Davids Votes to Support Law Enforcement and Families Suffering Job-Related Trauma

Statement

Last night, Representative Sharice Davids voted to allow law enforcement officers to access disability benefits for post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health challenges that arise as a result of their service. The bipartisan Public Safety Officer Support Act would also expand the Public Safety Officers' Benefit (PSOB) program to ensure that families of officers who lost their lives to trauma-linked suicide can apply for the death benefits that they deserve.

Data compiled by Blue H.E.L.P., an organization that helps support families who have lost an officer to suicide, finds that 18 Kansas officers have died by suicide since 2017.

"Law enforcement officers face extremely difficult situations, putting themselves at risk each day in the line of duty--and yet they and their families are barred from accessing benefits in cases of mental health challenges or suicide. It's unacceptable," said Davids. "It's past time that we recognize mental health is health and support our law enforcement and first responders."

Currently, the PSOB program only provides disability relief to families of officers who died or who have been permanently disabled as a result of a physical injury -- completely excluding any support for officers who die by suicide or experience mental health challenges like post-traumatic stress disorder. Research from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration finds that public safety officers are 25 times more likely to develop acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other mental health conditions than the general public.

Davids voted to pass the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act in 2019, which created new data collection efforts to track officer suicide. The FBI's first Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection report using this data is set to be published this year.

Davids has focused on improving mental health in our communities since taking office, introducing legislation that would reauthorize a number of effective mental health programs, including Kansas' Zero Suicide program. She also helped get grant funding to local police departments to hire more behavioral health specialists, including the Overland Park Police Department's new Crisis Action Team.

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