Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) announced $124,992 in grant funding from Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) for the North Las Vegas Peer Support Project. This grant award is part of the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act Program, which helps improve the delivery of and access to mental health and wellness services for law enforcement through training and technical assistance, demonstration projects, implementation of promising practices related to peer mentoring mental health and wellness, and suicide prevention programs. Senator Cortez Masto’s Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, which was signed into law in June, will build on these efforts by tracking law enforcement suicides and attempted suicides and using the anonymous data collected to improve mental health intervention and decrease law enforcement suicides.
“Peer support programs are an incredibly successful way to deliver mental health support to law enforcement. This grant funding will ensure police officers around Las Vegas can access the counseling and training they need to serve the public and keep themselves healthy, both mentally and physically. In honor of National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month this September, I’m continuing to work to find bipartisan solutions, like my recently passed Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, that bolster mental health resources for our police officers in Nevada, and across the country.”
BACKGROUND:
Senator Cortez Masto’s bipartisan legislation with Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) to help prevent law enforcement suicides was signed into law by the President in June. The Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act will track law enforcement suicides and attempted suicides and use the anonymous data collected to improve mental health intervention and decrease law enforcement suicides. The Senator has also introduced the Confidentiality Opportunities for Peer Support (COPS) Counseling Act, which would ensure that the information disclosed during peer support counseling sessions by federal law enforcement officers is kept confidential. The legislation also requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to make a list of best practices publicly available on the department’s website.
Senator Cortez Masto also supports peer support programs for all Nevadans, and recently introduced the Virtual Peer Support Act to help boost the capacity of peer behavioral health support programs by transitioning them to an online setting.
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