House Passes Bills to Support Central Coast Law Enforcement & Improve Public Safety

By the Office of Rep. Salud Carbajal

Today, Congressman Salud Carbajal voted with a bipartisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives to advance a collection of bills that improve federal support for local law enforcement and other first responders, create new grant programs to help curb gun crime and solve gun crimes, and improve public safety on the Central Coast.

The House passed the Invest to Protect Act, a bill co-sponsored by Rep. Carbajal that creates a new dedicated federal grant program for police departments with fewer than 125 officers–which includes every city police department on the Central Coast between Ventura and San Luis Obispo.

This ensures departments with fewer administrative staff do not have to compete with large metropolitan areas for grants that can help cover the cost of hiring, training, retaining, or equipping law enforcement professionals.

“Central Coast law enforcement officers work hard every day to protect our communities, combat gun violence, and keep our families safe,” said Rep. Carbajal. “They shouldn’t have to worry about competing with big city police departments for funding that can help them recruit and train. The Invest to Protect Act would ensure they get the resources they need to do their jobs.”

The House also passed the Mental Health Justice Act, another bill backed by Rep. Carbajal that creates a new grant program to train and dispatch mental health professionals to emergencies involving behavioral health issues, enabling law enforcement to focus on crime response and prevention and other threats to public safety.

“Supporting our law enforcement officers while they’re protecting our communities also means ensuring we don’t ask them to handle responding to situations that they aren’t trained or equipped to handle, especially when it takes them away from their other sworn duties,” said Rep. Carbajal. “This measure will help ensure our police officers can focus on combating and solving crime and that those experiencing mental health issues can get the help they need.”

Rep. Carbajal also helped advance two additional measures today that are designed to improve public safety, reduce gun violence, and support victims of crimes:

·         The Break the Cycle of Violence Act, which enables communities to use federal grants to conduct evidence-informed community violence intervention and prevention programs designed to interrupt cycles of violence.

    • Research has shown that combining community-oriented intervention programs and commonsense violence prevention policies can cut gun violence rates in urban cities in half in as little as two years.

·         The Violent Incident Clearance and Technological Investigative Methods (VICTIM) Act of 2022, which establishes a new federal grant program to hire, train, and retain detectives and victim services personnel to investigate shootings and support victims.

    • Grants would assist departments in staffing victim services units and fund appropriate resources for processing evidence in homicides and non-fatal shootings.

 The measures advanced today include language that allows the Department of Justice to conduct appropriate oversight of grant recipients, including their training, use of force policies, and enforcement track records.

 Earlier this week, Rep. Carbajal was part of a group of lawmakers that formally urged Democratic leaders of the House to hold a vote on these bills.

 Rep. Salud Carbajal represents California’s 24th congressional district, encompassing Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and part of Ventura County. He sits on the House Armed Services Committee, Agriculture Committee, and Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where he serves as the Chair of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

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  1. A nice pat on your own back Salud! Curious why there are no links to the actual bills.
    Invest to protect: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6448/text
    Seems okay, I’m always down for more funds for the people who help people.
    Break the cycle of violence: https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/2275/text
    This in parts, IMO, is good, but mostly crap.

  2. Oh wait, what? We are now funding the Police? After years by left wing groups trying to criminalize, defame, persecute and defund the Police, Carbajal is now trying to repair the damage to law enforcement?
    Thousands of sworn officers, retiring, moving to red states or just leaving the profession because of the nonstop war waged by BLM and other hate groups and replacing them with mental health “counselors?”
    Just another political ploy by dems in the face of massive losses in upcoming races. Too little, too late, that train has left the station. Our inter cities have become, violent, hell holes, disproportionately affecting black communities. So bad that Kabul, Afghanistan is considered safer than our inner cities, LA, NYC, Memphis, Chicago, Detroit, the list goes on and on.
    These cities have what in common? They are all democratic run hell holes and now Carbajal is supporting a feeble attempt to put the Jeannie back in the bottle.
    Yep, folks are tired of being assaulted, robbed, raped and murdered, time to support arming citizens, vigorously enforcing background checks, end cashless bail and coming down hard on violent criminals! Record number of unsolved murders, committed by who? I think y’all know, all supported and promoted by a vile media which glorifies murder and degradation of women.

  3. Like every other bill out of DC, the terms here are buried in vague generalities used to siphon funds to obscure cost components. Little if any of this money will EVER filters down to the actual person in need. Oh, but hey everyone a counselor will now come to the your door! Meanwhile, fentanyl, vodka and morphine rips a hole in the “heart and soul” of every community sending constituents at warp speed through any perceived safety net. But good ol’ Saul is here for his causal pat-on-the-back as if he’s ever done a thing other then stand securely by mailboxes.

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