Part I.

Requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to alert law enforcement agencies to available grant funds and assist law enforcement agencies with drafting and submitting grant proposals and applications. 

Appropriates $200,000 in recurring funds for each year of the 2023-25 biennium from the General Fund to DOJ to hire two full-time grant writers.

Effective July 1, 2023.

Part II.

Appropriates $250,000 in recurring funds for each year of the 2023-25 biennium from the General Fund to DOJ to award grants to law enforcement agencies for initiatives supporting community policing. Effective July 1, 2023.

Part III.

Appropriates $500,000 in recurring funds for 2024-25 from the General Fund to DOJ to be used for grants: (1) provided to law enforcement agencies to be awarded to law enforcement officers exhibiting exemplary service and (2) awarded to law enforcement agencies for meeting racial or gender diversity benchmarks. Caps grant awards at $10,000. Effective July 1, 2024.

Part IV.

Amends GS 15A-401(d)(2), which sets out when a law-enforcement officer is justified in using deadly physical force, by making the following changes. Adds that the use of deadly force includes strangleholds, lateral vascular neck restraints, carotid restraints, or any other tactics that restrict oxygen or blood flow to the head or neck. Requires in all circumstances in which a law-enforcement officer uses force of any kind, that a law-enforcement officer use the minimum amount of force reasonably necessary to accomplish the law-enforcement action and attempt to use de-escalation tactics.

Requires the Attorney General, in consultation with the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association and the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police, to develop uniform use-of-force policies that may be adopted by all law enforcement agencies in the state. Requires the policies to be submitted to the specified NCGA committee by December 1, 2024, published on DOJ's website, and distributed digitally to all law enforcement agencies in the state. 

Part V.

Amends GS 17C-6 to also give the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission and GS 17E-4 to give the North Carolina Sheriffs' Education and Training Standards Commission the power to establish minimum: (1) age requirement of 21 for qualification for entry level employment; (2) mental health screening protocols that must be met to qualify for entry level employment and retention, to include a psychological screening within one year prior to certification; and (3) annual mental health screening protocols. Effective January 1, 2024. 

Amends GS 17C-13 and GS 17E-12 to give those same Commissions access to a person's misdemeanor conviction records and allow the Commission to deny, suspend, or revoke a person's certification based solely on that person's conviction of four or more misdemeanors. Effective January 1, 2024.

Appropriates $1 million in recurring funds for each year of the 2023-25 fiscal biennium from the General Fund to DOJ for grants to law enforcement agencies to pay for the mental health screenings required by this part. Effective July 1, 2023.

Part VI.

Appropriates $1 million in recurring funds for each year of the 2023-25 fiscal biennium from the General Fund to DOJ for grants to law enforcement agencies to temporarily provide funding for detective or other investigative law enforcement positions in order to aid in the investigation of person crimes that would constitute a charge of a Class D felony or higher. Effective July 1, 2023.

Part VII.

Includes a severability clause.