YourVoice.Now Summary
Workers & JobsFederal grants to help police departments recruit — and pay trainees' tuition and wages while they train
Workers & Jobs
Grants could fund programs that pay tuition, wages, or benefits for people training to be officers. The programs are for people with no police experience who face hurdles getting that training.
States, cities, and police departments could compete for this money from 2026 through 2030. They could spend up to half on recruiting ads and up to half on training programs.
When picking winners, the Justice Department would favor groups that recruit people from communities rarely seen in police work. The same goes for recruits with unusual school or job backgrounds.
Groups that recruit people who live in, or will move to, the area they would patrol would also be favored for grants.
Within a year, the Justice Department would launch its own nationwide hiring ads. It would also make ad materials local police can use, after talking with states, police groups, and researchers.
More about this bill
If you want to be a police officer but can't afford the training, local programs could pay your tuition and wages while you learn. The Justice Department would hand out competitive grants to states, cities, and police departments. Up to $50 million a year could go to these grants from 2026 through 2030. Grant money could pay for ads to draw new recruits. It could also pay for "Pathways to Policing" programs. These help people with no police experience get the schooling they need. Neither use could take more than half of a grant. Groups that recruit people often left out of policing, or people with unusual job histories, would get first pick. So would groups that hire people who live near where they would work. The Justice Department would also run its own national hiring ads, with up to another $50 million a year.
Congressional Summary
Pathways to Policing Act This bill authorizes the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services within the Department of Justice to award grants to states, local governments, and law enforcement agencies to support recruitment of law enforcement officers. In particular, these grants may be used for (1) marketing and recruitment campaigns to encourage candidates to seek careers in law enforcement; and (2) developing, operating, or expanding Pathways to Policing programs (e.g., programs that facilitate entry into full-time law enforcement positions for certain candidates).
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-05-14
- Date Added
- 2026-09-29
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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