BJA FY 13 National Initiatives: Officer Safety and Wellness Initiative - VALOR

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The BJA Officer Safety and Wellness Initiative focuses on providing a holistic approach to improving and reinforcing law enforcement safety, resilience, health, and wellness. In order for an officer to maximize his or her safety, the officer must have the best tactical training available, the most appropriate equipment, be in the best physical shape possible, be well-rested, be mentally and emotionally well, and have the tools needed to strengthen resiliency—the ability to return to one’s natural and unstressed state, both emotionally and physiologically—and survive performing the duties of a law enforcement officer. Addressing officer safety in this holistic manner provides officers and their agencies the skills needed to perform their duties in the safest manner possible and gives them ways to help identify and regulate their stress, maximizing their overall health and wellness.Through this current funding opportunity, BJA is seeking to continue and enhance its tactical awareness component through the Preventing Violence Against Law Enforcement and Ensuring Officer Resilience and Survivability (VALOR) program. It also seeks to expand its work in officer health and wellness by creating a training to be used in VALOR to give law enforcement tools they can use to identify and reduce stress brought on in the daily performance of their duties. According to the Mayo Clinic, stress can affect a person’s body, thoughts, behavior, and emotions; and if stress is left unmanaged, it can contribute to health problems as well.This program is funded under the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) Program. The JAG Program (42 U.S.C. 3751(a)) is the primary provider of federal criminal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions, and JAG funds support all components of the criminal justice system. The JAG Program authorization also provides that “the Attorney General may reserve not more than 5 percent, to be granted to 1 or more States or units of local government, for 1 or more of the purposes specified in section 3751 of this title, pursuant to his determination that the same is necessary—(1) to combat, address, or otherwise respond to precipitous or extraordinary increases in crime, or in a type or types of crime” (42 U.S.C. 3756).

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