II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 994 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 

provide that COPS grant funds may be used for local law enforcement 

recruits to attend schools or academies if the recruits agree to serve 

in precincts of law enforcement agencies in their communities. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 28, 2023 

Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. CORNYN, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. TILLIS, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. CRUZ, Mr. BOOKER, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, and Mr. OSSOFF) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

Act of 1968 to provide that COPS grant funds may 

be used for local law enforcement recruits to attend 

schools or academies if the recruits agree to serve in 

precincts of law enforcement agencies in their communities. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strong Communities 

5 Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STRONG COMMUNITIES PROGRAM. 

2 Section 1701 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control 

3 and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10381) is amend4 ed— 

5 (1) by redesignating subsection (m) as sub6 section (n); and 

7 (2) by inserting after subsection (l) the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(m) COPS STRONG COMMUNITIES PROGRAM.— 

10 ‘‘(1) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

11 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi12 ble entity’ means— 

13 ‘‘(i) an institution of higher education, 

14 as defined in section 101 of the Higher 

15 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001), 

16 that, in coordination or through an agree17 ment with a local law enforcement agency, 

18 offers a law enforcement training program; 

19 or 

20 ‘‘(ii) a local law enforcement agency 

21 that offers a law enforcement training pro22 gram. 

23 ‘‘(B) LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGEN24 CY.—The term ‘local law enforcement agency’ 

25 means an agency of a State, unit of local gov26 ernment, or Indian Tribe that is authorized by 


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1 law or by a government agency to engage in or 

2 supervise the prevention, detection, investiga3 tion, or prosecution of any violation of criminal 

4 law. 

5 ‘‘(2) GRANTS.—The Attorney General may use 

6 amounts otherwise appropriated to carry out this 

7 section for a fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 

8 2023) to make competitive grants to local law en9 forcement agencies to be used for officers and re10 cruits to attend law enforcement training programs 

11 at eligible entities if the officers and recruits agree 

12 to serve in law enforcement agencies in their com13 munities. 

14 ‘‘(3) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for a grant 

15 through a local law enforcement agency under this 

16 subsection, each officer or recruit described in para17 graph (2) shall— 

18 ‘‘(A) serve as a full-time law enforcement 

19 officer for a total of not fewer than 4 years dur20 ing the 8-year period beginning on the date on 

21 which the officer or recruit completes a law en22 forcement training program for which the offi23 cer or recruit receives benefits; 


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1 ‘‘(B) complete the service described in sub2 paragraph (A) in a local law enforcement agen3 cy located within— 

4 ‘‘(i) 7 miles of the residence of the of5 ficer or recruit where the officer or recruit 

6 has resided for not fewer than 5 years; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) if the officer or recruit resides in 

8 a county with fewer than 150,000 resi9 dents, within 20 miles of the residence of 

10 the officer or recruit where the officer or 

11 recruit has resided for not fewer than 5 

12 years; and 

13 ‘‘(C) submit to the eligible entity providing 

14 a law enforcement training program to the offi15 cer or recruit evidence of employment of the of16 ficer or recruit in the form of a certification by 

17 the chief administrative officer of the local law 

18 enforcement agency where the officer or recruit 

19 is employed. 

20 ‘‘(4) REPAYMENT.— 

21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If an officer or recruit 

22 does not complete the service described in para23 graph (3), the officer or recruit shall submit to 

24 the local law enforcement agency an amount 

25 equal to any benefits the officer or recruit reVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:11 Apr 07, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S994.IS S994

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1 ceived through the local law enforcement agency 

2 under this subsection. 

3 ‘‘(B) REGULATIONS.—The Attorney Gen4 eral shall promulgate regulations that establish 

5 categories of extenuating circumstances under 

6 which an officer or recruit may be excused from 

7 repayment under subparagraph (A).’’. 

Æ 


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