WASHINGTON – The Recruit and Retain Act, introduced by U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), passed out of the House of Representatives on Tuesday and now heads to President Biden’s desk. The bipartisan bill will address staffing shortages nationwide by enhancing law enforcement agencies’ access to hiring tools.

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.

“For too many years, police departments in Delaware have faced alarming recruitment problems,” said Senator Coons. “The Recruit and Retain Act will help departments across our state and across the nation hire more officers by addressing high onboarding costs and authorizing a new pipeline recruitment program. As Co-Chair of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus, I’m proud to lead this bipartisan bill to ensure that our police departments can hire qualified officers that reflect our communities. I am grateful to my colleagues in the House for their support, and I look forward to President Biden signing this important bill into law.”

“The law enforcement staffing crisis nationwide is not slowing down and continues to threaten public safety,” said Senator Fischer. “My Recruit and Retain Act will reduce hiring costs and create local workforce pipelines to build a new generation of police. I want to thank Nebraska’s law enforcement officers who helped design the legislation, as well as my colleagues for their overwhelming support. I look forward to seeing this bill signed into law.”

“I'm proud to say this bipartisan bill has been endorsed by the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, the Major Cities Chiefs Association, Major County Sheriffs of America, the National Association of Police Organizations, the National Sheriff’s Association, and others,” said Congressman Hunt. “When our police departments are well-funded and maintained, our communities are safer.”

“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. I look forward to working with 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 more eligible 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 bill can be found here.

Senator Coons is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and Co-Chair of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus.