Kaptur and Bice Introduce Law Enforcement Training for Mental Health Crisis Response Act

 “Our nation owes a deep debt of gratitude to the brave men and women of law enforcement and corrections officers who are often the first to respond to volatile and often dangerous situations involving people at their most vulnerable,” said Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09). “I am proud to lead this bipartisan effort to help those who protect and serve our communities alongside Congresswoman Bice. Our officers deserve all of the training and resources we can provide to help them effectively and safely handle behavioral health crises to protect themselves, those experiencing crisis, and the public they serve.”

“Our police officers put their lives on the line every day to protect us. With increasing rates of mental health conditions, our officers need to know how to react in difficult situations,” said Congresswoman Stephanie Bice (OK-05). “The Mental Health Crisis Response Act will help our police officers learn effective ways to resolve behavioral health crisis situations and ultimately increase their safety, and the safety of our communities.”

This legislation is supported by the Fraternal Order of Police. Additional House original cosponsors include Congresswoman Julia Brownley (CA-26), Congressman Troy Carter (LA-02), Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06), Congressman Dwight Evans (PA-03), and Congresswoman Dina Titus (NV-01).

The Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne JAG) program, administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, supplies grants to local law enforcement entities for public safety initiatives. Grants created under this bill will be managed through Byrne JAG Prevention and Education programming. Byrne JAG grants are always distributed to supplement available State and local grants and never to supplant them. Law enforcement officers are often the first responders to behavioral health crises. One in every 10 calls for police response involve a person living with a mental illness; 1 in every 4 people killed by police experience mental health issues; 1 in 3 people transported to a hospital emergency room for psychiatric reasons are taken by the police. When responding to calls, law enforcement officers need to be prepared to respond to all possible scenarios and, with increasing frequency, we’re seeing that involve behavioral health crises. By improving training for these types of responses, we can better keep our officers safe, ensure individuals in crisis are treated with dignity, and improve trust amongst the communities affected.

Full text of the legislation can be found by clicking here.