Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Law Enforcement Training Act
Floor Speech
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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2992), to direct the Attorney General to develop crisis intervention training tools for use by first responders related to interacting with persons who have a traumatic brain injury, another form of acquired brain injury, or post-traumatic stress disorder, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows: H.R. 2992
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 ``Traumatic Brain Injury and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Law Enforcement Training Act'' or the ``TBI and PTSD Law Enforcement Training Act''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were approximately 2.9 million traumatic brain injury-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in the United States in 2014.
(2) Effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be short- term or long-term, and include impaired thinking or memory, movement, vision or hearing, or emotional functioning, such as personality changes or depression.
(3) Currently, between 3.2 million and 5.3 million persons are living with a TBI-related disability in the United States.
(4) About 7 or 8 percent of Americans will experience post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives, and about 8 million adults have PTSD during the course of a given year.
(5) TBI and PTSD have been recognized as the signature injuries of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
(6) According to the Department of Defense, 383,000 men and women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan sustained a brain injury while in the line of duty between 2000 and 2018.
(7) Approximately 13.5 percent of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom veterans screen positive for PTSD, according to the Department of Veteran Affairs.
(8) About 12 percent of Gulf War Veterans have PTSD in a given year while about 30 percent of Vietnam Veterans have had PTSD in their lifetime.
(9) Physical signs of TBI can include motor impairment, dizziness or poor balance, slurred speech, impaired depth perception, or impaired verbal memory, while physical signs of PTSD can include agitation, irritability, hostility, hypervigilance, self-destructive behavior, fear, severe anxiety, or mistrust.
(10) Physical signs of TBI and PTSD often overlap with physical signs of alcohol or drug impairment, which complicate a first responder's ability to quickly and effectively identify an individual's condition. SEC. 3. CREATION OF A TBI AND PTSD TRAINING FOR FIRST RESPONDERS.
Part HH of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10651 et seq.) is amended--
(1) in section 2991--
(A) in subsection (h)(1)(A), by inserting before the period at the end the following: ``, including the training developed under section 2993''; and
(B) in subsection (o), by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
``(1) In general.--There is authorized to be appropriated to the Department of Justice to carry out this section $54,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027.''; and
(2) by inserting after section 2992 the following new section: ``SEC. 2993. CREATION OF A TBI AND PTSD TRAINING FOR FIRST RESPONDERS.
``(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this section, the Attorney General, acting through the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, in consultation with the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, shall solicit best practices regarding techniques to interact with persons who have a traumatic brain injury, an acquired brain injury, or post-traumatic stress disorder from first responder, brain injury, veteran, and mental health organizations, health care and mental health providers, hospital emergency departments, and other relevant stakeholders, and shall develop crisis intervention training tools for use by first responders (as such term is defined in section 3025) that provide--
``(1) information on the conditions and symptoms of a traumatic brain injury, an acquired brain injury, and post- traumatic stress disorder;
``(2) techniques to interact with persons who have a traumatic brain injury, an acquired brain injury, or post- traumatic stress disorder; and
``(3) information on how to recognize persons who have a traumatic brain injury, an acquired brain injury, or post- traumatic stress disorder.
``(b) Use of Training Tools at Law Enforcement Mental Health Learning Sites.--The Attorney General shall ensure that not less than one Law Enforcement Mental Health Learning Site designated by the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance uses the training tools developed under subsection (a).
``(c) Police Mental Health Collaboration Toolkit.--The Attorney General shall make the training tools developed under subsection (a) available as part of the Police-Mental Health Collaboration Toolkit provided by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.''. SEC. 4. STUDY ON FIRST RESPONDERS WITH TBI.
Not later than 24 months after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Director of the National Institutes of Health and in consultation with the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, shall conduct a study and submit to the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions of the Senate a report on the prevalence and incidence of concussion among first responders (as such term is defined in section 3025 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Street Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10705)). The report shall include data on the incidence of concussion among first responders and recommendations for resources for first responders who have experienced traumatic brain injury.
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Mr. COHEN. 2992.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2992, the TBI and PTSD Law Enforcement Training Act, is bipartisan legislation that would require the Department of Justice to develop crisis intervention training tools for law enforcement training agencies so that they can better equip officers to respond to individuals with traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.
This is important for the training of law enforcement officials. When I was out of law school, my first job as attorney for the police in Memphis, and for 3\1/2\ years I taught the police in the training academy. This was not part of our training, and it should have been. It was before we got woke, and now that we are woke, we should stay woke, and teach officers about this problem and have them be able to identify it.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, between 3.2 million and 5.3 million people live with a traumatic brain injury- related disability in the United States, and approximately 7 percent of Americans will experience such a disorder at some point in their lives. These illnesses are especially common among veterans and servicemembers.
Despite the prevalence of TBI and PTSD, many law enforcement officers, and other first responders, are still not adequately trained on how to identify these symptoms. Since many symptoms of traumatic brain injury or post-traumatic stress disorder, such as confusion, impaired thinking, or irritability, can be mistaken for intoxication and aggression. Law enforcement can misinterpret the behavior of some people exhibiting those symptoms and deadly consequences could follow for first responders and the people they encounter.
This legislation would help ensure that officers are trained to identify those symptoms in order to respond appropriately to crisis calls and to divert individuals toward mental healthcare and treatment and away from the criminal justice system.
Through the Bureau of Justice Assistance, agencies have access to training and resources from the Police Mental Health Collaboration toolkit. H.R. 2992 would enhance the existing program to include crisis intervention training on recognizing the signs of these illnesses and responding to the individuals in crisis.
It requires the CDC to also study occurrences of concussion and TBI among law enforcement officers and first responders; many of whom suffer from this, and they need to be given treatment, if they are.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Pascrell, who is the leader of the Law Enforcement Caucus and a strong voice for law enforcement. I also thank Mr. Bacon and Mrs. Demings, a law enforcement chief, I believe, and Mr. Rutherford, a sheriff, for their dedication to law enforcement, first responders, and the citizens they serve.
This important bipartisan legislation is broadly supported by numerous law enforcement and mental health organizations and would help protect the lives of first responders and the people they encounter.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. COHEN.
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Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I ask everybody to support this important legislation for law enforcement and for mental health. Vote ``aye''. No roll call.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2992, the bipartisan TBI and PTSD Law Enforcement Training Act, that would require the Bureau of Justice Assistance to develop training for law enforcement officers on how best to respond to crisis calls involving individuals suffering from the effects of traumatic brain injuries and posttraumatic stress disorder.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there were approximately 2.9 million TBI-related emergency department visits, hospitalizations, and deaths in the United States in 2014 and TBI's were identified in 25 percent of all injury-related deaths in 2017.
More than 430,000 U.S. service members were diagnosed with a TBI between the year 2000 and 2020.
With the prevalence of TBI and PTSD among the general population, and particularly among military service members, there is a need to increase training for law enforcement officers to recognize the unique challenges of TBI and PTSD and more effectively respond to crisis calls.
TBI and PTSD can have a significant impact on an individual's ability to make decisions, control impulses, or think clearly.
Many of the symptoms of TBI and PTSD, such as confusion, inability to follow directions, and impaired thinking or memory, can be misinterpreted or mistaken for intoxication.
And individuals who suffer from TBI or PTSD may also appear agitated or exhibit impaired emotional functioning, which can be misunderstood as aggression.
These impairments can impede proper communication and cause interactions between law enforcement and civilians to escalate, posing potential safety risks to both parties--when officers are not trained to recognize the signs and symptoms.
Many officer-involved encounters could have led to better outcomes if the officers involved had known: 1) how to recognize that these individuals were in crisis and suffering from the effects of traumatic events; 2) the best forms of interaction with them; and 3) how to maximize officer and subject safety.
H.R. 2992 would require DOJ, through the Bureau of Justice Assistance, to solicit best practices related to recognizing and responding to individuals with TBI and PTSD and to develop Crisis Intervention Training tools for law enforcement agencies to better respond to these potentially catastrophic encounters.
This legislation would incorporate TBI and PTSD training--once developed--into the existing Police Mental Health Collaboration toolkit, a proven, no-cost online resource for law enforcement agencies, made available by the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
It would further require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study and understand the prevalence of concussions and Traumatic Brain Injury, specifically, among law enforcement officers and first responders.
Recognizing that Crisis Intervention Training programs have yielded significant benefits for law enforcement agencies, including limiting the need for higher levels of police intervention, reducing officer injuries, and redirecting people in crisis away from the criminal justice system and toward mental health services, this legislation would provide additional resources and support for agencies working to improve public safety and ensure that individuals in their communities receive the care they need.
This legislation would also build upon existing best practices to provide officers, through Law Enforcement Mental Health Learning Sites, additional tools they need to continue to protect the communities they serve and save lives.
I commend Representatives Bill Pascrell, Don Bacon, John Rutherford, and our colleague, Representative Val Demings for introducing this critical, bipartisan legislation and urge my colleagues to join me in support of this bill.
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