Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S. 2746, the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act.

Last year, Congress passed and the President signed into law the STOIC Act, a bill that I introduced with my good friend, Congresswoman Madeleine Dean. That bill improves mental health treatment for our Nation's law enforcement officers.

Today, we are once again taking action to address the disturbingly high suicide rate among our police officers. The Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, which I am a very proud cosponsor of, would require the Federal Government to track suicides within the law enforcement community.

According to Blue HELP, which is a nonprofit working to reduce stigmas attached to mental health for those in the law enforcement community, a record number of current or former police officers died by suicide last year; 228 current or former officers died by suicide in 2019, compared with 172 in 2018.

Since Blue HELP began collecting data over 4 years ago, more law enforcement officers have died by suicide than all other line-of-duty deaths combined. Organizations like Blue HELP do the best they can to track these tragic instances of law enforcement suicide. However, there is no comprehensive government effort to track attempted suicides and suicides in the law enforcement community.

Line-of-duty deaths are tracked through the FBI's Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted Program. This program aims to provide potentially lifesaving information to law enforcement agencies with a focus on preventing future incidents. Suicide should similarly be tracked so we can implement more effective suicide prevention programs, in turn saving more lives.

S. 2746 requires the FBI Director to establish the Law Enforcement Officers Suicide Data Collection Program to collect data on law enforcement and former law enforcement suicides at the local, State, and Federal levels. Participating law enforcement agencies will report suicide information to the FBI Director. The FBI Director will then submit a report to Congress and publish the report online to share this vital information on suicides and attempted suicides in law enforcement.

Madam Speaker, 2 weeks ago, we recognized National Law Enforcement Week. While we may be too late in taking up this legislation for Police Week, it is never too late to help the brave men and women who protect our communities. I thank Representatives Steube, Quigley, and Dean, as well as Senators Blunt, Hawley, Cortez Masto, and Coons, for introducing this legislation.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting S. 2746, the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I yield myself the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I again urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on S. 2746, the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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