NAPO on the Hill:
Meetings with House and
Senate majority leaders
On March 2, NAPO and other law enforcement
organizations met with House Majority Leader
Kevin McCarthy’s (R-California) staff and Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Kentucky)
staff to discuss pro-law enforcement legislation
priorities for Congress, especially leading up to,
and during, National Police Week. Given the time-
frame, the legislation hoped to be moved during Police Week
are those bills that are bipartisan and have the support of the
Judiciary Committee, so that they can move quickly to the
House and Senate floors.
Below are the pieces of legislation specifically discussed at
the meeting:
• The Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Improvement
Act would return the PSOB Program to a presumptive ben-
efit and restore the “substantial weight” standard that re-
quires PSOB to give substantial weight to the findings of
federal, state, and local agencies as to the cause of a public
safety officer’s death or disability. It would ensure that chil-
dren of fallen or disabled public safety officers would still
be eligible for education benefits if an adjudication delay
causes them to age out of benefit eligibility before their
claim is approved.
• The Back the Blue Act would help stop senseless violence
against our nation’s law enforcement community by adding
new criminal provisions to address the assault and murder
of federal and federally funded law enforcement officers,
and those who flee to avoid prosecution for such crimes.
• The Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship Act would elim-
inate the expected family contribution (EFC) used to de-
termine financial need in the case of a Pell Grant-eligible
student whose parent or guardian died in the line of duty.
Additionally, children of public safety officers who died in
the line of duty would qualify for the maximum Pell Grant
award if he or she was less than 24 years old, or enrolled at
an institution of higher education at the time of the parent
or guardian’s death.
• The PLUS Equipment Act would nullify former President
Barack Obama’s Executive Order 13688 that restricted state
and local law enforcement’s access to surplus military
equipment through the Department of Defense 1033 Pro-
gram and other equipment acquisition programs through
the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security.
• The Honoring Hometown Heroes Act would authorize state
governors or the mayor of Washington, D.C., to proclaim
that the U.S. flag should be flown at half-staff in the event
of the death of a first responder working in such jurisdic-
tion who dies while serving in the line of duty.
NAPO meets with Attorney General
On Feb. 23, NAPO Executive Director Bill Johnson joined rep-
resentatives of other major national law enforcement organiza-
tions for an intimate lunch with the newly appointed Attorney
General Jeff Sessions. During lunch, participants frankly dis-
cussed the top criminal justice priorities of law enforcement for
the Trump Administration to address. There was great support
among the participants on issues ranging from the
repeal of President Oba ma’s executive order limit-
ing state and local law enforcement’s access to sur-
plus military equipment, criminal justice reform,
law enforcement funding for resources and general
support for officers on the streets.
Johnson thanked Attorney General Sessions
and the President for the executive order issued on Feb. 9 that
prevents violence against federal, state and local law enforce-
ment officers. The executive order reinforces NAPO’s position
on making the case for existing constitutional basis for feder-
al protections of state and local officers, such as those whose
agencies receive aid from the federal Department of Justice or
Department of Homeland Security. NAPO also shared the posi-
tion with the presidential transition team in a meeting on Dec.
1, 2016, and the president and attorney general have, since
then, moved forward with the recommendations.
NAPO participates in Blue Alert Advisory Group convening
Johnson represented NAPO on the Blue Alert Advisory Group
conference call on Feb. 22. NAPO is a member of the Advisory
Group, whose job it is to assist with the initiation, facilitation
and promotion of Blue Alert plans. The National Blue Alert Ad-
visory Group is one with the Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu Na-
tional Blue Alert Act, a law passed in 2015 to create a nationwide
alert system to quickly identify and apprehend suspects when
a law enforcement officer is killed, seriously injured, missing
or threatened. The Act is named after New York City Police De-
partment detectives and NAPO members Ramos and Liu, who
were assassinated while serving their communities.
The purpose of NAPO’s call was to update the Advisory
Group on the progress made by the Community Oriented Polic-
ing Services (COPS) Office in establishing a National Blue Alert
Network, and the work that needs to be done to complete this
mission. The COPS Office is currently:
• Working with the Federal Communications Commission to
get a dedicated emergency alert system event code for Blue
Alert, which is crucial for long-term national coordination
and consistency;
• Leveraging their partnership with FEMA to gain access and
collaboration with all state and territorial designated alert
authorizing officials;
• Establishing a central repository for Blue Alert plans, guid-
ance, forms, templates and contact information, which
will be accessible to law enforcement and other Blue Alert
practitioners;
• Creating a guidance and recommendations document re-
source for states seeking to establish Blue Alert plans, and
for existing plans looking to adopt national best practices.
The COPS Office will begin operations to contact states for
the development and updating of the Blue Alert Act on April 1.
This is far from where NAPO wishes to be in the establishment
of a national system, particularly in this time when there has
been an alarming increase in the number of ambush attacks on
law enforcement officers. d
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