National Law Enforcement Officers Remembrance, Support and Community Outreach Act.
This bill, the National Law Enforcement Officers Remembrance, Support and Community Outreach Act, authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to provide a seven-year federal grant to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund to operate and expand the National Law Enforcement Museum’s outreach, education, and officer safety and wellness programs. The grant would amount to $6 million per year for the first seven fiscal years after enactment, with the option to transfer funds from the National Park Service if annual needs fall short. The act also requires ongoing progress reports to the Secretary and Congress and codifies several access, educational, and outreach commitments, including free museum admission for active/retired officers and families of fallen officers, and a broad set of public-education and professional-development activities. The bill frames these efforts as part of a national mission to honor law enforcement, educate the public, and improve officer safety and wellness, while noting the Museum’s history as a privately funded project with a goal of strengthening community understanding and trust between law enforcement and the public.
Key Points
- 1Funding authorization and purpose: authorize a federal grant of $6,000,000 per year for seven fiscal years to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund to operate and enhance the National Law Enforcement Museum’s community outreach, public education, and officer safety and wellness programs.
- 2Source of funds and flexibility: if full funding isn’t appropriated in a given year, the Secretary may transfer necessary funds from the National Park Service to fulfill the requirement.
- 3Programs funded (scope of activities): memorializing heroes, collecting statistics on fatalities/injuries, developing accurate resources on law enforcement history, expanding digital and other educational resources, increasing public engagement online and in person, scholarly work and exhibitions, collection development and digitization, pedagogy and teacher training, leadership development in education, partnerships with educational entities, and field-initiated innovations for museum and safety education.
- 4Access and public use: provide free admission to active and retired officers and families of fallen officers; establish dedicated free admission hours at least once per week for the general public; develop online resources for the public and researchers.
- 5Education and outreach emphasis: expand law enforcement history and safety education, engage with K-12 and higher education, promote adoption of resources into curricula, and encourage teacher and local/state education leadership involvement.
- 6Accountability and transparency: require annual progress reports to the Secretary of the Interior detailing program progress and federal expenditures; require the Secretary to share these reports with Congress and post them on the Interior Department website.
- 7Continuation of pre-existing activities: funds may be used to continue activities the Museum was engaged in on enactment date.