NAPO Thanks President for
Closing the De Minimis Loophole
NAPO joined fellow members of the Coalition to Close the De Minimis Loophole in a letter to President Trump thanking him for taking decisive action to close the de minimis tariff loophole. Since the end of de minimis treatment for low-value commercial packages coming in through the international mail system on August 29, media coverage of the impact of this action has been largely negative and we are working to counter that narrative.
Prior to the President’s July 30th executive orders, de minimis packages containing tariff-dodging products flooded the United States, unfairly undermining American workers and producers and aiding the smuggling of illicit goods like fentanyl and fentanyl precursors that poison our communities. By ending de minimis, the President’s executive actions closed a gateway into our country for illegal and toxic goods.
We continue to stand with the President in his fight against the scourge of fentanyl in our communities.
NAPO Backs Bill to Combat Illicit Pill Presses
NAPO pledged our support for Fight Illicit Pill Presses Act, introduced by Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Jerry Moran (R-KS), John Fetterman (D-PA), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Chris Coons (D-DE). This bill would give law enforcement another tool to use to stop the production of counterfeit and fentanyl-laced pills by requiring pill presses, punches, and dies to be engraved with serial numbers, making it easier to act against cartels.
In 2024, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) seized more than 61.1 million fentanyl-laced pills. Cartels now have access to the same type of pill presses used by pharmaceutical companies and are creating counterfeit pills that are often indistinguishable from real medication with tragic results. NAPO fought the importation of pill presses by advocating for the closure of the de minimis loophole, which President Trump closed at the end of August. Criminal organizations were using the loophole to send dismantled illegal pill presses through the international mail system into our country virtually undetected.
The Fight Illicit Pill Presses Act would build on the closure of the de minimis loophole by giving federal law enforcement agencies the ability to trace pill presses back to cartels. It would also impose criminal penalties for the removal or alteration of the serial number and for the transportation or possession of any pill press with a removed or altered serial number.
NAPO thanks Senators Cornyn, Moran, Fetterman, Tillis, Klobuchar, and Coons for their support of law enforcement’s fight against fentanyl in our communities.
FY25 Body-Worn Camera Policy
and Implementation Program
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) is now accepting applications for grant funding for the Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program for Fiscal 2025 (see notice of funding opportunity here).
The Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Body-Worn Camera Policy and Implementation Program (BWCPIP) supports law enforcement and correctional agencies in establishing or expanding body-worn camera (BWC) programs. Funding will be awarded for three categories:
Category 1: Site-Based Awards to Publicly Funded Law Enforcement Agencies (Anticipated Award Amount: $2,000,000). This Category supports the implementation or expansion of BWC programs in publicly funded state, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement agencies, including projects led by multi-agency partnerships.
Category 2: Site-Based Awards to Publicly Funded Correctional Agencies (Anticipated Award Amount: $2,000,000). This Category supports the implementation or expansion of BWC programs in publicly funded state, local, tribal, and territorial correctional agencies, including deployments within correctional agencies or among officers engaged in community supervision.
Category 3: Digital Evidence Management, Sharing, and Integration Demonstration Projects (Anticipated Award Amount: $1,000,000). Category 3 supports agencies with established BWC programs that are enhancing their capacity to manage, analyze, and share digital evidence from BWCs and other sources to improve prosecutorial efficiency and case outcomes.
BJA has a Body-Worn Camera Toolkit, which NAPO participated in building, that provides resources and support for agencies looking to start or expand a body-worn camera program. Importantly, the toolkit recommends, based on best practices, that officers should be permitted to review video footage of an incident in which they were involved, prior to making a statement about the incident. One example is this COPS Office report on “Implementing a Body-Worn Camera Program: Recommendations and Lessons Learned”.
Grants.gov Application Deadline: 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on October 27, 2025.
JustGrants Application Deadline: 8:59 p.m. Eastern Time on November 3, 2025.
Additional information on the BWCPIP can be found here.
Bill Reauthorizing Officer Mental Health Grant Reintroduced
Representatives Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) and Madeleine Dean (D-PA) reintroduced NAPO priority legislation, the Supporting and Treating Officers in Crisis (STOIC) Act (H.R. 5282), which would reauthorize the STOIC Act program. This program provides essential grant funding for law enforcement support services, including the establishment of suicide-prevention programs and mental health services and supports for law enforcement officers and their families. NAPO proudly supported the enactment of the STOIC Act in 2019.
According to Blue H.E.L.P., 156 current or active-duty officers died by suicide in 2024. In 2023, there were 171 officer suicides. 86 officers have taken their own lives so far this year. These are just the numbers that are reported and tracked. Additionally, according to the National Study of Police Suicides, officers are 2.5 times more likely to die from suicides than from homicides, a sobering statistic.
The stresses and strains of the job not only affect officers’ mental and physical wellbeing, but also the wellbeing of their family life. The reauthorization of this important program will help ensure important support services are available for officers and their families.
The STOIC Program and the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act (LEMHWA) Program are housed within the Department of Justice’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and are currently funded at a combined $10 million for Fiscal 2025.
Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) sponsored the Senate-version of the bill, S. 419, which was approved by the Judiciary Committee during National Police Week in May.
NAPO’s letter of support for H.R.5282.
NAPO Backs Bill that Provides for Officer
Recruitment and Retention Bonuses
NAPO once again pledged our support for the Enhancing COPS Hiring Grants for Local Law Enforcement Act, which was reintroduced by Representative Greg Landsman (R-OH), together with Representatives Mike Carey (R-OH), Max Miller (R-OH), and Emilia Strong Sykes (D-OH). This bipartisan bill would allow for COPS Hiring Program (CHP) grant funds to be used for recruitment and retention bonuses. As police departments across the country continue to be understaffed, under-resourced and struggle to hire and retain good, qualified officers, this legislation provides a vital update to CHP.
The Enhancing COPS Hiring Grants for Local Law Enforcement Act would also modify CHP to allow grant applications to be good for five years so that agencies do not have to reapply every fiscal year. NAPO has long believed that the Federal grant solicitation process is onerous and an obstacle for small agencies across the country to receiving vital grant funding. Several NAPO-backed bills take on this issue, including this bill and the Invest to Protect Act.
NAPO thanks Representatives Landsman, Carey, Miller, and Sykes for their efforts to ensure all departments across the country have a chance to participate in and benefit from the vital resources provided by COPS Program.
NAPO on the Hill: FY 26 Appropriations &
COPS Office Independence
With the Department of Justice (DOJ) moving forward with the merger of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) into the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), NAPO is meeting with members of the House Appropriations Committee in an effort to include language into the final Fiscal Year 2026 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill that would prohibit the integration of the COPS Office into OJP. While we understand and support the DOJ’s desire to make its many grantmaking authorities more streamlined and efficient, we fear that if the COPS Office is consolidated with the other grantmaking entities within the DOJ, we will lose a significant resource dedicated to state and local law enforcement.
The COPS Office is the only office within the Department solely dedicated to the needs of state and local law enforcement. COPS leadership and staff have built close relationships with state and local law enforcement agencies and representatives, and it is known for its accessibility and responsiveness to stakeholders and grantees. It is a trusted office within the Department that over the past 30 years has become an essential partner to the law enforcement community. It also houses many of NAPO’s priority grant programs including the COPS Hiring Program, the Law Enforcement Mental Health and Wellness Act and the Supporting and Treating Officers in Crisis Act, and the Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu National Blue Alert Act, amongst others.
We have no doubt the Administration and the DOJ support state and local law enforcement and have every intent to ensure we get the resources necessary to serve and protect our communities. However, we feel strongly that COPS programs to put and maintain more officers in the field promote community policing, fight crime, and improve officer safety and wellness and should be continued and supported as part of an independent COPS Office.
Given Congress has not yet passed any of the twelve annual appropriations bills for Fiscal Year 2026 and will not pass any of them before the end of the current fiscal year on September 30, leaders are looking to pass a continuing resolution that will temporarily fund the federal government at current funding levels for eight weeks. This short-term funding effort is largely Republican led, which has resulted in Democrats threatening to not vote for the continuing resolution and shut down the government unless they are brought to the table for negotiations. Democrats are specifically asking that an extension of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) enhanced premiums, which are set to expire at the end of the year, be included as part of the continuing resolution.
The House passed a clean continuing resolution last week before adjourning for a week-long recess. The measure then failed in the Senate largely along party-lines. Both parties are claiming the moral and political high ground over the possible shutdown, believing the other side will be blamed. The Administration threw a curve ball into the mix on September 24 with a threat of further government layoffs if a shutdown does occur, putting pressure on Democrats to fall in line. If the government does shut down, all grant-related work will shut down with it. A shutdown also does not bode well for appropriators being able to finalize the Fiscal 2026 spending bills and risks another continuing resolution.
NAPO continues to work with Congressional appropriators to protect the independence of the COPS Office and ensure our priority grant programs are sufficiently funded in FY 2026.
NAPO Supports Sara Carter for ONDCP Director
NAPO supports President Trump’s nomination of Sara Carter to be the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The Senate Judiciary Committee held a confirmation hearing on her nomination on September 17.
Ms. Carter, currently serving as the Special Advisor for the President in ONDCP, has called upon her extensive background in investigative reporting on drug cartels and the growing opioid and fentanyl crisis to provide strategic guidance on issues ranging from reducing the counternarcotics supply to addressing domestic demand for illegal drugs. Her reporting background gives her unique abilities to coordinate national drug control policies with federal, state, and local agencies and work with stakeholders to ensure our nation’s drug interdiction, prevention, and treatment needs are met.
ONDCP is a key component in bringing federal, state, and local governments together and fostering law enforcement, treatment, and prevention partnerships. NAPO believes that Ms. Carter’s experience investigating and reporting on international drug trade and the devastating consequence illegal narcotics have had on our communities gives her a unique understanding of the crisis facing our nation, which will serve her well as the next Director of ONDCP.
NAPO in the News
NAPO Executive Director Bill Johnson was interviewed for a September 24, 2025, article in The Washington Examiner entitled, “Newsom’s California police cannot arrest masked ICE officers: Former cops”. The article discusses the new California law that makes it illegal for local police and deputy sheriffs, federal law enforcement, and state police from states other than California to wear face masks while working in the state. Johnson discussed how this new law is unconstitutional and unenforceable and is just a political ploy by California Governor Gavin Newsom. NAPO has long supported an officer’s ability to protect themselves and their families from doxxing and online harassment, particularly in this charged political environment.
NAPO will continue to ensure our members’ voices are heard loud and clear on the Hill, with the Administration, and in the media.
NAPO’s Legislative Positions & Sponsor/Cosponsor Updates
You can now see if your U.S. Representatives and Senators support NAPO’s priority legislation on our new interactive Sponsor/Cosponsor map on our website. The interactive map accompanies the latest “Legislative Positions” document, which is also available on the NAPO website under “Washington Report”. NAPO’s Legislative Positions is a document that highlights all the legislation that we have taken an official position on or are monitoring during the 119th Congress. The map and Legislative Positions document are continually updated to reflect the work we are doing on Capitol Hill.