Improving Police CARE Act

The Improving Police CARE Act would tighten how trauma kits are funded and used with Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) dollars. It defines a trauma kit as a first aid response kit including a bleeding-control component, and it requires that any trauma kit purchased with JAG funds meet performance standards set by the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). These standards must be published within 180 days of enactment and must specify the minimum components (and allow some flexibility for adding other approved items). Grantees could still assemble their own kits from components, but any kit bought with JAG funds would have to meet the established standards. The act also authorizes optional best practices on training, deployment, and maintenance of trauma kits in police vehicles and facilities, and it requires broad consultation with medical and law enforcement stakeholders to develop the standards and best practices.