KELSO, Wash. — U.S. Congresswoman Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican who represents Southwest Washington, is introducing legislation aimed supporting police departments with 200 or fewer employees.
The Invest to Protect Act would provide federal funds for training, body cameras and mental health resources as well as recruitment and retention.
"There are a lot of small forces across the nation that just don't have the resources to really to bring them up to a 21st century level," said Herrera Beutler.
The legislation would help agencies like the Kelso Police Department (KPD) in the rural Southwest Washington, which has struggled to fill positions during the pandemic.
The department has 28 sworn positions but only 23 of them are filled.
"Like most of the state, we are trying to recruit and feel vacancies that have been kind of an epidemic for us in the last 18 months," said Kelso Police Chief Darr Kirk.
Kirk said the department has been trying to catch up even before the pandemic, but retirements, resignations and candidates not making it through training have kept them below budgeted staffing levels.
"Any incentive that we can help keep those officers even longer would be helpful for our staffing. And then recruiting new officers for our agency, any incentives would be extremely helpful," said Kirk.
The funding from the legislation would amount to $200 million over four years, and retention is just one of several goals to help bring smaller police departments to modern standards.
"Whether it's technology and data or training and recruitment and retention, this money is going to help them get there," Herrera Beutler said.
Chief Kirk said he's on board with another aspect of the legislation: equipping officers with body cameras. He said KPD recently approved a body camera program, which will come at a steep cost for such a small department.
"It's not only going to improve transparency with the public. It's going to reassure law enforcement that they have some assurances that what happens on calls gets out to the public, so that it's accurate and not speculative," he said. "So we are hopeful this legislation passes."
Herrera Beutler is hoping to get more co-sponsors for the bill before bringing it up for a vote in the House.