S. 1316 — Strong Communities Act of 2025

This section establishes the COPS Strong Communities Program as a new subsection under the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant authorities (34 U.S.C. 10381). The program authorizes the Attorney General to make competitive grants to local law enforcement agencies, using amounts otherwise appropriated for COPS beginning in FY2025, to cover costs for officers and recruits to attend law enforcement training programs at eligible entities—defined as an institution of higher education (per 20 U.S.C. 1001) coordinating with a local law enforcement agency or a local law enforcement agency offering such training—if participants agree to serve in agencies in their communities. To receive grant benefits, officers and recruits must (1) serve full-time as law enforcement officers for at least 4 years during the 8-year period beginning on the date they complete training; (2) complete that service in a local law enforcement agency within 7 miles (or 20 miles, if in a county with fewer than 150,000 residents) of their residence where they have resided for at least 5 years; and (3) provide certification of employment from the agency's chief administrative officer. Requires repayment of any benefits received if the service obligation is not met, with regulations specifying extenuating circumstances that excuse repayment.

This section directs the Attorney General to submit an annual report to the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on recipients of grants under section 1701(q) of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (as added by section 2). The report must detail (1) for the one-year period preceding the report, the number and location of recipients and the number of law enforcement officers and recruits each intends to send to training programs at eligible entities using grant funds; and (2) from enactment through the report date, the number of such officers and recruits who attended the training and returned as employees of the recipient, and the number who remain employed there.