NAPO participates in
Trump DOJ Presidential
Transition Team meeting
On Dec. 1, 2016, NAPO Executive Director
Bill Johnson and Governmental Affairs Director Andy Edmiston participated in a meeting
with President-elect Trump’s transition team
for the Department of Justice (DOJ) to discuss
law enforcement’s top priorities for the new
administration. The meeting was run by former Attorney General and TOP COP Awards
Selection Committee member Ed Meese and
was attended by several staff for the Trump transition team and
staff of incoming Attorney General, Senator Jeff Sessions.
During the meeting, representatives of the major national
law enforcement organizations laid out top priorities for the
Trump administration. The issues of consensus ranged from repeal of President Obama’s executive order curtailing state and
local law enforcement’s access to surplus military equipment to
ending sanctuary cities to federal support for law enforcement
through funding, resources and general support for the officers
on the street.
All of the organizations present agreed that there must be in-
creased penalties for those who harm or target for
harm law enforcement officers, NAPO was alone
in our suggestions regarding what the DOJ can
do about it. NAPO strongly urged the transition
team to enact new federal criminal provisions to
address the assault and murder of federally funded local law enforcement officers, such as those
officers whose agencies receive aid from the Departments of Justice or Homeland Security, and
the assault and murder of state and local officers engaged in
the protection of federally recognized civil rights, such as those
officers attacked while safeguarding protests.
Senate passes PSOB Improvement Act
In a victory for NAPO, the Senate passed the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Improvement Act of 2016 (S. 2944) by
unanimous consent on Nov. 30. The bill accounts for issues of
transparency and the timeliness of case determinations within the PSOB program, and protects the ability of survivors,
disabled officers and their families to get the benefits they so
rightly deserve.
This bill would return the PSOB Program to a presumptive
benefit and restore the “substantial weight” standard that requires PSOB to give substantial weight to the findings of federal, state and local agencies as to the cause of the public safety
officer’s death or disability. It would ensure that children 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. It would
increase transparency through weekly and biannual public reports on the status of claims.
Criminal justice and mental health reforms
On Nov. 30, the House passed the 21st Century Cures Act, a
sweeping medical innovation package that includes new research funding, mental health and criminal justice reforms,
and grants to fight opioid abuse. The package also includes language to improve the nation’s mental health system and $1 billion over two years to help fight against opioid abuse, including
ensuring law enforcement has access to anti-overdose drugs
such as naloxone. Key provisions of the mental health/criminal
justice sections of the Cures Act include:
• Reauthorization and extension of the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA),
an essential funding mechanism that supports the use
of mental health courts and crisis intervention teams in
local law enforcement agencies.
• Authorizes resources for expanded training activities,
providing more officers with a basic understanding of
the issues involved when responding to situations with
individuals with mental health crises. d
20
NEW JERSEY COPS
■ DECEMBER 2016