Law Enforcement Inclusion Act of 2019

Law Enforcement Inclusion Act of 2019

This bill expands the allowable uses for Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants to include hiring and training career law enforcement officers who are residents of the communities they serve and increasing law enforcement workforce diversity and inclusivity.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4168 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4168

  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
   provide that COPS grant funds may be used to hire and train new, 
  additional career law enforcement officers who are residents of the 
            communities they serve, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 6, 2019

  Mr. Lewis introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                       Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
   provide that COPS grant funds may be used to hire and train new, 
  additional career law enforcement officers who are residents of the 
            communities they serve, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Law Enforcement Inclusion Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) According to the Equal Employment Opportunity 
        Commission (EEOC) and the Census Bureau, which together provide 
        detail on the racial composition of government workers in large 
        American cities, in about two-thirds of the United States 
        cities with the largest police forces, the majority of police 
        officers live outside of the city in which they work.
            (2) When officers live in the cities in which they work, it 
        may reduce the carbon footprint by employees in their journey 
        to work, foster more employee concern in the affairs of their 
        city, ensure manpower will be available in case of emergencies, 
        generate additional tax revenue for the city, and cut down on 
        absenteeism and tardiness.
            (3) According to a New York Times article entitled, ``When 
        Police Don't Live in the City They Serve (2016)'', trust is 
        greater between community and police force when officers live 
        in and are demographically representative of the communities 
        they police.
            (4) Existing programs, such as the Secure Neighborhoods 
        Pathways to Homeownership in Atlanta, are strengthening police 
        legitimacy and creating more cooperative relationships with 
        civilians across racial lines which holds promise for reducing 
        crime and violence. As a result of this program, the percentage 
        of Atlanta's police force, living in the city of Atlanta, 
        increased from 14 percent to 22 percent.
            (5) Strained ties between police departments and the 
        communities they serve predate the 1960s civil rights movement. 
        During and after the civil rights movement, activists across 
        the country have marched in support of improved police-
        community relations.
            (6) Police officers have an important job to maintain the 
        safety, security, and resiliency of the cities they serve. By 
        residing in the same communities in which they serve, officers 
        may have opportunities to ameliorate their relationships with 
        community residents and heal relationships between police and 
        communities.
            (7) Substantive criminal justice reform should include 
        initiatives to ameliorate the relationships police officers 
        have with the communities they serve.

SEC. 3. USE OF COPS GRANT FUNDS TO HIRE LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS WHO 
              ARE RESIDENTS OF THE COMMUNITIES THEY SERVE.

    Section 1701(b) of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act 
of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381(b)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (22) and (23) as paragraphs 
        (25) and (26), respectively;
            (2) in paragraph (25), as so redesignated, by striking 
        ``(21)'' and inserting ``(24)''; and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (21) the following:
            ``(22) to recruit, hire, incentivize, retain, develop, and 
        train new, additional career law enforcement officers or 
        current law enforcement officers who are willing to relocate to 
        communities--
                    ``(A) where there are poor or fragmented 
                relationships between police and residents of the 
                community, or where there are high incidents of crime; 
                and
                    ``(B) that are the communities that the law 
                enforcement officers serve, or that are in close 
                proximity to the communities that the law enforcement 
                officers serve;
            ``(23) to collect data on the number of law enforcement 
        officers who are willing to relocate to the communities where 
        they serve, and whether such law enforcement officer 
        relocations have impacted crime in such communities;
            ``(24) to develop and publicly report strategies and 
        timelines to recruit, hire, promote, retain, develop, and train 
        a diverse and inclusive law enforcement workforce, consistent 
        with merit system principles and applicable law;''.
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