Police Must Undergo Alzheimer’s & Dementia Training: New Florida Law

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Florida is known for its proportionally higher elderly population, so it makes sense that police should be trained on how to deal with cognitive diseases that commonly impact this population. Effective October 1, 2024, House Bill 801 creates Florida’s statute 943.17299, which mandates new training.

Under House Bill 801, law enforcement officers must participate in “a continued employment training component” for handling situations involving people who have “Alzheimer’s disease and related forms of dementia”. The training program will be an online course made between the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Elder Affairs.

At minimum, the course has to include instruction on identification techniques for Alzheimer’s and dementia based on “behavioral symptoms and characteristics”, productive communication methods, the utilization of alternate physical restraints, and the recognition of signs related to neglect, exploitation, and abuse.
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This law states that the completion of this training can “count toward the 40 hours of instruction for continued employment or appointment as a law enforcement officer, correctional officer, or correctional probation officer”.

House Bill 801 was originally prepared by the Criminal Justice Committee, filed on December 8, 2023; and voted through unanimously in the Senate and House with votes of 40-0 and 117-0, respectively. It was presented to Governor DeSantis on March 21, 2024, and he approved it on April 2, 2024.

For complete details on this new law, click here to read both pages of House Bill 801. For the official summary, click here.

Article by Ema Tibbetts