[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 94 (Friday, May 28, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING FOR MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS RESPONSE ACT OF 2021

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                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 28, 2021

  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, l rise to introduce the ``Law Enforcement 
Training for Mental Health Crisis Response Act of 2021.'' This 
bipartisan and bicameral legislation has broad support from a cross 
section of members on both sides of the aisle. The bill would authorize 
a grant program to law enforcement departments and corrections officers 
at the state, local territorial and tribal level to obtain vital 
behavioral health crisis response training to more safely and 
effectively resolve behavioral health crisis situations. Funding for 
this training would be authorized under the Byrne JAG program funding.
  I would like to thank Congressman Anthony Gonzalez for his 
partnership and collaboration on today's legislation. I would also like 
to thank both Senator Sherrod Brown and Senator James Inhofe who 
introduced this bill as companion legislation in the Senate earlier 
this week.
  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 authorized under this bill will be managed through Byrne JAG 
Prevention and Education programming.
  Law enforcement officers are often the fist responders to behavioral 
health crises. And correctional officers must deal with difficult and 
fast changing mental health situations, which if not handled 
appropriately, put the life and safety of inmates and officers at risk.
  One in every 10 calls for police response involve a person suffering 
from a mental illness; 1 in every 4 people killed by police suffer from 
a mental health problem; 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 affected communities.
  Our nation owes a deep debt of gratitude to the men and women 
managing these situations, and this bill takes an important step to 
provide resources to help better manage mental health crisis situations 
involving police and corrections officers. Today's legislation is 
supported by both the Fraternal Order of Police and the National 
Tactical Officers Association.

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