VALOR Initiative Strengthens Department’s Commitment to Officer Safety

The following post appears courtesy of James H. Burch, II, Acting Director, Bureau of Justice Assistance We’ve all seen and heard the stories about law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty.  Growing up in a family of law enforcement and public safety officers, I have a longstanding concern for the safety of those who put our safety first.  Unfortunately, my concern is warranted.  Data from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) shows that 133 officers have been killed in the line of duty nationwide since the beginning of 2010. Every line of duty death is tragic.  Not only is there a loss of a hero, there are longlasting ramifications for families, agencies, and the erosion of public confidence in the safety of their communities. At the Department’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) we continually strive to reduce preventable injuries and deaths by emphasizing officer safety through our Officer Safety Training and Technical Assistance portfolio.  These programs seek to support the thousands of state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies across the country, these officers’ families, and their communities.  The VALOR initiative announced today by the Attorney General at the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) Conference in Orlando, Florida, will strengthen BJA’s – and the Department of Justice’s – officer safety portfolio. The VALOR initiative focuses on preventing violence against law enforcement and ensuring officer resilience and survivability.  Under this Initiative, BJA awarded $800,000 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 funding for the initial development of a nationwide training and technical assistance program.  A key aspect of the VALOR training will include how to anticipate and survive a violent encounter, with training based on the “The Deadly Mix” framework (officer, offender, and circumstances that brought them together).  In addition, officers will be trained on key issues, such as techniques for identifying concealed weapons/armed gunmen, high-risk tactical considerations (e.g., active shooters and hostage), and specific threat groups, including domestic and international terrorists and other violent criminals and extremists.   In addition, BJA and another Office of Justice Programs component, the National Institute of Justice, awarded more than $40 million in FY 2010 funding for officer safety-related programs, including more than $30 million to reimburse agencies for the purchase of body armor, respond to line of duty deaths, deconfliction efforts, and technology development.  BJA also oversees a number of programs intended to assist the families of law enforcement officers, including efforts to address risks of suicide among law enforcement officers.  In addition, BJA manages the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) Program which was created in 1976.  This important program provides death and education benefits to survivors of fallen law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other first responders, as well as disability benefits to public safety officers catastrophically injured in the line of duty. BJA also will be working with IACP through a separate grant of more than $467,000 that will be used to launch the Center for the Prevention of Violence Against the Police.  The Center is intended to be a clearinghouse for information and analysis about injury and violence against law enforcement officers so that we can reduce the number of injuries and assaults on officers, reduce costs to agencies, and increase community safety.   I’m confident that the VALOR initiative and the other elements of BJA’s officer safety portfolio will help us provide the training and support that our law enforcement heroes, their families, and their communities need to meet today’s public safety challenges.