Foster Votes to Boost Funding for Local Law Enforcement

Washington, DC – Today, Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) issued the following statement after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan Invest to Protect Act, which would establish a grant through the Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program to help small law enforcement agencies fund training, mental health support, recruitment, and retention:

"In order to prevent crime in our communities, it's critical that we invest in the resources to support local law enforcement," said Foster. "I was proud to vote for the Invest to Protect Act, which will provide de-escalation training, retention efforts, mental health support, and other measures to ensure the smaller and mid-size police departments in the 11th District are equipped to fight crime and domestic violence. I'm proud a bipartisan majority came together to pass these common-sense solutions to build safer, more secure communities, and I urge my colleagues in the Senate to follow our lead."

Provisions in the Invest to Protect Act include:

• Providing grants to law enforcement agencies with fewer than 125 officers to fund de-escalation training, access to mental health resources, recruitment, and retention.
• Allowing DOJ to give preference to agencies applying for funds for de-escalation training.
• Requiring DOJ to evaluate barriers in the application process and provide technical assistance to agencies applying for grants.
• Requiring disclosure of the use of grant funds for signing or retention bonuses.
• Allowing DOJ to audit any grantees to ensure funds are used appropriately.
• Requiring DOJ to ensure the grants are not duplicative of existing grant programs.

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