May 27, 2020 - Issue: Vol. 166, No. 99 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 2nd Session
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LAW ENFORCEMENT SUICIDE DATA COLLECTION ACT; Congressional Record Vol. 166, No. 99
(House of Representatives - May 27, 2020)
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[Pages H2314-H2316] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] LAW ENFORCEMENT SUICIDE DATA COLLECTION ACT Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 2746) to require the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation to provide information on suicide rates in law enforcement, and for other purposes. The Clerk read the title of the bill. The text of the bill is as follows: S. 2746 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act''. SEC. 2. INFORMATION ON SUICIDE IN LAW ENFORCEMENT. (a) Establishment.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, acting through the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall establish, for the purpose of preventing future law enforcement suicides and promoting understanding of suicide in law enforcement, the Law Enforcement Officers Suicide Data Collection Program, under which law enforcement agencies may submit to the Director information on suicides and attempted suicides within such law enforcement agencies, including information on-- (1) the circumstances and events that occurred before each suicide or attempted suicide; (2) the general location of each suicide or attempted suicide; (3) the demographic information of each law enforcement officer who commits or attempts suicide; (4) the occupational category, including criminal investigator, corrections officer, line of duty officer, 911 dispatch operator, of each law enforcement officer who commits or attempts suicide; and (5) the method used in each suicide or attempted suicide. (b) Policies.--The Federal Bureau of Investigation shall work with the Confidentiality and Data Access Committee of the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology to develop publication policies to manage the risk of identity disclosure based upon the best practices identified by other Federal statistical programs. (c) Report.--Not later than 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Attorney General, acting through the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, shall submit to Congress and publish on the website of the Federal Bureau of Investigation a report containing the information submitted to the Director pursuant to subsection (a). (d) Confidentiality.--The report described under subsection (c) may not include any personally identifiable information of a law enforcement officer who commits or attempts suicide. (e) Definitions.--In this section-- (1) the term ``law enforcement agency'' means a Federal, State, Tribal, or local agency engaged in the prevention, detection, or investigation, prosecution, or adjudication of any violation of the criminal laws of the United States, a State, Tribal, or a political subdivision of a State; (2) the term ``law enforcement officer'' means any current or former officer (including a correctional officer), agent, or employee of the United States, a State, Indian Tribe, or a political subdivision of a State authorized by law to engage in or supervise the prevention, detection, investigation, or prosecution of any violation of the criminal laws of the United States, a State, Indian Tribe, or a political subdivision of a State; and (3) the term ``State'' means each of the several States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States. The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Titus). Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) and the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Reschenthaler) each will control 20 minutes. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New York. General Leave Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New York? There was no objection. Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 2746, the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, which requires the FBI to establish a data collection program that gathers data on law enforcement and former law enforcement suicides at the local, State, and Federal levels. We consider this bill today in response to a growing epidemic of law enforcement suicides in America. Tragically, more than 227 U.S. law enforcement officers took their own lives last year, an increase of more than 50 deaths from the year before. While law enforcement officers are tasked with the responsibility of protecting our communities and responding to often dangerous emergency situations, the number who have died as a result of suicide has, in recent years, exceeded the numbers of officers lost in the line of duty. My community has been particularly affected by this issue. Last year, the New York Police Department lost nine officers in a deeply troubling string of suicides. With long, late hours, regular traumatic experiences, life-threatening situations, and work in constant proximity to firearms, law enforcement officers are at an increased risk for mental illness such as post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. A number of reports over past decades indicate that that law enforcement officers have an increased risk of suicide when compared to the general public. While suicide is currently the leading cause of death for law enforcement officers, the nearly 18,000 law enforcement agencies in this country lack a unified reporting mechanism for collecting data on these tragedies. {time} 2015 Without the proper information and statistics, law enforcement agencies and local, State, and Federal leaders are hindered in their ability to educate, prevent, and respond to this epidemic of suicides. This bill directs the FBI to establish the Law Enforcement Officers Suicide Data Collection Program to prevent future suicides and to promote the understanding of suicide in law enforcement by collecting information from Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies. Data allowed to be collected pursuant to this bill includes details relating to both suicides and attempted suicides, including the circumstances and location of each event, as well as demographic information of each law enforcement officer and the method used in each incident. It is imperative that the law enforcement community, mental health professionals, Congress, and the American people better understand the extent of, and the reasons for, this crisis. The bill, therefore, also requires public reporting of the FBI's findings so that Congress and others can best support State and local agencies that are grappling with the day-to-day consequences of officer suicide. Madam Speaker, I am grateful for the bipartisan effort to address this important issue. In the House, our colleague, Representative Mike Quigley, authored H.R. 3735, the companion to this Senate-passed bill. I commend him, and I commend the bill's Senate sponsor, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, for their tireless work on behalf of law enforcement officers and their loved ones. Madam Speaker, I support this bill. I urge my colleagues to do the same, and I reserve the balance of my time. 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. [[Page H2315]] 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. Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, in this time of great national crisis, we are all even more dependent on our law enforcement personnel, on our first responders, on the heroes that we honored by the title of the bill we passed a couple of weeks ago, the HEROES Act. It is unfortunate, obviously, that the stress that some of these heroes undergo, the stress that our police officers undergo, leads to a greater suicide rate. Especially in this time of crisis, we can expect that only to increase. It is imperative that we do whatever we can to safeguard the lives of those we depend on, to safeguard the lives of the heroes that we all need. Madam Speaker, it is unfortunate that we do not have a national database with which to inform proper actions to help deal with this problem and save lives. That is why we are supporting this bill today, to solve this problem, to eliminate this void, so that we can better inform ourselves, the country, all the different agencies in the country, and State, Federal, and local agencies as to what actions might be taken to mitigate this threat to the lives of those we depend on. Madam Speaker, I very much urge the passage of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. RESCHENTHALER. Madam Speaker, I have no speakers at this time, and I reserve the balance of my time. Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Quigley). Mr. QUIGLEY. Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me the time. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, a Senate companion to bipartisan legislation that I authored and introduced to address the mental health needs of law enforcement officers across the country. Every day, our officers put their lives on the line to protect our communities. They work long shifts and respond to dangerous calls in order to keep crime off our streets and keep our citizens safe. This critical work does not come without a cost. Law enforcement officers often experience post-traumatic stress from their work environment. According to multiple studies, officers are more than twice as likely to die by suicide than in line-of-duty-related homicides or accidents. Suicide has become the number one cause of deaths for Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers around the country. In fact, in my hometown of Chicago, the officer suicide rate is 60 percent higher than the national average. Despite these sobering statistics, there is no Federal Government program to track the number of officers who attempt suicide or lose their lives to suicide every year. My legislation creates a data collection program within the FBI to track law enforcement suicides at the local, State, and Federal levels. By providing accurate and detailed information, this bill would help police departments implement more effective suicide prevention and post-prevention programs. These intervention programs will save lives. It is our turn to bring the brave men and women who fight for us the care they need and deserve. Madam Speaker, I am grateful to Chairman Nadler for his support of this important mission and for prioritizing this piece of legislation and bringing it to the House floor. I thank the committee staff and Hannah from my own staff for her extraordinary work on this measure. Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to support the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection bill today. Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. 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. Mr. NADLER. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, we appreciate the service of our law enforcement officers who face unique challenges and risks in protecting us every day. Today, we take an important step to recognize the psychological toll that serving in such an inherently dangerous job can take on law enforcement officers and work to combat the tragic epidemic of suicides among their ranks. Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act so that we may be better able to address this crisis and save lives. Throughout our country, the vast majority of police officers execute their jobs with dignity, honor, and respect for the citizens they serve and protect, but it would be remiss if I did not take note of the alarming and appalling incidents involving individuals in law enforcement in the last few weeks. These include the death of Breonna Taylor in Kentucky and George Floyd in Minnesota, both at the hands of law enforcement officers, and the disturbing circumstances surrounding the death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. We must bring all those responsible to justice and work to improve accountability between law enforcement officers and the communities they serve. While we appreciate all of our law enforcement officers, we can't hide from America's history of racism and its deadly consequences. We see it in the disproportionate rate of COVID deaths, in our country's rates of mass incarceration, and, yes, in the treatment of African Americans by a few of our police officers. The ugly truth is clear: Black Americans often live under different rules. It is up to all of us to change them. Working with my colleagues on the Committee on the Judiciary and with Members of Congress from all across the country, I will continue to fight to do so. [[Page H2316]] But the bill before us today is a necessary and worthy bill, recognizing the honorable and selfless service that the vast majority of our police officers provide, and trying to deal with the high suicide rates that the stresses of this job that they do to protect us cause. We should pass this bill so we can start getting a handle on this problem to preserve the lives of the vast majority of our police officers who serve us honorably and without whom we would be adrift. Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time. Ms. JACKSON LEE. Madam Speaker, as a member of the Law Enforcement Caucus and a senior member of the Committees on the Judiciary and Homeland Security, I rise in support of S. 2746, the ``Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act,'' which requires the FBI to open a voluntary data collection program to track suicides and attempted suicides within local, tribal, state and federal law enforcement. Information collected and maintained by the FBI will not include any personally identifiable information. The legislation also directs the FBI Director to submit an annual report on the data to Congress and publish the report on the FBI website. This program would serve as the principal data collection tool on suicides and attempted suicides within law enforcement across the country. It is altogether fitting and proper that we do this to commemorate National Police Week, which occurred earlier this month. Madam Speaker, this legislation reminds us of the enormous strain law enforcement personnel necessarily endure daily as they try to do their best to keep our communities safe and healthy. By providing accurate and detailed information on these suicides and attempted suicides, more effective prevention programs could be implemented to save lives. I urge all members to Join me in voting for S. 2746, the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, S. 2746. The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed. A motion to reconsider was laid on the table. ____________________
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