I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2318 

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

enhance the COPS ON THE BEAT grant program, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2015 

Mr. REICHERT (for himself, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. KING of New York, Ms. 

DELBENE, Mr. LANCE, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. BENISHEK, Mr. HANNA, and 

Mr. DENT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

Act of 1968 to enhance the COPS ON THE BEAT 

grant program, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘COPS Improvement 

5 and Reauthorization Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. COPS GRANT IMPROVEMENTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1701 of title I of the Om8 nibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 

9 U.S.C. 3796dd) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking subsection (c); 

2 (2) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub3 section (c); 

4 (3) by striking subsection (a) and inserting the 

5 following: 

6 ‘‘(a) THE OFFICE OF COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLIC7 ING SERVICES.— 

8 ‘‘(1) OFFICE.—There is within the Department 

9 of Justice, under the general authority of the Attor10 ney General, a separate and distinct office to be 

11 known as the Office of Community Oriented Policing 

12 Services (referred to in this subsection as the ‘COPS 

13 Office’). 

14 ‘‘(2) DIRECTOR.—The COPS Office shall be 

15 headed by a Director who shall— 

16 ‘‘(A) be appointed by the Attorney Gen17 eral; and 

18 ‘‘(B) have final authority over all grants, 

19 cooperative agreements, and contracts awarded 

20 by the COPS Office. 

21 ‘‘(b) GRANT AUTHORIZATION.—The Attorney Gen22 eral shall carry out grant programs under which the Attor23 ney General makes grants to States, units of local govern24 ment, Indian tribal governments, other public and private 


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1 entities, and multi-jurisdictional or regional consortia for 

2 the purposes described in subsections (c), (d), and (e).’’; 

3 (4) in subsection (c), as so redesignated— 

4 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘uses of 

5 grant amounts.—’’ and inserting ‘‘COMMUNITY

6 POLICING AND CRIME PREVENTION GRANTS’’; 

7 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘, to in8 crease the number of officers deployed in com9 munity-oriented policing’’; 

10 (C) in paragraph (4)— 

11 (i) by striking ‘‘pay for offices’’ and 

12 inserting ‘‘pay for or train officers’’; and 

13 (ii) by inserting ‘‘, and to provide for 

14 the initial hiring of such officers’’ after 

15 ‘‘duties’’; 

16 (D) by striking paragraph (9); 

17 (E) by redesignating paragraphs (5) 

18 through (8) as paragraphs (6) through (9), re19 spectively; 

20 (F) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 

21 following: 

22 ‘‘(5) award grants to hire school resource offi23 cers and to establish school-based partnerships be24 tween local law enforcement agencies and local 

25 school systems to enhance school safety and to comVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:11 May 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2318.IH H2318

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1 bat crime, gangs, drug activities, and other problems 

2 in and around elementary and secondary schools, in3 cluding assisting schools with emergency prepared4 ness and preventative measures plans for natural 

5 disasters and acts of violence and terrorism.’’; 

6 (G) by striking paragraph (13); 

7 (H) by redesignating paragraphs (14), 

8 (15), and (16) as paragraphs (13), (14), and 

9 (15), respectively; 

10 (I) in paragraph (15), as so redesignated, 

11 by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

12 (J) by redesignating paragraph (17) as 

13 paragraph (18); 

14 (K) by inserting after paragraph (15), as 

15 so redesignated, the following: 

16 ‘‘(16) establish and implement innovative pro17 grams to reduce and prevent illegal drug manufac18 turing, distribution, and use, including the manufac19 turing, distribution, and use of methamphetamine; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(17) award enhancing community policing and 

22 crime prevention grants that meet emerging law en23 forcement needs, as warranted.’’; and 


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1 (L) in paragraph (18), as so redesignated, 

2 by striking ‘‘through (16)’’ and inserting 

3 ‘‘through (17)’’; 

4 (5) by striking subsections (h) and (i); 

5 (6) by redesignating subsections (d) through (g) 

6 as subsections (f) through (i), respectively; 

7 (7) by inserting after subsection (c), as so re8 designated, the following: 

9 ‘‘(d) TROOPS-TO-COPS PROGRAMS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Grants made under sub11 section (b) may be used to hire former members of 

12 the Armed Forces to serve as career law enforce13 ment officers for deployment in community oriented 

14 policing, particularly in communities that are ad15 versely affected by a recent military base closing. 

16 ‘‘(2) DEFINITION.—In this subsection, ‘former 

17 member of the Armed Forces’ means a member of 

18 the Armed Forces of the United States who is invol19 untarily separated from the Armed Forces within 

20 the meaning of section 1141 of title 10, United 

21 States Code. 

22 ‘‘(e) TECHNOLOGY GRANTS.—The Attorney General 

23 may make grants under subsection (b) to develop and use 

24 new technologies (including interoperable communications 

25 technologies, modernized criminal record technology, and 


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1 forensic technology) to assist State and local law enforce2 ment agencies in reorienting the emphasis of their activi3 ties from reacting to crime to preventing crime and to 

4 train law enforcement officers to use such technologies.’’; 

5 (8) in subsection (f), as so redesignated— 

6 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘to 

7 States, units of local government, Indian tribal 

8 governments, and to other public and private 

9 entities,’’; 

10 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘define 

11 for State and local governments, and other pub12 lic and private entities,’’ and inserting ‘‘estab13 lish’’; and 

14 (C) in the first sentence of paragraph (3), 

15 by inserting ‘‘(including regional community po16 licing institutes)’’ after ‘‘training centers or fa17 cilities’’; 

18 (9) in subsection (h), as so redesignated— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘subsection (a)’’ the first 

20 place that term appears and inserting ‘‘para21 graphs (1) and (2) of subsection (c)’’; and 

22 (B) by striking ‘‘in each fiscal year pursu23 ant to subsection (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘in each 

24 fiscal year for purposes described in paragraph 

25 (1) and (2) of subsection (c)’’; 


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1 (10) in subsection (i), as so redesignated, by 

2 striking ‘‘subsection (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection 

3 (b)’’; and 

4 (11) in subsection (j)(1), by striking ‘‘sub5 section (b)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (c)’’. 

6 (b) APPLICATIONS.—Section 1702(c) of title I of the 

7 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 

8 U.S.C. 3796dd–1(c)) is amended— 

9 (1) by redesignating paragraphs (8) through 

10 (11) as paragraphs (9) through (12), respectively; 

11 and 

12 (2) by inserting after paragraph (7) the fol13 lowing: 

14 ‘‘(8) if the application is for a grant for officers 

15 performing homeland security duties, explain how 

16 the applicant intends to coordinate with Federal law 

17 enforcement in support of the applicant’s homeland 

18 security mission;’’. 

19 (c) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—Section 

20 1704(c) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

21 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3796dd–3(c)) is amended 

22 by striking ‘‘$75,000’’ and inserting ‘‘$125,000’’. 

23 (d) DEFINITIONS.—Section 1709(1) of title I of the 

24 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 

25 U.S.C. 3796dd–8(1)) is amended by striking ‘‘who is auVerDate Sep 11 2014 06:11 May 16, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2318.IH H2318

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1 thorized’’ and inserting ‘‘who is a sworn law enforcement 

2 officer and is authorized’’. 

3 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section 

4 1001(a)(11) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and 

5 Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3793(a)(11)) is 

6 amended— 

7 (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘fiscal 

8 years 2006 through 2009’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal 

9 years 2015 through 2019’’; and 

10 (2) in subparagraph (B)— 

11 (A) in the first sentence— 

12 (i) by striking ‘‘3 percent’’ and insert13 ing ‘‘5 percent’’; and 

14 (ii) by striking ‘‘section 1701(d)’’ and 

15 inserting ‘‘section 1701(f)’’; and 

16 (B) by striking the second sentence and in17 serting the following: ‘‘Of the funds available 

18 for grants under part Q, not less than 

19 $600,000,000 shall be used for grants for the 

20 purposes specified in section 1701(c), and not 

21 more than $250,000,000 shall be used for 

22 grants under section 1701(e).’’. 

Æ 


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