Firefighter & First Responder Prerequisite Certification/Benefits

Enacted in 1976, the Public Safety Officers' Benefits (PSOB) Program is a unique partnership effort of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), PSOB Office and local, state, tribal, and federal public safety agencies, and national organizations to provide death, disability, and education benefits to those eligible for the program. This partnership relies significantly on the ability of the PSOB Office to obtain, from surviving agencies, related public safety agencies, and survivors themselves, the wide and complex range of evidence required to process and determine a claim according to the PSOB Act and regulations. This partnership also is critical for maintaining and enhancing national peer support and counseling programs that assist the families of those public safety officers who have fallen in the line of duty.

The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation will ensure that PSOB death claims filed with the PSOB Office include a certification from the fallen officer's agency that the officer's survivor(s) have received, or legally are entitled to receive, the maximum death benefits legally payable by the agency, or that the agency is not legally authorized to pay these benefits. The benefit information is frequently missing from the documents filed by the agency and survivor, and often results in a significant time delay in the review of the claim. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation will work with state public safety officer benefits providers nationwide providing expert technical assistance in filing PSOB death claims.

CA/NCF