U.S. Senator James Lankford has introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at making it easier for small and rural law enforcement agencies to receive federally funded training.
Lankford joined U.S. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware in introducing the Training Rural Law Enforcement Officers Act of 2026. The bill would allow qualified nonprofit organizations and state government entities to use U.S. Department of Justice grant funding to provide training to law enforcement agencies with fewer than 50 sworn officers at no cost to those departments.
Supporters say many small police departments do not apply for federal grants because of complex application and reporting requirements and limited staffing.
“For too long, federal grant programs have felt out of reach for many small and rural law enforcement agencies,” Lankford said.
“The grant process can be cumbersome and difficult to navigate, especially for a department with a handful of officers. Our bill fixes this by letting qualified nonprofits carry the paperwork and bring the training directly to small agencies at no cost to them. Small law enforcement agencies should not be cut off from federal grant dollars.”
The legislation would allow grant funding to be used for training in areas including de-escalation, officer wellness, leadership development, domestic violence response, active shooter response, critical incident management, mental health response, substance use disorders, and rescue operations.
The bill would also allow multiple local governments to combine grant funding to contract with a qualified nonprofit organization for shared training programs.
