status with the help of our member organization, the Massachusetts Coalition of Police.
NAPO, together with the COPS Office, stands ready to work with stakeholders in these remaining states to help enact such legislation. If you are interested in receiving information and resources on how to establish a Blue Alert plan or you wish to participate in the state-level working group, please contact the NAPO Office at (703) 549-0775 or info@napo.org.
In addition to tracking and supporting Blue Alerts that are issued by states, the National Blue Alert Network also tracks officers shot in the line of duty. The COPS Office will soon issue a report for 2023, but preliminary numbers show 2023 to be the highest year yet in officers shot in the line of duty with 378 officers shot. Officer deaths were down thanks to personal protective equipment including body armor and medical intervention.
To date in 2024, 83 officers have been shot in the line of duty, of which 8 officers were killed and 21 were shot in an ambush style attack. This is an increase in the number of officers shot compared to this time last year.
As violence against officers continues to rise, Blue Alerts are an essential resource to keeping our officers safe. Best practices and other Blue Alert resources collected from around nation, including examples of legislation, policies, forms, and a directory of state Blue Alert officials can be found on the National Blue Alert Network website.
President Biden Releases FY 2025 Budget Proposal
Even though Congress is just now finalizing Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations, President Biden released his proposed budget request for Fiscal Year 2025 on March 11. In general, the President’s budget proposal for the DOJ is very similar to his FY 2023 request and focuses on supporting police and criminal justice reform initiatives. It proposes adequate sustained funding for several of NAPO’s priority grant programs, including the Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP) Grant Program, the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP), also known as the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA), the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) and Supporting and Treating Officers in Crisis (STOIC) Act programs. It also includes significant funding for the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Hiring Program, most of which is prioritized for the President’s anti-violence and police reform priorities.
The President’s budget requests $524.5 million for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) Program. There are $105.5 million in carve outs for several law enforcement and criminal justice related grants drawn from Byrne JAG funding. Rather than making these grants standalone programs, their funding is taken out of the funding for the larger Byrne JAG program. The programs funded through Byrne JAG include $13 million for the Preventing Violence Against Law Enforcement Officer Resilience and Survivability (VALOR) Program, $20 million for Project Safe Neighborhoods, and $10 million for training for state and local law enforcement on responding to individuals with mental illness or disabilities.
For the COPS Program, the President’s budget proposes $534 million. It allocates $370 million of that for the COPS Hiring Program, out of which $10 million would go towards the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act and Supporting and Treating Officers in Crisis (STOIC) Act programs.
In his budget, the President is recommending a significant increase in funding for certain community policing initiatives and directing that funding to supporting police reform policies and practices. For example, the budget would add new conditions and priority preferences for the COPS Hiring Program to focus grant funding to agencies that partner with community organizations to implement community violence intervention (CVI) strategies, which aim to reduce gun violence through tools other than incarceration, and want to hire officers to dedicate to those strategies. Further, and perhaps most important to note, the President’s proposed budget would implement new priority preferences to incentivize agencies to implement the reforms laid out in his police reform Executive Order.
The budget requested funding levels for NAPO’s other priority grant programs:
- Bulletproof Vest Partnership (BVP) Grant Program: $30 million
- Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP): $45 million
- Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Body-Worn Camera Grant Program: $35 million
- COPS Anti-Meth Task Force Program: $16 million
- COPS Anti-Heroin Task Force Program: $35 million
- POLICE Act (active shooter training): $13 million
- STOP School Violence Act Grants: $137 million
For the important DHS grants, the budget proposal requests approximately $421 million for the State Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSGP), $531 million for the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI), and $100 million for port security grants.
The President’s Fiscal 2025 Budget represents the President’s fiscal priorities, but it is Congress that decides and writes the final appropriations for FY 2025. NAPO is working with Congress as it switches its focus from FY 24 to FY 25 to ensure our priority grant programs receive robust funding, while maintaining local discretion on how these funds can best be used to meeting the needs of communities.
NAPO in the News
NAPO Executive Director Bill Johnson was interviewed for a March 18, 2024, Kaiser Family Foundation Health News article, entitled, “As More States Target Disavowed ‘Excited Delirium’ Diagnosis, Police Groups Push Back.” The article discusses the movement to prohibit the use of the medical term “excited delirium” from official proceedings, including death certificates, law enforcement training, police incident reports, and civil court testimony. California became the first state to ban the use of the medical diagnosis, with Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, and New York looking to follow suit.
Excited delirium is characterized by agitation, aggression, acute distress, and sudden death due to the agitation and distress. Many medical professionals now believe the diagnosis has been discredited and advocates state that the diagnosis has allowed law enforcement to get away with certain deaths in custody. Johnson defended officers: “The bills [prohibiting the use of the term] ‘clearly run afoul of the First Amendment’ and violate free speech,’ said Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations. He also argued that law enforcement officers do encounter symptoms and behaviors associated with excited delirium.”
Funding Available: FY 2024 Collaborative Crisis Response
and Intervention Training Program
The Collaborative Crisis Response and Intervention Training (CRIT) Program supports improved law enforcement engagement with people in crisis who have behavioral health conditions, intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities, or physical disabilities, and/or traumatic brain injuries to achieve safe outcomes for all individuals in the community. It supports the design and use of best practice training approaches and tools to increase understanding of behavioral health conditions and disabilities, navigate community resources, and improve de-escalation skills within the applicant organization and among patrol and facility-based staff.
Click here to learn more about the Program and apply.