WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Rep. Pete Aguilar helped pass a legislative package securing needed funding for police departments to help reduce crime and increase public safety.

“Our law enforcement officers need the resources and tools to prevent crime in the Inland Empire and keep residents safe,” said Rep. Aguilar. “These commonsense measures ensure we are investing in public safety and giving every family peace of mind.”

The public safety package includes:

• The Invest to Protect Act (H.R. 8448), which establishes a grant through the Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS) program to assist small law enforcement agencies fund recruitment, mental health support, training and retention.
• The Mental Health Justice Act (H.R. 8542), to send unarmed mental health professionals to de-escalate mental health crises, an overdue action to potentially save lives from fatal encounters with armed law enforcement officers.
• The Break Our Cycle of Violence Act (H.R. 4118), which creates evidence-based community violence prevention and intervention programs.
• The VICTIM Act (H.R. 5768), to strengthen the ability of our police forces to properly train detectives to investigate rapes, sexual assault, homicides, non-fatal shootings and kidnappings, while ensuring they are addressing the needs of the victims and their families.

This package builds off historic gun violence prevention legislation. Rep. Aguilar helped pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, getting deadly weapons out the hands of dangerous individuals and improving school safety measures to ensure no student has to endure the trauma of gun violence. Rep. Aguilar also voted to pass the Assault Weapons Ban to prohibit the sale, manufacture and possession of high-capacity magazines and semiautomatic weapons.

Additionally, Rep. Aguilar helped pass the American Rescue Plan which invested $350 billion for cities, states and counties to utilize to hire more police officers and invest in training and intervention programs to build healthy relationships between communities and law enforcement officers.

Rep. Aguilar serves as Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and as a member of the House Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on House Administration and the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol.

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