Summary#
This bill, the Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act, directs the Attorney General to produce three reports about violence, aggression, and mental health effects on law enforcement officers. Each report must be submitted to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees not later than 270 days after the bill becomes law. The Attorney General must consult with the FBI, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division, and other stakeholders such as Federal, State, Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies and nongovernmental organizations.
The three required reports cover:
- Attacks on law enforcement officers: counts of offenders who target officers, incidents involving coordinated attacks, Federal and State/local responses to ambushes and violent attacks, recommendations to improve responses, surveys and effectiveness analyses of training, review of the Patrick Leahy Bulletproof Vest Partnership distribution and limits, analyses about combining officer-involved shooting reports with other data, options to expand data fields (for example, suspect injury level), disparities in ambush data reporting, and possible legislative tools to deter ambush attacks.
- Aggression against law enforcement officers: analysis of creating a new reporting category in the Uniform Crime Reporting System and the National Incident-Based Reporting System for aggressive or trauma-inducing incidents that are not currently crimes; what details and evidence standards that category would include; how to get State and local agencies to report such incidents; potential Department of Justice uses of the data; disparities in reporting; and possible legislative tools.
- Mental health and wellness: types, frequency, and severity of mental health and stress responses among officers after aggressive or trauma-inducing incidents; available mental health and peer-to-peer programs at Federal, State, and local levels and how much officers use them; need for mental health screening; and possible legislative actions to improve officer mental health and wellness.
What it means for you#
- The Justice Department will study and report on attacks, non-crime aggression, training, protective gear distribution, and officer mental health.
- The reports will include data analyses, surveys, and recommendations for Federal, State, and local agencies.
- The bill does not itself change criminal penalties or create new programs; it requires information and recommendations that lawmakers and agencies may use later.
Expenses#
No publicly available information.
Proponents' View#
According to the bill's findings, supporters say there has been a rise in anti-police rhetoric and violence against officers, including ambushes. They argue better and more complete data on attacks, training, protective gear distribution, and officer mental health is vital to provide needed Federal, State, and local resources and to protect officers.
Opponents' View#
No publicly available information.