First Responders Getting More Mental Health Help From New Law

Public safety officers are 54% more likely to die by suicide than the general population, according to a 2021 study in Policing: An International Journal. A Pennsylvania congressman helped get a new law passed in Washington D.C. that is helping officers and their families impacted by suicide. In August 2022. Congressman Guy Reschenthaler, who represents Washington, Westmoreland, Fayette, and Greene Counties in the U.S. House of Representatives, helped push the Public Safety Officer Support Act through. It expands on the Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program to categorize suicide as a line of duty death.