117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6448 
AN ACT 
To direct the Director of the Office of Community Oriented 
Policing Services of the Department of Justice to carry 
out a grant program to provide assistance to police de-
partments with fewer than 200 law enforcement officers, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Invest to Protect Act 
of 2022’’. 
SEC. 2. GRANT PROGRAM. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act: 
(1) DE-ESCALATION TRAINING.—The term ‘‘de- 
escalation training’’ means training relating to tak-
ing action or communicating verbally or non-verbally 
during a potential force encounter in an attempt to 
stabilize the situation so that more time, options, 
and resources can be called upon to minimize the 
need for the use of force and increase the likelihood 
of voluntary compliance, including persuasion, warn-
ings, creating space, use of physical barriers, slowing 
down the pace of an incident, and requesting addi-
tional resources. 
(2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the Office. 
(3) ELIGIBLE LOCAL GOVERNMENT.—The term 
‘‘eligible local government’’ means— 
(A) a county, municipality, town, township, 
village, parish, borough, or other unit of general 
government below the State level that employs 
fewer than 125 law enforcement officers; or 
(B) a Tribal government that employs 
fewer than 125 law enforcement officers.
(4) LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.—The term 
‘‘law enforcement officer’’ has the meaning given the 
term ‘‘career law enforcement officer’’ in section 
1709 of title I the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10389). 
(5) OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Office’’ means the Of-
fice of Community Oriented Policing Services of the 
Department of Justice. 
(b) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established within 
the Office a grant program to— 
(1) provide training and access to mental health 
resources to local law enforcement officers; and 
(2) improve the recruitment and retention of 
local law enforcement officers. 
(c) AUTHORITY.—Not later than 120 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall award 
grants to eligible local governments as a part of the grant 
program established under subsection (b). 
(d) APPLICATIONS.— 
(1) BARRIERS.—The Attorney General shall de-
termine what barriers exist to establishing a stream-
lined application process for grants under this sec-
tion. 
(2) REPORT.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the At-
torney General shall submit to Congress a re-
port that includes a plan to execute a stream-
lined application process for grants under this 
section under which an eligible local government 
seeking a grant under this section can reason-
ably complete the application in not more than 
2 hours. 
(B) CONTENTS OF PLAN.—The plan re-
quired under subparagraph (A) may include a 
plan for— 
(i) proactively providing eligible local 
governments seeking a grant under this 
section with information on the data such 
eligible local governments will need to pre-
pare before beginning the grant applica-
tion; and 
(ii) ensuring technical assistance is 
available for eligible local governments 
seeking a grant under this section before 
and during the grant application process, 
including through dedicated liaisons within 
the Office.
(3) APPLICATIONS.—In selecting eligible local 
governments to receive grants under this section, the 
Director shall use the streamlined application proc-
ess described in paragraph (2)(A). 
(4) PREFERENCE.—The Attorney General may 
give preference to applicants who specify in their ap-
plications that grant amounts will be used for the el-
igible activities set forth in paragraphs (1), (2), (3), 
(4), (9), and (10) of subsection (e). 
(e) ELIGIBLE ACTIVITIES.—An eligible local govern-
ment that receives a grant under this section may use 
amounts from the grant only for— 
(1) de-escalation training for law enforcement 
officers; 
(2) victim-centered training for law enforcement 
officers in handling situations of domestic violence; 
(3) evidence-based law enforcement safety 
training for response to calls for service involving— 
(A) persons with substance use disorders; 
(B) persons with mental health needs; 
(C) veterans; 
(D) persons with disabilities; 
(E) vulnerable youth; 
(F) persons who are victims of domestic vi-
olence, sexual assault, or trafficking; and
(G) persons experiencing homelessness or 
living in poverty; 
(4) the offsetting of overtime costs associated 
with scheduling issues relating to the participation 
of a law enforcement officer in the training de-
scribed in paragraphs (1) through (3), (9) and (10); 
(5) a signing bonus for a law enforcement offi-
cer in an amount determined by the eligible local 
government; 
(6) a retention bonus for a law enforcement of-
ficer— 
(A) in an amount determined by the eligi-
ble local government that does not exceed 20 
percent of the salary of the law enforcement of-
ficer; and 
(B) who— 
(i) has been employed at the law en-
forcement agency for not fewer than 5 
years; 
(ii) has not been found by an internal 
investigation to have engaged in serious 
misconduct; and 
(iii) commits to remain with the law 
enforcement agency for a minimum 3 years 
from the time of receipt of the bonus;
(7) a stipend for the graduate education of law 
enforcement officers in the area of mental health, 
public health, or social work, which shall not exceed 
the lesser of— 
(A) $10,000; or 
(B) the amount the law enforcement offi-
cer pays towards such graduate education; 
(8) providing access to patient-centered behav-
ioral health services for law enforcement officers, 
which may include resources for risk assessments, 
evidence-based, trauma-informed care to treat post- 
traumatic stress disorder or acute stress disorder, 
peer support and counselor services and family sup-
ports, and the promotion of improved access to high 
quality mental health care through telehealth; 
(9) implementation of evidence-based best prac-
tices and training on the use of lethal and nonlethal 
force; 
(10) implementation of evidence-based best 
practices and training on the duty of care and the 
duty to intervene; and 
(11) data collection for police practices regard-
ing officer and community safety. 
(f) REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR GRANT RECIPI-
ENTS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall establish 
reporting requirements for eligible local government 
that receive a grant under this section in order to 
assist with the evaluation by the Office of the pro-
gram established under this section. 
(2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In establishing any re-
quirements under paragraph (1), the Director shall 
consider the capacity of law enforcement agencies 
with fewer than 125 officers to collect and report in-
formation. 
(g) DISCLOSURE OF OFFICER RECRUITMENT AND 
RETENTION BONUSES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 
the date on which an eligible local government that 
receives a grant under this section awards a signing 
or retention bonus described in paragraph (5) or (6) 
of subsection (e), the eligible local government shall 
disclose to the Director and make publicly available 
on a website of the eligible local government the 
amount of such bonus. 
(2) REPORT.—The Attorney General shall sub-
mit to the appropriate congressional committees an 
annual report that includes each signing or retention 
bonus disclosed under paragraph (1) during the pre-
ceding year.
(h) GRANT ACCOUNTABILITY.—All grants awarded 
by the Director under this section shall be subject to the 
following accountability provisions: 
(1) AUDIT REQUIREMENT.— 
(A) DEFINITION.—In this paragraph, the 
term ‘‘unresolved audit finding’’ means a find-
ing in the final audit report of the Inspector 
General of the Department of Justice that the 
audited grantee has used grant funds for an 
unauthorized expenditure or otherwise unallow-
able cost that is not closed or resolved within 
12 months from the date when the final audit 
report is issued. 
(B) AUDITS.—Beginning in the first fiscal 
year beginning after the date of enactment of 
this subsection, and in each fiscal year there-
after, the Inspector General of the Department 
of Justice shall conduct audits of recipients of 
grants under this section to prevent waste, 
fraud, and abuse of funds by grantees. The In-
spector General of the Department of Justice 
shall determine the appropriate number of 
grantees to be audited each year. 
(C) MANDATORY EXCLUSION.—A recipient 
of grant funds under this section that is found