“The grant solicitations announced today will help law enforcement agencies in their continuing struggles on two fronts – fighting against the public health and safety crisis of illegal drug use, and safeguarding the mental health and wellness of our law enforcement officers,” said Acting Director Robert Chapman of the COPS Office. “The COPS Office is pleased to make these resources available that will not only help to protect our nation’s citizens, but also the law enforcement officers who do so much to protect them.”
The Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act Program provides funding to improve the delivery of and access to mental health and wellness services for law enforcement through the implementation of peer support, training, family resources, suicide prevention, and other promising practices for wellness programs. The program will fund projects that develop knowledge, increase awareness of effective mental health and wellness strategies, increase the skills and abilities of law enforcement, and increase the number of law enforcement agencies and relevant stakeholders using wellness programs.
The COPS Office Anti-Heroin Task Force Program advances public safety by providing funds directly to state law enforcement to locate and investigate illicit activities through statewide collaboration related to the distribution of heroin, fentanyl, or carfentanil or the unlawful distribution of prescription opioids. Funding is available only to state law enforcement agencies with primary law enforcement authority over heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil, and other opioids seizures and investigations.
The COPS Anti-Methamphetamine Program advances public safety by providing funds directly to state law enforcement agencies to investigate illicit activities related to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine. Funds must be used to locate or investigate illicit activities such as precursor diversion, laboratories, or methamphetamine traffickers.
The COPS Office is the federal component of the Department of Justice responsible for advancing community policing nationwide. The only Department of Justice agency with policing in its name, the COPS Office was established in 1994 and has been the cornerstone of the nation’s crime fighting strategy with grants, a variety of knowledge resource products, and training and technical assistance.
Through the years, the COPS Office has become the go-to agency for law enforcement agencies across the country and continues to listen to the field and provide the resources that are needed to reduce crime and build trust between law enforcement and the communities served. The COPS Office has invested more than $14 billion to advance community policing, including grants awarded to more than 13,000 state, local and tribal law enforcement agencies to fund the hiring and redeployment of more than 134,000 officers.
