Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 405, I call up the bill (H.R. 2240) to require the Attorney General to develop reports relating to violent attacks against law enforcement officers, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the bill.

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Mr. FRY. 2240.

Mr. Speaker, police officers risk their lives every day to protect our communities. I extend my sincere gratitude to all law enforcement officers and their families for their service and sacrifice.

Unfortunately, law enforcement officers face the continued threat of unprovoked and ambush-style attacks. The bill before us, the Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act, would require the Attorney General to develop a series of reports related to violent attacks on law enforcement officers.

The left's defund the police movement continues to have ripple effects throughout the country, as violent crime remains high and criminals have become more brazen in their attacks against police officers.

In addition, rogue prosecutors and leftwing bail reform policies continue to allow more criminals on the street with no accountability.

Let me be clear: The threat to officer safety is very real, and we must take a stand against any defund the police rhetoric.

In 2024, 342 officers were killed in the line of duty, with 79 of them shot in 61 ambush-style attacks. As of May 1, 2025, 109 officers have been shot in the line of duty just this year.

This violence against law enforcement is unacceptable and underscores the importance of this legislation.

While the government collects basic information on these attacks, such as when the attack occurred and what types of weapons are used, more information is needed to help law enforcement officers prepare for, identify, and prevent future anti-police activity.

This legislation would also shed light on the mental health consequences of the attacks on law enforcement and other trauma law enforcement deals with on a daily basis. Mental health resources are another critical need for law enforcement officers, as they continue to risk their lives every day to keep their communities safe.

We must take care of those who do so much to take care of us.

This legislation is common sense. It will gather more information to help Congress explore the best possible solutions for our law enforcement officers.

I would like to mention that 146 of my colleagues across the aisle voted in favor of this legislation last Congress. It is incredibly bipartisan.

Let's all work together to stand against attacks on law enforcement and support our men and women in blue.

Mr. MOORE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2240, the Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act, a bill that I introduced in response to the deeply troubling rise in targeted violence against our Nation's law enforcement.

Every day, officers across this great Nation put their lives on the line to keep our communities safe. Far too often, they, in fact, become the targets of violence simply for wearing the badge. This year alone-- this year alone, again--we are only in May--there have been 109 officers shot in the line of duty, 12 of whom tragically lost their lives.

Mr. Speaker, even more alarming is there have been 21 ambush-style attacks on law enforcement officers this year, resulting in 25 officers shot, 5 of whom were killed. These numbers do not account, though, even for the many instances where officers were fired upon but, fortunately, were not struck.

Mr. Speaker, ambush-style attacks are some of the most dangerous. They are calculated and often deadly, leading to higher rates of both injuries and fatalities. That is why I introduced this legislation to ensure that we are doing all that we can at the Federal level to understand, prevent, and respond to these targeted attacks.

The Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act enhances our ability to collect and, more importantly, to analyze data on violent acts against officers. This will empower agencies around the country with the information that they need to strengthen their responses and better protect their personnel.

Importantly, H.R. 2240 also calls for a comprehensive assessment of availability and use of mental health resources within law enforcement because protecting those who protect us must include supporting their mental well-being. We need to make sure that we get away from any shame that can sometimes happen when a law enforcement officer needs to reach out for some kind of mental health counseling.

If the Speaker would think about it, these men and women oftentimes see the worst of folks. They see folks who are in their worst state. They see the tragedies that hopefully most of us will go through life and never have to see, and they do it every day, day in and day out, because it is their job that they have chosen to do to keep us safe.

Mr. Speaker, these officers answer the call, day or night. They don't have a choice as to what they respond to. They run toward danger to safeguard our neighborhoods, and far too often, they pay a heavy price. We owe them more than our gratitude. We owe them action.

Mr. Speaker, I say this: There were a couple of comments about past events, some which happened before I came here as a new Member. Yet, I do remember very well the spring of 2020, when we saw many of our cities burned, looted, and destroyed. Some of them have not yet even recovered. Instead of law enforcement being supported by some in those local governments, they were vilified when they were out doing what they could to try to help. They were told to stand down and allow mobs to go in and destroy property.

I saw that firsthand, Mr. Speaker, in Raleigh. I literally watched folks roaming around and destroying windows, burning vehicles, shooting, all this kind of mayhem. I won't mention names, but I saw some colleagues on the other side who would kind of give cover and say: Well, it was understandable. It was a peaceful protest.

It is not a peaceful protest if you are destroying buildings. It is not a peaceful protest if you are attacking someone. It is not a peaceful protest if you are burning buildings, burning cars, and engaging in violent conduct.

Then we saw from that some of this antipolice that came about, the calls to defund the police. I am glad to see that I don't hear that very much anymore. I hope that foolish idea never gets raised again in this great Chamber because if it were not for the men and women in law enforcement, it would be a society of disorder and random violence. We owe these men and women all that we can do for them. We owe it to them to make sure that their jobs are safe.

Mr. Speaker, I think about a situation that happened in Wake County, North Carolina, in 2022, where a sheriff's deputy was ambushed and killed by an illegal immigrant. I am not trying to open up the debate on illegal immigration. Fortunately, this body has taken action, along with our President, to secure the border and to stop gang members from coming into this country.

Yet, someone who was in this country who shouldn't have even been here attacked and ambushed a Wake County deputy and killed him. These stories happen around the country.

This is one more piece--one more piece--in finally bringing some sanity, bringing some protection and providing protection for the American people, to make sure that they are not having to worry about gang members being allowed into the country, that we are not allowing illegal immigration to run amuck, and that we are not downing the police and somehow lifting up the criminals.

The American people were tired of that. They were tired of it. And guess what? They are getting results. This is one more piece to try to do this to help these men and women in law enforcement.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the body's support. I encourage all of the Members to vote for it.

Mr. HARRIS of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, a little over 1 year ago, four law enforcement heroes in North Carolina lost their lives protecting the public from an armed and highly dangerous felon. They showed up to work that morning like it was just another day. They gave the ultimate sacrifice for the Charlotte, North Carolina, community.

However, instead of acknowledging the danger that police officers willingly put themselves in every day and standing behind our men and women in blue, some radical progressives on the left would rather defund the police or even abolish them entirely, but not me and not my colleagues that are here with me today.

This National Police Week, I am honored to stand behind our law enforcement as they keep our communities safe. I am especially proud to stand today and speak on behalf of H.R. 2240, the Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act.

As I read this bill, one disturbing fact caught my eye: In 2022, 30 percent of the murders of police officers were unprovoked ambushes. This is unconscionable. As a pastor at First Baptist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, I actually witnessed and saw families suffering and hurting of police officers that were murdered in just this way.

Police officers are community leaders and public servants who deserve the respect of the country. Instead, it seems coldblooded killers have been deliberately targeting our law enforcement heroes, and it is now more important than ever not to just talk but to act.

I am confident that Congressman Moore's bill will accomplish just that. Our Nation's police are under constant attack and they need Congress' steadfast support. This bill will shine a light on the threats that law enforcement face, threats that have steeply risen in number ever since the left began its dangerous defund the police rhetoric, and it will begin the process of expanding the resources available to law enforcement officials.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues today to join me in supporting the Improving Law Enforcement Officer Safety and Wellness Through Data Act, and let's ensure that our Nation's police forces know that we have their back.

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Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. FRY. Mr. Speaker, before I close, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Moore).

Mr. MOORE of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, there is certainly no shortage of us who are attorneys or at least former attorneys on this floor. One of the things, of course, is when we hear information, we want to run it down and sometimes correct the record.

My good friend from Maryland pointed out about some sort of cuts from DOGE that would affect law enforcement, so I immediately wanted to look and see what he possibly could be talking about. I think what the gentleman was talking about were a couple things.

One was getting rid of a $250,000 grant, funding for jailed trans inmates working with incarcerated transgender individuals providing gender-affirming care to include housing in gender-appropriate facilities. Actually, I think that is a pretty good thing to get rid of so we can put more resources in to helping law enforcement.

Next is $2 million for some sort of national listening session for, as I understand it, criminal defendants.

Then we have $695,000 for a parallel convergent mixed-methods case study. I don't even know what that means, a parallel convergent mixed- methods case study research designed to assess the efficacy of police departments' LGBTQ liaison services.

I think one of the things with this reconciliation bill and with the actions of President Trump is to get rid of the waste and to put the resources to helping our men and women in law enforcement.

During National Police Week, as we are honoring police, while we have a few differences of opinion and may disagree on a few other matters, I am at least comforted by the fact of knowing that we all, on both sides of the aisle, do support law enforcement.

This is an incredibly commonsense and bipartisan piece of legislation. I urge all of my colleagues to support it. Law enforcement has been demonized and attacked. They have been defunded in leftwing jurisdictions many years ago.

I hope that that movement is forever in the dustbin of our history because we owe it to law enforcement to support them in any number of ways that we can as policymakers. One of the easiest ways, in my mind, is this bill. Data is incredibly important, Mr. Speaker. You know this firsthand. Data is incredibly important. Understanding these attacks on our law enforcement, how it is affected by the officer, how these things occur, where they occur, these data points are incredibly important to understand and protect our law enforcement.

Last year, I think all of the Republicans and the vast majority of my Democratic colleagues supported this very measure. I hope that this year even more Democrats will support it and that it will be signed into law because this data is incredibly important to make sure that we protect our law enforcement officers. This is just a small way that we can advance that initiative forward.

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