Federal support for the mental health of law enforcement personnel

Enforcement Memorial Fund; 182 of these fatalities were COVID-19 deaths (113 other cases included: 45 by gunfire, 42 in traffic, and 26 other) (NLEMM, 2021). This means that 61.7% of all officer deaths in 2020 were due to the coronavirus, making the disease the most prolific killer and largest problem facing law enforcement officers. The coronavirus has surpassed suicide as the leading cause of death for law enforcement officers. Aside from deaths due to the coronavirus, suicide remains more common than death in line of duty, with 182 COVID-19 fatalities, 116 confirmed suicides, and 113 deaths in the line of duty in 2020 (Table 1). One of the most prevalent mental health issues in the US is depression. Although law enforcement personnel are often subject to personal and professional stress and trauma, the rate of depression in this occupational group is not known. It is likely to be double that in the civilian population (Hartley et al., 2012; Reeves et al., 2011). In the LE-SMD, depression characterized 32% of cases of suicide during 2017-2019 (Johnson, 2021; Violanti, 2021). This included cases in which depression was confirmed by a clinical diagnosis, but also those in which there was no clinical diagnosis, but family members had noted the depressed mood or despondence of the deceased during the months, weeks, or days preceding the suicide.

Federal support for the mental health of law enforcement personnel

In November of 2017, Congress passed a bill called the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act of 2017. The bill expanded the allowable use of grant funds under the Community Oriented Policing Services program to include establishing peer mentoring mental health and wellness pilot programs in state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies. It also required the Department of Justice to work with the Department of Health and Human Services to develop educational resources for mental health providers regarding the culture of law enforcement agencies. The bill also mandated reviewing existing crisis hotlines and researching annual mental health checks with first responders (S. 867 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act of 2017, 2017). In 2019, following the initial request to prioritize law enforcement mental health at the federal level, COPS, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services within the US Department of justice, published the “Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act: Report to Congress,” which included 22 recommendations for Congress on ways to improve the mental health of law enforcement officers in the US.

The list included: » creating a national crisis line for law enforcement » supporting the creation of a law enforcement suicide event report surveillance system » supporting programs that embed mental health professionals in law enforcement agencies » supporting the expansion of peer support programs to ensure that all officers have access to this service (Spence et al., 2019)

The bill also led to the creation of the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act Program. It was developed by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, which is part of the US Department of Justice, and which allocated funds to be used to improve the access of law enforcement personnel to mental health and wellness services (COPS, 2021) through the implementation of peer support, training, family resources, suicide prevention, and other wellness program practices. Recently, in 2021, 65 new awards of two-year grants, totaling over $7 million, were given to law enforcement agencies across the US (COPS, 2021). From 1994 to October 2021, the COPS office has invested $14 billion in community policing, including granting awards to more than 13,000 state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than 134,000 officers (United States Department of Justice, 2021).