Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sent to Congress the first report required under her bipartisan Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, which was signed into law in 2020 to address an epidemic of law enforcement suicides. This Act requires the FBI to collect voluntary, anonymous data from local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies on police suicides and attempted suicides and issue an annual report to Congress regarding its findings.
“I’ve always fought to get our law enforcement officers the resources they need, which is why I passed bipartisan legislation to address the tragic number of law enforcement suicides across the country,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “This week, the FBI issued the first annual report required under my law to track law enforcement suicides and ensure that we understand the critical issue of law enforcement mental health. I’m continuing my work in the Senate to stand up for law enforcement and ensure they have the mental health resources they need to do their critical work in our communities.”
As the former top law enforcement official in Nevada, Senator Cortez Masto has been a leading advocate in the Senate for our police officers and is part of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus. She secured historic funding for the Byrne JAG grant program in the FY2022 omnibus. The program is the leading source of criminal justice funding for state, local, and tribal governments and provides support for a range of programs related to crime prevention, law enforcement, prosecution, corrections, and mental and behavioral health. Her bipartisan bills to combat the crisis of law enforcement suicide and provide mental health resources to police officers were both signed into law. Her bipartisan Invest to Protect Act, to provide $250 million over the next five years to support small law enforcement agencies across the country so they can invest in training, mental health support, and recruitment and retention, passed the Senate in July.
###