WASHINGTON – This weekend, President Biden signed the bipartisan Recruit and Retain Act, introduced by U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), into law. This bipartisan legislation will address staffing shortages nationwide by enhancing law enforcement departments’ access to hiring tools. Senator Coons is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Co-Chair of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus.

Congressmen Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) and Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) introduced the identical companion legislation in the House. The Recruit and Retain Act passed the Senate in July.

“The law enforcement leaders I speak with in Delaware all express the same concern: They are struggling with recruiting, hiring, and retaining quality police officers,” said Senator Coons. “This weekend, President Biden signed my bipartisan bill with Senator Fischer into law that will actually do something to address those challenges. The Recruit and Retain Act will strengthen community policing by establishing a new recruitment pipeline program and by reducing onboarding costs for new officers. I’m proud this bipartisan bill will now get to work to support our police departments across Delaware and across the country.”

“Staffing shortages are burdening law enforcement officers and threatening public safety,” said Senator Fischer. “My Recruit and Retain Act will give departments resources to rebuild. I’m grateful to the Nebraska officers and sheriffs who worked with me to craft this legislation, and I’m grateful the President signed it.”

“Recruiting and retaining highly trained law enforcement professionals is of the utmost importance,” said Congressman Ivey. “Our ability to attract and develop the best, brightest, and most compassionate and dedicated men and women of differing backgrounds is vital to the health and well-being of our nation. Keeping our residents safe and promoting better relations with our citizenry can only lead to safer streets and better policing. President Biden signed this bill into law for all who care about our country and a path forward for good law enforcement standards. We must incentivize hiring and keeping the people who will do the job of safeguarding us from border to Broadway and everywhere in between.”

Background:

  • The Recruit and Retain Act would improve the U.S. Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants by making them more responsive to onboarding costs and hiring challenges. The bill’s reforms would help law enforcement agencies across the country hire new officers more easily, as many continue to face staffing shortages and struggle to attract new applicants. This includes the creation of a new program to encourage partnerships between schools and police departments to foster a stronger local pipeline for law enforcement careers.
  • The Recruit and Retain Act has received national endorsements from 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, R Street Institute, and the Peace Officers Research Association of California.

The bill contains five key initiatives:

Supporting Officer Onboarding

1. Expands the COPS grants to reduce the financial costs of hiring new law enforcement officers (e.g., background checks, psychological evaluations, etc.).

Reducing Administrative Burdens

2. Allows up to 2% of grant funding to cover the administrative burden of implementing COPS grants. Many law enforcement agencies have noted that this would offset the paperwork burden associated with COPS grants.

Authorizing a New Pipeline Recruitment Program

3. Authorizes the Pipeline Partnership Program within COPS to encourage collaboration between agencies and local elementary schools, secondary schools, and institutions of higher education for students interested in future careers in law enforcement. Qualifying partnership activities would include dedicated programming for students, work-based learning opportunities, project-based learning, mentoring, community liaisons, career or jobs fairs, worksite visits, job shadowing, and skills-based internships.


Providing Better Grant Guidance for Understaffed Agencies

4. Creates new guidance for COPS hiring grants to clarify the lack of consistent application procedures for understaffed agencies. This ensures that more police departments are better able to access COPS grants.

Shining a Light on Recruitment and Retention Challenges

5. Directs a comprehensive study to illuminate recruitment and retention challenges law enforcement agencies face nationwide and document how these trends are impacting public safety.

The full text of the law can be found here.

President Biden’s statement on the Recruit and Retain Act can be found here.