Recruit and Retain Act

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 546, the Recruit and Retain Act. H.R. 3325, the identical House version of the bill that I am co- leading with Congressman Hunt of Texas, passed the Judiciary Committee last week.

The Recruit and Retain Act addresses two key goals that are central to Police Week, recruiting young people who want to become law enforcement officers for the right reasons, and relieving the financial burden of recruiting and retaining law enforcement officers by assisting law enforcement agencies with the costs of the recruitment and application process.

The Recruit and Retain Act is supported by the Fraternal Order of Police, National Sheriffs' Association, Major Cities Chiefs Association, Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, National Association of Police Organizations, Major County Sheriffs of America, and several other organizations.

Recruiting and retaining highly trained law enforcement professionals is of the utmost importance. Our ability to attract and develop the best, brightest, and most compassionate and dedicated men and women of diverse backgrounds is vital to the health and well-being of our Nation.

Keeping our residents safe and promoting better community relations will lead to safer streets and better policing. We must incentivize hiring and retaining the people who will do the best job of safeguarding our communities through wise use of the most up-to-date law enforcement techniques.

For quite some time, law enforcement agencies nationwide have been facing a challenge in their efforts to maintain an appropriately staffed police force. Due in part to changing demographics, they have experienced high rates of resignations and retirements of law enforcement officers.

The 2021 Police Executive Research Forum Workforce Survey of law enforcement agencies revealed a 5 percent decrease in the overall hiring rate, an 18 percent increase in resignations, and a 45 percent increase in retirements from responding agencies.

The Recruit and Retain Act would establish a new model for the productive recruitment of future law enforcement officers who want to join police forces for the right reasons. Enhancing recruitment of qualified law enforcement officers who are dedicated to the highest principles of policing may also reduce an agency's attrition and resignations over the long term.

Through the bill's Pipeline Partnership Program, students will benefit from age-appropriate teachings about the rule of law, the value of law in an ordered society, and the centrality of the law enforcement and judicial systems, including the role that law enforcement officers play in maintaining these values within our society.

With age-appropriate introductions to the concepts of law and its importance coming from law enforcement officers and teachers in a friendly setting, some students may choose to join law enforcement, while others may become inspired to pursue careers as lawyers or public servants in other areas of government.

An introduction of law enforcement through schools would, in some ways, be similar to a Junior ROTC program for older students who may become interested in law enforcement careers without a contractual commitment. It could increase the number of candidates entering the law enforcement recruitment officer pipeline for desirable reasons.

The Pipeline Partnership Program would initially be deployed in a small number of jurisdictions, similar to a pilot program, and its positive outcomes could subsequently encourage other jurisdictions to replicate it.

The Recruit and Retain Act will also reduce the administrative costs of recruiting and retaining officers by assisting with the expenses of application fees, such as those for background checks, psychological evaluations, and testing. Funds would be made available to defray the costs of hiring applicants and rehiring officers, taking the burden off of strained law enforcement agencies.

Additionally, our bill directs the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study to better understand the factors that influence recruitment and loss of law enforcement agencies. This study will also recommend practices that will help reduce barriers to addressing these issues.

Importantly, the GAO study will assess recruitment, retention, and retirement factors experienced by law enforcement agencies nationwide in communities of all sizes, including those in rural areas which, in some contexts, receive less attention when law enforcement policies are evaluated and developed.

To facilitate those initiatives, rather than allocate additional funds, the Recruit and Retain Act would allow jurisdictions that receive COPS grants to utilize funds from those grants for the purposes outlined in the bill, with some limits and restrictions.

The bill also includes an annual list of $3 million of COPS grant funds that can be used to connect students with law enforcement officers and agencies through the Pipeline Partnership Program. Although this is a very modest sum, it is sufficient for the creation of this program in a limited number of States and municipalities to test this concept.

By implementing these projects in limited locations across the Nation, the Recruit and Retain Act will help States and localities make informed decisions about adopting the program and its law enforcement recruitment procedures.

Madam Speaker, I thank, again, Congressman Hunt for his leadership on this legislation. It is for these reasons that I support S. 546, and I urge my colleagues to support this important bill, as well.

In closing, Madam Speaker, the Recruit and Retain Act initiatives, taken together, will serve as a de facto pilot project for many localities, large and small, urban and rural, that struggle with law enforcement recruitment and retention. Law enforcement agencies will be able to benefit from each other's experience when replicating initiatives created by this legislation's innovative solutions.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting S. 546, the Recruit and Retain Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 546) to amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize law enforcement agencies to use COPS grants for recruitment activities, and for other purposes.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on S. 546.

Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to have the Recruit and Retain Act before the House today. The Recruit and Retain Act is about helping our men and women in blue. This legislation passed the Senate by unanimous consent, and I am proud to sponsor and lead this bill in the House along with my fellow committee member across the aisle, Representative Glenn Ivey.

Our police departments are struggling with crisis-level recruiting shortages.

Here in Washington, for example, the Metropolitan Police Department has the lowest number of officers it has had in the past 50 years.

Another example, since 2019, the Chicago police force has lost 3,300 officers as of October 2022, and it has only replaced about half of those departures.

Some small towns that don't have as many resources are even having to shutter their police departments entirely.

We cannot stand by and let this continue to happen across our country, and this is why we need the Recruit and Retain Act.

Currently, the DOJ provides grants to State, local, and Tribal governments to hire law enforcement officers under the COPS Hiring program. The Recruit and Retain Act would leverage the COPS Hiring program to ensure the program is responsive to the latest hiring challenges that law enforcement agencies are experiencing nationwide.

This bill would reduce the cost of onboarding new officers, specifically fees associated with background checks, psychological evaluations, and other testing. It will also alleviate administrative burdens and clarify application guidance to ensure grants are accessible to all law enforcement agencies. It will create new opportunities for law enforcement to build trust and interest in law enforcement careers with local youth.

Lastly, the bill will require research into the latest data and uncover new insights into law enforcement recruitment and retention trends across the country.

This bill does not authorize new funds or create new grant programs, and it only allows existing COPS grants to be used for recruiting and retaining police officers.

I am proud to say this bill has been endorsed by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, Fraternal Order of Police, Major Cities Chiefs Association, Major County Sheriffs of America, National Association of Police Organizations, National Sheriffs' Association, and others.

When our police departments are well funded and maintained, our communities are safer. Americans are safer. Let's support our cops. Let's help attract the best and the brightest to the law enforcement profession. That is so important in the environment our police officers live and work in every single day in this country.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Recruit and Retain Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Madam Speaker, I rise to speak in support of S. 546, the ``Recruit and Retain Act''.

As a member of the Law Enforcement Caucus and the Ranking Member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Surveillance, I am pleased to support this bill.

This legislation will help law enforcement agencies in tangible ways by providing them with tools to help address the high rates of attrition that have plagued these agencies for years.

Our Nation's law enforcement agencies are facing an unprecedented staffing crisis.

Hiring efforts have been unable to keep pace with the high rates of attrition that we are seeing in police departments from coast to coast, and everywhere in between.

According to a report last year by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Office of Community Oriented Policing, factors such as community frustration with the policing profession, and concerns about officer safety and well-being, have contributed to this staffing crisis.

It is unsurprising, then, that a 2023 survey of police departments showed resignations continuing to increase every year since 2019, with responding agencies reporting nearly 50 percent more resignations in 2022 than in 2019.

In my district in Houston, Texas, the problem goes back even further.

We recently learned that staffing shortages resulted in over 264,000 cases--including 4,000 sexual assault cases--were never submitted for investigation, due to staffing shortages.

We cannot allow this to continue.

Our communities deserve more.

Victims deserve more.

The Recruit and Retain Act will attempt to remedy this problem by authorizing law enforcement agencies to use COPS grants to reduce the numerous fees that law enforcement applicants must pay.

We will not get qualified men and women in uniform if they cannot afford to even apply to a police department.

The Recruit and Retain Act also will encourage voluntary partnerships between agencies and local elementary schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher learning, including historically black colleges and universities, for students interested in careers in law enforcement.

Partnership activities will include dedicated programming for students; work-based learning opportunities; mentoring; community liaisons; career and jobs fairs; job shadowing; and internships.

These activities will help law enforcement agencies recruit talented applicants who reflect and respect the communities they serve.

This, in turn, will help earn back the trust of those communities-- making all of us safer.

I would prefer for this bill to include the minimum qualification and training standards that the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act would require.

I also think we must do more to address the mental health challenges that officers inevitably face, due to the harrowing nature of their work.

We cannot expect qualified officers to remain in such a dangerous profession if we do not give them the resources they need to address the toll that police work takes on them.

We cannot wait any longer to address the law enforcement staffing crisis.

We must act now to help police departments across the country recruit and retain the officers they need to keep our communities safe.

I invite my colleagues across the aisle to join me in this effort to support local and state law enforcement.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 86, S. 546.

I further ask unanimous consent that the committee- reported amendment be agreed to.

I ask unanimous consent that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.