Source: United States Senator for Nevada Cortez Masto
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) released the following statement commemorating the end of National Police week. This week, the Senate unanimously approved a bipartisan resolution that she cosponsored to designate the week of May 15 through May 21, 2022 as “National Police Week” and express support for law enforcement officers across the United States.
“I’m proud to support this bipartisan resolution honoring our law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day to keep our communities safe, especially throughout the pandemic,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “We owe our law enforcement officers an immense debt of gratitude for their dedication and commitment to our communities, and I’ll keep working to ensure that officers have access to the critical support they need.”
The resolution honors the 576 law enforcement officers who were injured and whom we’ve lost in the line of duty in 2021—including nearly 400 who died from COVID-19, as well as the 92 lost to date in 2022. Among these public servants were 21 Nevada officers who’ve been injured and fallen Nevada officers John King, Ignacio Romero, Micah May, Donald Poffenroth, and Jason Swanger.
Text of the resolution is available here.
As the former top law enforcement official in Nevada, Senator Cortez Masto has been a leading advocate in the Senate for our police officers and is part of the Senate Law Enforcement Caucus. She worked recently with Senator Grassley to unveil the bipartisan Invest to Protect Act to provide $250 million over the next five years to support small law enforcement agencies across the country. She’s currently pushing to pass this legislation to help local law enforcement with training, equipment, mental health support, and recruitment and retention.
Senator Cortez Masto also secured historic funding for the Byrne JAG grant program in the FY2022 omnibus. The program is the leading source of criminal justice funding for state, local, and tribal governments and provides support for a range of programs related to crime prevention, law enforcement, prosecution, corrections, and mental and behavioral health. Additionally, her bipartisan bills to combat the crisis of law enforcement suicide and provide mental health resources to police officers were both signed into law.
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