Sec. 2. FINDINGS
329 words·~1 min read·
/statute-compilations/comps-16996/sec-2A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
## SEC. 2 FINDINGS **[**[34 U.S.C. 10281 note](/us/usc/t34/s10281)**]** Congress finds the following: ####
(1)Every day, public safety officers, including police officers, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and others, work to maintain the safety, health, and well-being of the communities they serve. ####
(2)This means public safety officers are routinely called to respond to stressful and potentially traumatic situations, often putting their own lives in danger. ####
(3)This work not only puts public safety officers at-risk for experiencing harm, serious injury, and cumulative and acute trauma, but also places them at up to 25.6 times higher risk for developing post-traumatic stress disorder when compared to individuals without such experiences. ####
(4)Psychological evidence indicates that law enforcement officers experience significant job-related stressors and exposures that may confer increased risk for mental health morbidities (such as post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts, ideation, intents, and behaviors) and hastened mortality. ####
(5)Public safety officers often do not have the resources or support they need, leaving them at higher risk for long-term mental health consequences. ####
(6)Whereas, although the Department of Defense already considers servicemember suicides to be line-of-duty deaths and provides Federal support to eligible surviving families, the Federal Government does not recognize public safety officer suicides as deaths in the line of duty. ####
(7)In 2017, the Department of Justice approved 481 claims under the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program under subpart 1 of part L of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10281 et seq.), but not one of them for the more than 240 public safety officers who died by suicide that year. ####
(8)Public safety officers who have died or are disabled as a result of suicide or post-traumatic stress disorder do not qualify for the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program, despite the fact that public safety officers are more likely to die by suicide than from any other line-of-duty cause of death.
Connectionstraces to 1
Traces to 1 document
U.S. Code