FY 2023 Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) Implementation Projects

Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational strategies that support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-solving techniques to proactively address the immediate conditions that give rise to public safety issues such as violent crime, nonviolent crime, and fear of crime.

Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) program funds are used to improve the delivery of and access to mental health and wellness services for law enforcement officers through the implementation of peer support, training, family resources, suicide prevention, and other promising practices for wellness programs.

The COPS Office is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights and racial equity, increases access to justice, supports crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system, strengthens community safety and protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and build trust between law enforcement and the community.

Statutory Authority

This program is authorized under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended, and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Title I, Part Q, Public Law 103-322, 34 U.S.C. § 10381 et seq.

All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.

Program-Specific Information

This program is authorized under the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended, and the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, Title I, Part Q, Public Law 103-322, 34 U.S.C. § 10381 et seq.
All awards are subject to the availability of appropriated funds and any modifications or additional requirements that may be imposed by law.
For all identified deliverables, the applicant should adhere to the COPS Office Editorial and Style Manual. For projects that propose site-specific work, letters of support from the targeted agencies are strongly encouraged.

With any programmatic questions, please contact the COPS Office Response Center at 800-421-6770 or send questions via email to AskCopsRC@usdoj.gov. The COPS Office Response Center operates Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET, except on federal holidays.

Program Goals

Under this solicitation, the COPS Office seeks to support projects that allow for the identification and expansion of promising practices and produces knowledge products that follow the principles of good guidance:

Quality-driven, with an emphasis on action statements to drive promising practices and reduce variations in performance
Evidence-based, with recommendations that are consistent with the weight of the best available evidence identified through systematic review
Accessible, with clear language and manageable lengths that are appropriate and relevant for the law enforcement field
Memorable, to encourage immediate actions or aid for the complex situations law enforcement professionals face

To read an overview of the principles of community policing, please see the COPS Office publication Community Policing Defined.

Applicants should also consider the COPS Office performance measures when developing their own specific project goals and activities, which can be found in the "Performance Measures" section of this application.

LEMHWA Implementation Projects

Multiple awards, up to $200,000 each

Good mental and psychological health is just as essential as good physical health for law enforcement officers to be effective in keeping our communities safe from crime and violence. The Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) program supports efforts to protect the mental health and well-being of law enforcement officers and deputies. Unfortunately, the stress of officers’ work and the stigma often associated with seeking assistance for emotional and mental health issues have led to negative consequences such as divorce, alcoholism, injury, and even an increase in suicides for officers across the country.

As part of the act, Congress authorized the COPS Office to fund state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies to implement new or enhance existing programs that offer training and services on officer emotional and mental health, peer mentoring, suicide prevention, stress reduction, and police officer family services.

The LEMHWA Implementation Projects topic area aims to support state, local, tribal, or territorial law enforcement agencies seeking to implement new or enhance existing programs that offer training and services on officer emotional and mental health, peer mentoring, suicide prevention, stress reduction, and support services for officers and their families. Proposed projects may serve one agency, a consortium of agencies, or personnel from agencies located within a county or state.

Projects Out of Scope

Applicants that are not state, local, tribal, or territorial law enforcement agencies will not be considered.
Projects that do not develop or enhance training, programming, and support services focused on officer emotional and mental health, suicide prevention, and peer and officer family support services will not be considered.
Projects that exclusively seek to purchase technology, software/mobile applications, or equipment without offering broader training, programming, or services to support those tools will not be considered.
Projects that focus solely on on health screenings or fitness programs will not be considered.

Additional Requirements

The primary goal is to support new or enhanced programs that will that offer training and services on officer emotional and mental health, peer mentoring, suicide prevention, stress reduction, and police officer family services in state, local tribal, or territorial law enforcement agencies.

Applicants are strongly encouraged to refer to both the LEMHWA Report to Congress and the accompanying Eleven Case Studies for ideas in what will assist them in designing new or enhanced programs in support of wellness and resiliency in their agency. Programs must focus on providing training, programming, and support services in law enforcement emotional and mental health, including such things as suicide prevention, peer mentoring, clinical support, and family support services. Programs may also serve agency civilian staff, such as crime scene technicians, dispatchers, and others who may regularly experience some of the same trauma exposure.

The project description should address the following objectives:

How the proposed program activities will support wellness in the agency(ies) served
The intended service area and size of the program (e.g., one agency, more than one agency)
The privacy protections that will be put in place for anyone using the support services
Reported outcomes of the program activities

Deliverables

The primary deliverable of these awards will be the provision of training, programming, and support services focused on officer emotional and mental health, including suicide prevention efforts, peer support, clinical and family support services for the target markets.

Other deliverables that document the applicants’ efforts, lessons learned, and promising practices and can be shared with the broader law enforcement field are encouraged. These deliverables can be articles, conference presentations, webinars, brief reports, and other tools that benefits other law enforcement agencies.

Successful applicants may have the opportunity to participate in a community of practice with other award recipients to promote the exchange of promising practices and help the COPS Office share ideas and lessons learned with the broader field.