The House passed four bills Thursday authorizing grants for law enforcement hiring, training and mental health first responders after a close vote on a procedural hurdle that showed a division among Democrats on some policing and crime issues.
The measures would authorize grant programs for increased hiring in police departments with fewer than 200 officers, for local community violence interrupters, for increased technology in investigating violent crime and for grant programs funding mental health first responders.
Democrats pitched the bills as their effort to address rising crime nationwide while still supporting changes to policing policy, a balance the party has pursued for more than two years.
