Every day, public safety officers risk their lives to protect America’s citizens and communities. To honor that commitment, Congress passed The Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor Act of 2001, which created the Public Safety Officer Medal of Valor, the highest national award for valor by a public safety officer. The medal is awarded annually by the President or Vice President to public safety officers who have exhibited exceptional courage, regardless of personal safety, in the attempt to save or protect human life.

Deadline for Nominations:  11:59 p.m., ET, on July 31, 2018

The resource Alerts Save Lives: A Unified Message Regarding the Need to Support Nationwide Alerts was developed by Bureau of Justice Assistance, with the support of the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative, and reviewed by subject experts, including state, local, and federal law enforcement and justice practitioners.  The message defines the different alert types and stresses the important role alerts play in law enforcement and community safety. 

A bullet-resistant vest has saved the lives of more than 3,200 officers over the last 30 years.

~International Association of Chiefs of Police/DuPont Kevlar Survivors’ Club

According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a law enforcement officer, on average, is killed every 63 hours.  The Bureau of Justice Assistance VALOR Officer Safety and Wellness Training and Technical Assistance Program offers a series of roll call training videos designed to reinforce the importance of wearing a properly fitted bullet-resistant vest and properly maintaining that vest according to National Institute Justice standards.

In Episode 1 of the series, safety squad personnel provide an introduction to the fit, care, and wear of one of the most important pieces of equipment that an officer has access to—the bullet-resistant vest.

People with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities are disproportionately represented in contacts with the police as well as in jails and prisons. These interactions can lead to stressful and dangerous conditions for both officers and community members.

 ~Serving Safely

As first responders, police officers often interact with people with mental illness and/or developmental disabilities, resulting in encounters that can be complex, unpredictable, stressful, and sometimes dangerous. In response to this issue, the Vera Institute of Justice, in collaboration with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, launched Serving Safely, a national initiative designed to improve interactions between police and persons with mental illnesses and intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Serving Safely also will provide training and assistance to law enforcement and partnering agencies to improve outcomes for persons with mental illness or a developmental disability. Through these efforts, Serving Safely aims to minimize unnecessary detention and incarceration of persons with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities, grow partnerships between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve, and strengthen connections to community-based treatment and services.

When it comes to synthetic opioids, there is no such thing as a small case.  In 2016, synthetic opioids killed more Americans than any other kind of drug. Three milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal—that’s not even enough to cover up Lincoln’s face on a penny. Our prosecutors in Manatee County, Florida, have shown that prosecuting seemingly small synthetic opioids cases can have a big impact and save lives, and we want to replicate their success in the districts that need it most. This new strategy—and the new prosecutors who will help carry it out — will help us put more traffickers behind bars and keep the American people safe from the threat of these deadly drugs.

~Attorney General Jeff Sessions

On July 13, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott of the Eastern District of California, and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Chris Nielsen announced Operation Synthetic Opioid Surge (S.O.S.), a new program that seeks to reduce the supply of deadly synthetic opioids in high-impact areas, specifically fentanyl, and to identify wholesale distribution networks and international and domestic suppliers.  

As part of Operation S.O.S., the Department of Justice will launch an enforcement surge in ten districts that have experienced high drug overdose death rates. The DEA Special Operations Division will coordinate efforts to ensure that leads from street-level cases are used to identify larger-scale distributors. Also, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) Executive Office will send an additional two-year term Assistant United States Attorney to each participating district to assist with drug-related prosecutions.